Chapter 38 (Cora)

As soon as we entered the encampment Ara excused himself to find Roland after commanding his people to unpack and rest. Looking around the encampment it wasn’t big but it was tidy and organized. Helana came to help me find my way to my chambers.

“Your Majesty, if you will, I will show you the way.” she bowed as she greeted me.

Your majesty seemed so foreign when it was directed at me. It felt wrong to me. Agreeing to Helena’s escort I followed her into the main building, after patting the horse we had rode one more time. She informed me that four out of the five maids that had come with my entourage had been injured in the scuffle. All of them had minor injuries and were going to recover just fine. The only maid to remain uninjured would be escorted to my chambers shortly after she settled in to hers.

The gray stone that they left exposed was beautiful, with the wood accents. I followed her from the foyer, up the staircase to my own wing of the building. Walking through the double doors, we entered into my own private lounge with a huge window on the other side leading to a balcony. Off of the lounge was a bedroom, private bath and small office. The whole chamber was bigger than the whole servants quarters at the annex.

“Your Majesty, may I say something?” Helana hesitantly asked.

“Helana, you may always speak freely to me, you are my personal knight. I would prefer if you dropped the honorifics as well. In private please call me by name.” I could not bear hearing that phrase from her.

“Of course Your Maj… Elanora. If I may, why did you save me back there?” her face scrunched up in confusion as she asked.

It was on instinct, I had not really put much thought into it. I saw her danger and my body just reacted. I doubted that was what she wanted to hear at the moment though.

“You swore your loyalty to me, just like Tate, I consider you to be part of my family. You are one of my people. I would do it again if need be.” I walked up to her, placing my hand on her shoulder so she would look up at me, instead of at the floor.

“I beg of you Elanora if there is a next time, let me die. You have stained your hands with blood because of a lowly knight like me. Please I don’t want you to put yourself in danger because I am too incompetent to protect you.” She started to cry, as she recalled the events that just took place.

“Helana, it was my decision to take his life. You are mine, I will always protect what is mine. So please unburden yourself with such thoughts. You are far from incompetent, I was able to survive and return here with you because of all you did.” I tried to comfort her, the best way I knew how.

I didn’t want anyone to sacrifice themselves for me, especially any of Tarak’s men. I was merely a servant playing princess. If any of them had died trying to protect a fake princess, the guilt would be too much to bear. At that point we heard a soft tentative knock on the door. Calling for the person to come in.

“Excuse my intrusion, Your Majesty, my name is Lydy I will be attending to you while the others are treated for their injuries.” she bowed introducing herself to me.

She seemed young, much younger than myself. She was a little shorter than myself coming up to about my chin. Her gorgeous red locks could barely be tamed by her bun, and I could see the deep forest green of her eyes everytime she snuck glances at me, reminding me of Taraks eyes.

“Welcome Lydy, thank you for pushing through these trying times to attend to me.” I thanked her, I understood how hard it must have been for her to be in the middle of that chaos and still have to attend to me without having time for yourself.

Dismissing Helana, I had Lydy draw my bath why I lounged on the chaise trying to comprehend what happened in the last twenty-four hours. I got married to the alleged God of War, had my carriaged ambushed, killed a man and now I am here halfway towards my new life. I wanted time to talk to someone I could confide in, but I had no idea where Tate was or how to find him.

“Lydy, have you been informed of our situation?” I questioned. Wanting to know if she knew who I really was.

“Of course, Cora.” she called back from the bathroom.

My heart started to pound as she called out my real name. It already felt so foreign to me, I had only been playing Elanora for a short time and I had already gotten used to using her name and authority.

“Can I confide in you Lydy?” my question sounded hesitant even to my own ears.

“Of course, Cora, I am your personal maid until we reach Andal. Use me as you please.” she walked over to the chaise I was on.

Kneeling in front of it. It was a position I had put myself in so many times for the real Elanora. Instructing her to sit on the chair across from me. I felt much better talking to her like this as equals than talking down at her as her master.

“I killed someone during that ambush. I took a life. I don’t know how to stop thinking about it. I see his final moments in my mind everytime I close my eyes. I’m scared these visions will never leave me.” I whimpered not realizing how much it had affected me till now.

“From what I've heard about you, you are probably the bravest person I have ever met. I dared to think what would happen if I was put in your shoes when I found out I would be traveling with you. I found myself thinking I would have run away many times if I was you.” she grabbed my hand patting it, to comfort me. “How I see it, you did as you had to. You are brave and courageous, that man was a coward trying to hurt you.” her voice took on a menacing tone as she talked about the soldier.”I am glad you did what you did.” she finished looking at me, her eyes reflecting how proud she actually was of me.

I didn’t realize how much I needed to hear these things. I had been through so much, and my mind had not had the time to catch up with the events taking place. Lydy’s words had soothed over all the mental injuries I had been ignoring.

Getting up I let her escort me into the bathroom to wash for the night. It was the first night I would officially be spending as the wife of King Andal.