The Girl With A Dragon

What Do We Do Now?

Queen Lillian

(Elric’s mother)

It’s early in the morning and I decide to check on Elric. The doctor has done everything that he can for him. Now we wait and see if he heals or not. Dragon tamers are quick healers. Even their skin and bones are tougher than the average human. This allows them to take an occasional spill when taming their dragon. I just hope that his royal blood will be enough in this case. He went up against an army twice the size of his and he was the only one with a dragon. Although a dragon helps, it does make you more of a target. I’ve never seen so many sword cuts on one person.

I sigh, as I reach his door. His guard nods his head and lets me into Elric’s room.

I’m surprised, but not too surprised to see that Alina is sleeping next to him. This reminds me of old times. I should have been madder when they slept in each other's rooms, but I wasn’t. Their young love was evident and there was no reasoning with it. 

Plus Elric’s father and I had to do our own fair share of sneaking around before we were married. He was an heir and I was the daughter of an abusive duke. My father gambled all of our money away. I was poor compared to royalty standards, but love. 

King Hugh loved me. I loved him. We had the support of our friends. Alina’s parents are part of the reason why we were able to be married. Their opinion carried weight with the other royals. We were both thrilled when Elric and Alina started courting each other. We would have been family after they were married.

Seeing that Alina is sleeping above the covers, makes me think that they fell asleep while talking. I sneak over to Elric’s linen closet and grab a blanket. I cover her up and she pulls the blanket closer to herself in her sleep.

Seeing his protective arm around her makes me smile. Maybe, just maybe I’ll get my daughter-in-law back. Losing her was like losing one of my daughters.

I turn around and leave.

“Not a word of Alina’s presence here to anyone. Keep your silence and you’ll keep your job. Any servant that comes in needs to be warned as such.”

I say this to Elric’s guards and they nod.

Alina

I wake up the next morning and I feel so much warmer than normal. I realize then that there's an arm around me…..Elric’s arm.

 Uh oh. I must have fallen asleep here

I go to get up and he tightens his hold.

“Elric!” I whisper. Nothing.

“Elric! I need to get up. I can’t be caught here. I say in a normal tone.

“The servants won’t talk. Stay...five more minutes.”

He says this without even opening his eyes.

I sigh and cuddle closer.

We stay in bed for a while and Elric is the first to speak.

“I told you that I’d tell you what happened. Since I’m alive, I want to keep my word.”

“Okay, I’m listening”

Elric took a deep breath, it didn’t sound as labored as it did last night. So that’s a good sign.

“You had an accident.”

“Was the accident your fault?”

Elric winces, “...sort of. You were coming to see me when it happened”

“What sort of accident was it?”

“We aren’t entirely sure what happened. I saw you flying our way, and the next thing I knew, I saw you and your dragon falling towards the ocean. You both hit the water hard. You nearly drowned…. I’ve trained my entire life, but dragon taming came so naturally to me. I didn’t put in the effort, and on that day, I paid for it by losing you. You’ve never been in an accident...and the one day that you are… I wasn’t fast enough to save you”

“...But you did save me! I’m still alive.”

Elric shook his head, “ You were so close to death, the only reason that you are alive is because of being distantly a demi-god. If it weren’t for your lineage, you wouldn’t be alive right now.”

“Is this why you joined the knight trials?”

The knight trials are bloody and brutal. I hate them, but it gives royal rulers the glory and the bloodshed of war, but without the full impact.

“Part of the reason...yes”

“Were you punishing yourself for this? Elric, my accident wasn’t your fault!”

“...I wasn’t punishing myself, I just…..when you woke up you didn’t remember anything. You didn’t remember me. You didn’t remember my family. You barely remembered yourself. We tried to reintroduce ourselves, but it only caused you more confusion and the doctors more worry. I was so consumed by guilt, I needed to find something all-consuming to take up my time.”

“How far away were we from being married?”

“...Three days.”

“We were three days from being married??? Why hasn’t anyone told me about us?”

“Because I asked them not to.”

“...why? There have to be contracts signed for our engagement. Why didn’t you hold me to them.” I asked. Now severely confused. He was my fiance. Why wouldn’t he want anyone to tell me about us? 

“I don’t give a damn about the marital contracts…” he spat that out before continuing. 

“Do you love me? Or do you have any feelings for me at all?”

“...I’m not sure.”

“That’s why. I’m not going to hold you accountable for feelings that you no longer have.” 

I didn’t think that heartbreak count has facial expression, but looking at Elric’s face right now, it is gut-wrenching.

I sighed.

“Why didn’t you come back for me? Or try again?”

“I thought about it, but I guess I needed time to heal. I came to your coming of age party. I came in all ready to win you back. I walked up to you, with the full intention of starting over, but you walked right past me and into the arms of another man. You had no idea who I was and I just couldn’t do it at that time….it was too painful….

 I was still too consumed with guilt and that night added jealousy on top of it. After that party is when I joined the knight trials. My parents thought that I was suicidal, maybe I was, but I don’t think so. I just needed an outlet. Every time I trained, and got faster and better with my dragon, I felt like I was that much closer to being worthy of you again.”

I took a shaky breath. This is not what I was expecting nor do I know what to do with all of this information.

“What do we do now?” I ask.

“That is up to you. I don’t expect you to come back to me just because we have a past.”