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Elias bowed his head. “Magda,” he greeted.

She gave a wry smile. “I’m sorry, Aura. I couldn’t get Nadia to let it go. She really wanted to come see you two. And when we saw you hadn’t touched your food, we thought we could bring you something.”

“Now that Elias is awake, we can bring him some too!” Nadia added with enthusiasm.

I smiled gratefully. “You’re too kind, my friends. Really. You’ve done more than enough already.”

“Well, I also came to ask, since Elias is awake…on Daegon’s behalf… Well, he wants to know how long you’ll be staying.”

Elias looked at me and raised a brow.

“Gabriel’s father.” I told him. “I’ll fill you in later.”

“I’m sorry, Aura,” Magda continued. “He’s worried whoever attacked you will come here. And based on your…social status…I’m thinking he might not be wrong to worry?”

I raised my hand in understanding. “Don’t be sorry. His wariness is valid.” I turned to Elias. “Do you think you’re ready to continue our journey or do you need more rest?”

Elias, who had slipped the witch’s elixirs into his pockets without my noticing, nodded. “Thanks to the healer, I think I can manage.”

Nadia, still clinging to Elias, whined in frustration. “No, don’t go! You only just got here!”

“You sure you don’t need one more night of rest? You were so sickly-looking last night…” Even Magda seemed apprehensive about us leaving so early. It warmed my heart.

“I appreciate your worry,” Elias answered. “But Gabriel’s father may be correct. The longer we stay, the more danger you are in.” He shot me a knowing look.

He was right. Even if Sarai couldn’t locate us with her magic, Volund and his dirty crew could still be tracking us, and the whole village would be in danger.

Nadia sniffled as she buried her face into Elias’s shirt. Magda stepped towards her and nearly had to pry her younger sibling off of him. “It’s alright, Nadia. We’ll see them again.”

Nadia wiped a tear before a look of realization hit her. “Mags, are you going to invite them?”

Magda blushed. “Oh, of course.” She cleared her throat and looked at us. “If it’s not too much trouble, I wanted to ask…would the two of you be willing to come to mine and Gabriel’s wedding in two months? If you’re in a position to do so, of course.”

I smiled and looked at Elias who tilted his head in a slight nod. “We would love to come,” I said truthfully. But in all honestly, I wasn’t sure what two months from now was going to look like. Would I be back in Rimor, bound to the kingdom by my father’s overprotection?

No. Things would have to be different by then. Much different. Iwould have my answers, and I’d be damned if I let my father lock me up again after all of this. And on top of that, I would have Elias to support me.

“We will certainly do our best,” I finished.

“Yay!” Nadia clapped excitedly. “Mags, did you ever think aprincesswould be attending your wedding?”

The older sister laughed. “I can’t say that I did.”

After a moment of Magda sharing the details of the wedding and Nadia enthusiastically telling Elias all about their village while we finished the plate of food, the sisters brought us to Daegon.

The village chieftain stood from his chair as we entered his home. He looked Elias up and down.

“Glad to see you’re doing better,” he said gruffly. “Are you well enough to leave?”

“Father…” Gabriel said, also standing from the table they had been sitting at.

“No, it’s alright,” I answered. “We do not want to overstay our welcome if it puts your village in danger.” I turned to the chieftain, putting on the role of confident princess. “This is a very special place, Daegon. Elias and I are forever grateful for your hospitality. But we will be leaving within the hour.”

“Thank you,” the chieftain replied genuinely.

“I just ask, if you have the means and willingness, to let us leave with some supplies. Ours were left behind at the attack.”

Both Elias and I left our packs at the site where Volund had intercepted us. My bow, the book, and all of our money and supplies were gone. We now had nothing but the clothes we wore, and mymother’s knife. “I promise we can repay you with gold, if you can see it in your heart to let us revisit someday.”