Page 105 of Enchanted Crown
“With what?”
“With healing Jagen Mallick.”
Malachi’s head snapped back in surprise as I opened the door to find Esta and Amory pushing the food trolly.
“I did not mean you needed to personally deliver it,” I smirked.
Esta leaned in to kiss me quickly. “I wanted to. Malachi needs to quit stewing.”
I looked over my shoulder to see him glaring toward her. “Come on in,” I told the two of them. “The more the merrier.”
Malachi scoffed. “I don’t know about that.”
Amory gently squeezed my wrist on the way by and whispered, “You’re a good friend. Thank you.”
For nine years, she’d loved Esta enough to take on being her human form proxy. “So are you.”
There the four of us sat. Our unlikely alliance. All of us were exhausted, but I only hoped the Corshan Enchanted we brought home with us had finally given us somewhat of an advantage when it came to tracking down Morana.
As talk moved to our trip then the possible trip in Dra Skor and how we would trick Morana into coming out of hiding, I offered, “What we need to constantly remind ourselves in the days to come is that we will not allow fear to drive our footsteps. Morana will show up eventually. In the meantime, if we let the fear take over, we will merely become vessels to that fear, becoming something we are not. We will remember who we are. And we will prepare.”
“Your pep talks are better than mine,” Malachi commented as he chewed on the last of his flat cake.
“Were it not for one of yours given at exactly the right moment, I would already be back in Wylan.”
Esta and Amory were quiet, looking as if they both wanted usto elaborate, but I felt it wasn’t needed. Malachi and I both knew exactly what I was referring to.
“We have only briefly hit the cusp of all Amory and I experienced in Corsha, but I’m afraid I need sleep,” I admitted. “Particularly if we are healing Jagen at The Drak tomorrow.”
“I will be ready,” Malachi told me with a nod. “Whenever you need me.”
“And your team, General?”
He gave me a nod. “We need to get back to work. To do something productive with our anger.”
I moved to stand, patting him on the shoulder. “Don’t let it consume you. Or next time I will come wielding carrots. Should you so adamantly act like an ass in ass form.”
He was quiet a moment as he tilted his head. “Is that supposed to be a threat, Prince? I think you’ll find it has the opposite effect.”
With laughter, Esta and I left. I noted Amory opted to stay with Malachi for a bit. Maybe she wanted to fill him in more about our trip. Or maybe John’s words were getting to her. Or maybe she had simply felt like it. I was going to allow them the space to write their own story. With a few gentle nudges of course.
Esta looped an arm around my back in as much of a hug as she could manage as we walked. “Thank you.”
“For?”
“For getting through to him when I could not. I couldn’t even get him out of his shifted form.”
I kissed the top of her head. “As his queen, I don’t think he would have listened to you. His guilt for failing you too great.”
By the time I drew the curtains, Esta was already asleep in my bed. Her dark hair, which sometimes looked almost purple when the light hit it just right, was down around her. As my own head hit the pillow next to hers, I inhaled deeply, pleading with my every breath that as we planned our next steps, we would be ableto finally,finallyfinish this war within Dra Skor. That Esta could rule a healthy and thriving Dra Skor.
And I took comfort in the path that Queen Relia spoke of. That even on days like today where I was beyond exhausted and had no idea what my next steps were, the path of a healing and prosperous realm was still out there somewhere. If only we were brave enough to find it.
CHAPTER 36
The Drak was striking in the morning, the light bending and bouncing between the branches. There were so many different hues of purple, my eyes loved to get lost in them.
Emric and our Wylan team were with me. When I had discussed with John and Emric first thing this morning what I had been planning on doing, Emric had been adamant I take the entire team with me.
