Page 50 of Quest for her Knights (The Lost Souls of Dyconia #5)

Chapter thirty-five

Elora

“ C ome on Elora, you’ve got to get up, it’s starting soon,” Freya says from where she sits on the side of my bed.

“I don’t want to get up. I hate this place. They don’t even have ice cream here,” I mumble from where I’m hiding under the covers.

“I promise it’s not that bad,” she said, for the millionth time as she pulls the blanket back to reveal my tear-stained cheeks. “You’ve been crying again.”

“Don’t look at me like that. You got to marry the men you love.”

“That’s true. But they are my soulmates.”

“Soulmates?” I don’t think I’ve heard anyone mention that before .

“Yeah, it’s like this feeling in my heart that knows that they belong with me. Like we’re connected. When I’m not with them it’s like it’s calling out for them, and when we’re close, it seems to almost hum in approval.”

I think about the way I feel about my knights. It feels a lot like what she’s describing. “Do you think I could have soulmates here, too?” I ask with hope.

“Who knows! You haven’t even met all the lords yet, I bet some of them are really nice.

Maybe you’ll feel a connection there?” I glare at her and her shoulders slump.

“I’m sorry Elora. I tried to get them to reason with you, but they refuse to let you go after them.

Besides, they left you here, are you sure you really want them? ”

I growl at her and her eyes widen in surprise as she pulls her hand back, as if I might bite her. “I told you they didn’t leave me. They’d never leave. The kings and queen must have forced them off the castle grounds.”

I spend most of the days here staring out my window, hoping to catch sight of them. Some sort of signal to tell me they're out there waiting for me. But I’ve seen nothing.

“The princes went looking. It seems they didn’t hang around anywhere close by.”

I know Freya isn’t trying to hurt my feelings, but the tiniest bit of doubt creeps in at her words. What if they did leave? What if they thought I was too much work to stay for ?

“Look, you may as well get dressed. You don’t want the queen in here forcing you to bathe, do you?”

“No,” I grumble as she moves out of the way, allowing me to swing my feet to the floor. I’ve been shut in my room for the past month. Four weeks have passed since I last saw my knights.

Four excruciating weeks.

It’s not like I’m being detained, I just can’t stand to see the kings or queen. Every time I do, it makes me angry. And with the abundance of knights now stationed around the castle, I can’t step outside without at least three trailing me. Seeing knights that aren’t mine makes my chest ache.

I can still feel them out there. The tethers between us hum constantly in my chest, but without being near them, without being able to touch them, they pull tight, straining painfully.

Like my heart is calling out with no one to answer, that sounds an awful lot like what Freya just described as soulmates.

Making my way to the ensuite, I glance out the window. From here, I can see the edge of the field where they’re setting up for the tournament.

Freya joins me, pressing her cheek to the glass for a better view.

“Don’t you think it’s even a little exciting? Imagine, all those lords competing in a tournament for your hand!”

“You wouldn’t be saying that if you’d met some of them,” I mutter .

She’s quiet for a moment before asking, “Are they really that bad?”

I turn to face her. “The first ones we met had books about how to train your wife using corporal punishment.”

Her eyes widen. “Seriously?”

“There were chapters about locking her in a closet if she stepped out of line.”

“Oh shit.”

I nod. If one of them wins, there’s no way in hell I’m marrying them.

“I hear they’re all going to wear full chainmail and helmets. You won’t know who any of them are. They said it’s the only way to keep it fair.”

“None of this is fair,” I snap.

“I know. I’m sorry. I’ll keep working on them. The princes are, too. They lost their best friends. They don’t like this situation either, they want you to be happy.”

“I wish the kings and Queen felt the same.”

“I think it’s hard for them. Learning their daughter was responsible for the murder of almost an entire family... it made them feel like they failed the kingdom. I think they believe that forcing you to marry noblemen somehow makes up for it.”

“That doesn’t make sense.”

“To them, it does. Now go clean yourself up. I’ll leave an appropriate dress on your bed. Then come down for breakfast. It’s better for you if you don’t make them drag you out there. ”

“Fine,” I grumble, moving into the washroom. I pause in the doorway and peek back out. “Oh, Freya?”

“Yeah?”

“Thanks for your help.” I offer her a weak smile, wanting her to know I don’t hold any of this against her.

“Of course. I wish I could do more.”

