The garden behind the inn was quieter than the market. After the morning's shopping, the change was welcome. A low stone wall surrounded the garden, separating it from the noise of the street. Small flowering bushes lined the paths, and the shade from the old trees kept the midday heat bearable.
I sat across from Alexander at a small wooden table, with Lady Evelyn and Liam standing nearby. A plate of food sat in front of me, but I was still thinking about the morning. The clothes. The jewellery shop. The strange bracelet. And, unfortunately, the man who had shown it to me. I picked up my glass and took a sip of freshly squeezed pomegranate juice. It was sweet and slightly tart.
Alexander was watching me.
I lowered the glass. "What?"
His mouth curved slightly. "You seem pleased with yourself."
"Do I?"
"You've been smiling since we left the market."
I hadn't realised. I touched the corner of my mouth, then quickly dropped my hand. "Perhaps I enjoyed shopping."
"I gathered that." There was something different in his voice. Not quite teasing. His gaze lingered on me for another moment before he looked down at his plate. "So," he said casually, "did you find everything you needed?"
I nodded. "Yes. I managed to find trousers and shirts suitable for the hunt. And proper boots." I looked down at my boots beneath the table. "These might actually survive the journey."
Alexander glanced at them. "They'd better."
I smiled. "And Lady Evelyn made sure I didn't buy anything completely unsuitable."
Lady Evelyn gave me a small, approving nod. "I merely made certain Your Highness considered practicality before appearance."
I bit back a laugh. That was Lady Evelyn's polite way of saying she had prevented me from making questionable fashion choices.
Alexander's attention returned to me. "I also heard you visited a jewellery shop."
My hand paused halfway towards my plate. There it was. That slight change in his voice. Nothing obvious. Anyone else might have missed it. I didn't. I set my fork down. "I did."
"Why?" The question came quickly. Too quickly.
I tilted my head. "I followed Lady Evelyn."
Alexander glanced briefly towards her.
Lady Evelyn, apparently sensing that she had been dragged into the conversation, continued eating with perfect composure.
I took another sip of juice. "There was a rather interesting shopkeeper."
Alexander's fingers stopped against the edge of his plate. "Interesting?"
I immediately regretted the word. I could almost see his mind catching on it. I kept my expression light. "He was knowledgeable. We talked about some of the jewellery and gemstones."
Alexander leaned back slightly. "Did you find anything you liked?" His tone was casual. Almost too casual.
I studied him over the rim of my glass. Was he jealous? The thought seemed ridiculous. Why would he be? We were travelling together because he had abducted me, forced me into his quest, and only recently agreed to let me participate in the decision-making. Our relationship was complicated enough without adding jealousy to it. "Not yet," I said. "Although there was one piece I liked."
His eyes returned to mine. "What was it?"
"A bracelet." I hesitated. "With moonstones."
Something shifted in his expression. So slight that I might have imagined it. "Did you buy it?"
"No."
"Why not?"
"I wasn't sure."
"About the bracelet?"
I smiled faintly. "About whether I wanted it."
Alexander was silent.
I could almost feel the question he wanted to ask. Who was the man? What did he say to you? Why were you interested in him? Instead, he picked up his glass. "And the shopkeeper?"
I nearly choked on my juice. I covered my mouth, coughing once.
Alexander's eyebrows lifted. "Are you all right?"
"Perfectly." I wiped my lips with the napkin.
He waited. I knew that look. He was waiting for an answer. "He was just the shop owner," I said. "We had a brief conversation."
"About jewellery?"
"Among other things."
His eyes narrowed slightly. "What else?"
I stared at him. "Trees."
He blinked. "Trees?"
"Yes."
There was a brief silence. Then, despite myself, I laughed. "It makes more sense than it sounds."
Alexander didn't laugh. Not immediately. He studied me, as though trying to determine whether I was making fun of him. Eventually, a small smile appeared. "I'll take your word for it."
I picked up my fork again. The conversation had gone far enough. I didn't know Killian well enough to explain why I'd found him interesting, and I certainly wasn't going to tell Alexander about the strange reaction from the bracelet. More importantly, I didn't know what the real Elysia would have said. I was already pretending to have amnesia. Lady Evelyn could easily dismiss small inconsistencies in my behaviour because of that. It was safer to keep some things to myself.
I deliberately brightened my expression and returned to my meal. Alexander noticed. Of course he did. He had become annoyingly good at noticing when I was hiding something.
Across the table, he watched the way she suddenly became more animated. The smile was convincing. Almost. But Alexander had spent enough time around Elysia to recognise the difference between her natural reactions and the ones she deliberately put on when she wanted to divert attention.
He didn't know what she was hiding. That bothered him more than it should have. The mention of another man bothered him too. He didn't understand why. Killian Ravenscroft. The name meant nothing to him. At least, it should have meant nothing.
Alexander had no reason to care about a jeweller in Evergrove. Elysia had spoken to countless people since arriving in Eldoria. Yet the image of her standing in that shop, smiling while talking about another man, had lodged itself in his mind. He took another drink.He told himself it was merely caution.
