Episode 10 + 1 - Twist Of Events
549 Words
Elowyn’s voice shattered. It wasn’t a queen’s voice. It was a wife’s. It broke across the room and hit the walls.
She moved. No crown. No throne. Just her. She crossed the room in three steps and caught his arms. Her hands were shaking.
Asher looked at her. Then at his own hands. Then at the room.
"What.." His voice was rough from disuse. Strong anyway. "What happened?"
No one answered. Because no one could.
Icelynn’s mouth opened. No sound came. Her fists went slack. Venom died. Her face went white, then red. Ralph’s head snapped up. The mask fell. His eyes were wide. Black. Not humble. Not now.
Levi laughed. Once. Sharp. Disbelieving. Oliver took a step back. His hand flexed, then stopped. Flora burst into tears and covered her mouth.
The healer fell to his knees. "Marucus," he whispered. "Fresh Marucus. It..it worked."
Elowyn’s hands were on Asher’s face. "You’re standing," she said. As if she couldn’t believe it. "You’re breathing."
Asher looked past her. Past all of them. To Ayla. Still held by guards. Mud on her boots. Stain on her palm. Fear and hope warring in her eyes.
He let go of Elowyn. One step. Two. He walked to her. The guards froze. No one told them to let go. No one dared.
He stopped in front of her. King to forest girl. Storm to root.
He did not touch her. He looked. Really looked.
"You did this," he said. Not a question.
Ayla shook her head once. "The forest did," she whispered. "I just… picked it."
Asher’s mouth did something it hadn’t done in months. It curved. Not a smile for court. A real one. Tired. Grateful.
"Then the forest chose well," he said.
He turned to the room. To Elowyn. To Icelynn. To Ralph. To all of us.
"Release her," he said.
The guards let go.
Ayla stumbled half a step. I caught her arm before she could. Her skin was cold. Her pulse was fast.
As though planned we sighed together.
Pissed and feeling just a little claustrophobic, she left the room.
Ayla.
She didn’t run. She didn’t slam the door. She just walked. Fast. The chamber was too small all of a sudden. Too many eyes. Too many hands that had held her like a criminal seconds ago.
She was still overhearing "it’s a miracle" from the room.
The words chased her down the corridor. Low. Awe-struck. Disbelieving. The healer saying it. Flora crying it. Elowyn breathing it like prayer.
I followed to see her.
I didn’t think. I just moved. Sigil dead or not, heir or not. I was still the one who’d seen her face when she said please without sound.
Icelynn frowned even more at that.
She was still in the doorway, watching the king stand, watching Elowyn shake, watching the room fall apart and rebuild itself in one breath. And then she saw me leave. After Ayla.
Inwardly mad at the twist of events, she could cope with that.
A miracle she didn’t expect. A king alive she didn’t plan for. She could swallow it. She was Icelynn. The Ice goddess. She’d swallowed worse.
But me getting close with Ayla, whom she took as a golddigger and rival, that she couldn’t cope with.
That was the line.
- Writer
