My Darkening Ember

Chapter Seventy - Four

"You compel it so naturally from me, that there's no need," I answered, delighted to have his arms wrapped around me.

"When did your sight return?" He asked lightly, stroking my hair aside.

"This morning."

He kissed my neck, recently exposed by his fingers, making me giggle.

"You are beautiful."

My lips dropped and I could feel my heartbeat rise, as my eyes fell into his and his arms tightened around me.

I must've caught my breath or watched him wide-eyed because he stroked my cheek with eyes full of reassurance.

"I wanted you to be able to look at me when I said it, so you would know I mean it, Elora. You are so beautiful."

I didn't know if I wanted to cry or smile, feeling myself wanting to do both.

"So are you."

He smirked, or maybe more so laughed at me.

"What?" I asked flustered.

"I don't think you know what I mean." He said, with soft lust in his eyes.

"I know what you mean, which is why I said, so are you," I whispered the last words, before leaning forward and planting one long and deep kiss on his warm lips.

...

The page smelled like an old book and the writing had a faint scent of some flower I couldn't identify. My father's letter to me. I had been staring at it for hours, waiting for Mayra.

The handwriting was so small and written in cursive. It wasn't hard to read, though for some it would be. Edmund had not allowed me to read any other sort back home. He always said the rich wrote in cursive to conceal the truth from peasants, the few that could read that was.

I smiled, almost feeling blessed by Edmund's teachings. Thanks to him, I knew how to find my way in the world. He taught me to speak like a lady, to read their cursive language, and carry myself as if I belonged. Ironically, I suspected that being able to read the letter my real father had written to me wasn't what he imagined when he had taught me.

I wasn't sure what Edmund had truly wanted. If he despised the idea of me as queen, sitting on the throne my true father had held, or if he wanted Sarvin to take me in and have us devise a revenge plot together to tear it all down. Whatever it was, I was letting it all go.

Leaving with Xander was the only sane thing to do. I would claim my name at the feast, the house I wanted to belong to. The council would decide what I was to them, or rather how I could be used for them and I would play along. If I was made queen or not didn't matter. I would leave no matter what happened. 

This time it would be my own story beginning with my own choice. Aleron would continue to rule as he had and the world would be the same. I would leave no trace or impact. It was truly selfish but I didn't care now. I had made up my mind

Once the traditional dance would begin and the crowd melted together, I would slip away with Xander, all the while Mayra distracted her father. 

Sarvin would be furious, but they would all suspect Xander, only him. He had assured me that he didn't care what they all thought, even if they branded him a villain.

When I had suggested it he had simply laughed at me, saying they all already did.

Yes, we would be hunted down, maybe even caught, but I was willing to risk it and Xander had said he was too.