Elysia was still a mystery. Anyone who showed unusual interest in her deserved his attention. That explanation was reasonable. It was also incomplete. "Elysia."
The change in his voice made my fingers stop. The warmth from our earlier conversation disappeared. I looked up.
Alexander's face was calm, but the softness in his expression was gone. His shoulders had stiffened slightly, and he had set his glass down with deliberate care.
My stomach tightened. That tone meant something. He had used my name instead of calling me Princess. I put down my fork. "Yes?"
He held my gaze. "I've just received news from Eldoria."
I waited. Alexander took a slow breath before continuing. "An envoy from Astoria has arrived. They are demanding your return."
For a moment, I didn't move.
Then he added, "The envoy is being led by Duke Lysander."
Elysia's cousin. Of course. I should have expected this. If I were the Astorian royal family, I'd probably have sent half the kingdom after the princess who had disappeared.
Alexander continued, his voice measured. "We have to postpone our quest and return to Eldoria immediately."
So that was why he had called my name like that. He had been trying to prepare me for the impact.
I leaned back and let out a slow breath. "I would have expected an envoy eventually, Your Highness."
Alexander's expression tightened. "Considering the circumstances, I doubt they will be particularly pleased with me." That was putting it mildly.
I rubbed my thumb against the edge of my glass. "Then perhaps we don't need to return."
His eyebrows drew together. "Explain."
"Send a messenger to Eldori. Ask Duke Lysander to come here."
Alexander stared at me.
I continued before he could object. "I can explain everything to him personally. I can tell him about the quest, why I'm travelling with you, and why I intend to continue. He's my cousin. He knows me. He might understand."
Alexander's jaw tightened. He looked away briefly, towards the garden path. When he looked back, his expression was more resolute. "I cannot agree."
I frowned. "Why?"
"Because I am responsible for this." His voice remained controlled, but I could hear the weight behind it. "I abducted you. Whether I intended to harm you or not, that is what happened. I have to return to Eldoria and explain my actions to my father and the envoy."
"I appreciate your concern," I said carefully. "But surely it would be sufficient to ask the Duke to come here."
Alexander shook his head. "It isn't that simple."
Of course it wasn't. Nothing in this world was ever simple. I stared down at my hands. According to Eldorian customs, stepping into the royal palace would mean something I absolutely did not want it to mean. I would effectively be acknowledging Alexander as my betrothed. Why? Why did this world have so many absurd customs?
I looked up again. "You know what happens if I enter the royal palace."
Alexander's eyes sharpened. "You're worried about the custom." He had read my mind so quickly that I almost glared at him. A faint, wry line appeared at the corner of his mouth.
"Fret not, dear Princess. We will not impose that practice on you while we are on a quest."
I wasn't entirely reassured. "Even so, I don't want to travel farther from the trail to the King's lair. Returning to Eldoria will delay everything."
"And your freedom."
I fell silent.
Alexander looked at me. "I know how much you treasure it." There was no mockery in his voice. That somehow made it harder to argue. He rested his forearms on the table. "But I need to make amends for what I did. I cannot simply continue towards Aetheron while an Astorian envoy waits in Eldoria demanding your return."
I understood his reasoning. I just didn't like it. I rubbed my temple. "Bringing Duke Lysander here could create another problem."
Alexander waited.
I continued, thinking aloud. "My abduction has already agitated the Astorian royal family. The Eldorian court is probably scrambling to explain why its Crown Prince decided to abduct an Astorian princess."
His mouth tightened. "I imagine my father is not pleased."
"Probably not." Despite the situation, the corner of my mouth twitched. Then the seriousness returned. "If Duke Lysander has come as an envoy, this can still be treated as a diplomatic dispute. Something that can be resolved through negotiation." I looked towards the garden entrance. "But if Astoria sends troops instead..." I didn't finish. I didn't need to.
Alexander's expression hardened. "Then we could be looking at a war."
Exactly. A stitch in time saves nine. The sooner we dealt with this, the better. I lowered my eyes. Initially, I had opposed the quest entirely.
Searching for the King of Monsters could destroy everything Astoria had built around its coexistence with monsters. If Alexander found Aetheron and took his power, the consequences could be catastrophic.
But I couldn't simply abandon the quest. Pretending to help Alexander was the only position that gave me any chance of finding Aetheron first. And if the Astorian royals discovered what we were actually doing… I didn't even want to imagine the consequences. There was another problem. My memories. They had been coming in fragments—images, sensations, pieces of a life that didn't belong to me but somehow belonged to Elysia.
I still hadn't figured out what they meant. I needed answers. And there was only one creature I knew who might be able to help me. Tumblefluff. I looked across the table at Alexander. "All right."
His eyes lifted.
"We'll return to Eldoria." The words tasted bitter. Not because I wanted to stay with Alexander. Because every delay gave Aetheron less time. And every step back towards Eldoria took me farther from the answers I needed.
I picked up my glass again and took another sip of pomegranate juice. Sweet. Refreshing. Completely inadequate for the mess I had just agreed to walk into.
I needed to speak to Tumblefluff. Soon.