She exits into the hall and closes the door behind her and I take my time bathing and getting ready.

The royal family has invited hundreds of spectators to watch the tournament, and the makeshift outdoor arena they’d built just for this occasion is buzzing with energy. I wish I could enjoy it, under different circumstances this could be a lot of fun.

But sitting on this stupid wooden throne beside King Lewis, it’s all I can do not to slump in my chair. We all sit in a row at the center of the arena. The queen is in the middle, with two husbands on either side of her, me at one end, and Freya and her princes at the other.

The other three sides of the area are filled with what they call commoners and there’s a small section filled with knights who aren’t on duty.

I wasn’t sure what sort of things they’d make these lords do in a tournament. I didn’t imagine most of them being able to handle a sword or weapon. So I’m surprised when a whistle is blown and King Ian stands to announce that the first round is an archery contest.

My heart immediately pines for Arrow. If he was here, I know he’d out shine all these lords.

“Elora, come watch with me!” Freya calls from where she’s leaning on a railing beside Talon, a few steps down from where she was sitting. I look to King Lewis for permission, and he nods his head.

Happy to be away from his side, I quickly make my way over to them. The way Talon holds Freya tells me how much he cares about her. I watch as his hand slides around to rest on her stomach. Her slightly swollen stomach.

“Oh my god, Freya!” I gasp and they both turn to me with wide eyes. “You’re pregnant!” She can’t stop the huge smile that covers her face, and Talon smirks, kissing her neck as she nods.

“Yeah, it’s still pretty early, maybe three or four months? It’s hard to tell here.”

“Congratulations! You look happy, so this is a good thing… right?”

She nods excitedly. “A very good thing.” She reaches out and squeezes my hand. “You’re going to be an aunt.”

My eyes widen is shock. “Me?”

“Of course, you're their daddy’s sister, so you’ll be our child’s aunt.”

“Wow, that’s… awesome!” I saw with a smile .

“They’re about to start,” Talon says, pointing to the arena.

I turn to watch, leaning my elbows on the railing as I stare out at the lords getting themselves in position in front of the targets.

“They look stupid doing that with helmets on,” I say with a chuckle.

“It’s to hide their identities, so the winners are chosen honestly.” I nod, already knowing this.

I watch as they take aim at the same time, releasing their arrows when they’re ready. Half of them don’t even hit their targets, a few hit the outer edge, and two hit closer to the center. No, one hits closer to the middle, the other hits dead center.

“Who hit that one?” I ask, pointing to it, but Freya and Talon shake their heads. The lords are already moving away so it’s hard to tell from here.

“I’m not sure, the knights down there are keeping track, though, by their numbers.” Each man had a number taped to the front and back of his chest.

“Oh look, they’re making them move back to do it again,” Elora points to where the archers are being moved further away from the targets.

They all take aim and fire again. Only two hit the targets, and one is right in the center again. “Number eight!” I say, pointing to the man who shot it.

“You seem awfully excited,” Freya says with a smirk.

I frown at her before looking down at my hands nervously.

I did feel excited there for a minute. But I tell myself it’s only because the archer reminds me of Arrow.

I try to get a better look at him, trying to figure out if it’s one of the lords I met.

It might be Rafe from Shadowcross. Didn’t he say he enjoyed archery?

I stay silent as they move the archers back one last time and Rafe, or whoever it is, is the only one to hit the target, and he hits it perfectly, once again.

I sigh, leaning my chin on my hand as I gaze around the arena, hoping to catch a glimpse of my knights somewhere. Maybe they found a way to sneak in to see me? But as hard as I look, I can’t see them anywhere.

The next event is set up quickly and when I see the lords practice swinging swords, I realize it must be some sort of fight.

King Lewis stands to address the crowd. “The next round is close combat.”

We watch as they are paired off in twos and swords start clanging around the arena. Some of them seem to have almost no skill, their swords being knocked out of their hands almost instantly and they raise their hands in defeat straight away.

The second round lasts a little longer, but the third round is down to four matches. There's no way to know which of the men fighting are brothers, if any. For all we know, brothers could be fighting each other in this final round.

As soon as it starts, my eyes are drawn to the match closest to me. I watch as number twelve lunges forward and knocks the sword out of number six's hand. He lifts his hands in surrender, and his opponent nods, sheathing his sword before turning his head up in my direction.