Page 64 of Tangled Sails

I hated doing it, but I carefully shifted her head from my arm to his, beckoned by my mother’s frantic cries. “I’ll only be a moment.”

“I know.”

I stood, giving Lyri one last lingering look, noticing that her face seemed perhaps a little less pale, and then ran over to my father’s side, pushing my way in between a doctor and a guard until I was able to see him for myself.

Chapter nineteen

LYRIELLE

A heaviness weighed me down, and my whole body was uncomfortable. I heard the sound of footsteps close at hand, and something or someone was holding me. I moaned, trying to open my eyes and ask what was happening.

“Shh, go back to sleep,” someone said, and since that was exactly what I wanted to do, I allowed that encouragement to relax me enough to fall back into oblivion.

When I roused next, I was rocking back and forth, and the lapping of water reached my ears. It was soothing, reminding me of the day Tavric had taken me to the island. But…was I on the water now? I pulled my heavy eyes open for just a moment but shut them quickly when the light was too bright, forcing myself to listen and think.

The sound was definitely water. And the snapping of fabric must have been a sail. Had Tavric taken me on a boat? No, Tavric was with the princess now. Or, no, not anymore. I’d helped him and he’d kissed me. Then I’d healed his father, and then…

What happened after I’d healed his father? Had I healed his father? I’d tried. I’d thrown all my strength into healing him, but had it been enough?

Why couldn’t I remember?

Slick fear coated my skin and the inside of my mouth, and I forced my eyes open again. I was staring at the bottom of the boat, so I turned my head and was met with a wide expanse of blue sky, interrupted by the white sail, swollen with wind as it pulled the boat along.

It took incredible effort, but I managed to push myself up on my elbow, giving myself a view of the man who sat at the other end of the boat, holding the steering oar.

“Harlan…what’s happening? What are you doing?” I asked, frustrated when the effort of holding myself up was too much and I had to lie down again.

“We’re just taking a sail, Your Highness.”

He was turned away from me, so I couldn’t see his face, but his tone sounded like he was…laughing?

The wind was strong, and it felt as though we were going much faster than Tavric and I had gone that day we went to the island, which was terrifying when I had no idea where we were going or why. Harlan’s lack of answers or concern compounded my fear.

“Why am I so weak?” I asked, terrified by how similar I felt to the times Aunt Ethel had given me calming potions. “Did you…did you give me a sleeping draught or…”

“It wasn’t my doing. I just took advantage of the situation.”

“What situation?”

“You passed out when you tried to heal the king.”

I supposed that made sense. Healing always took a toll. I just hadn’t been prepared for how large this toll would be. I looked up at the cloudless sky extending in every direction.

Endless, fathomless, terrifying.

“Don’t worry, Princess,” he said. “You’ll be right as rain soon enough, I’m sure.”

“I already told you, I’m not royalty,” I reminded him, frustrated by my continued confusion over this whole situation.

His eyes cut over to me and then back to the horizon. “Your mother gifted you the royal crest of Branfrie. No doubt it was passed down from mother to daughter until it got to you.”

“Even if that’s true, it doesn’t make me royalty. You know there hasn’t been royalty in Branfrie for generations.”

His eyes settled on me this time and he tilted his head. “Either way, you being a descendent of the old royals makes you special.”

“I was an orphan and a captive in Branfrie. Nothing about me is special,” I said as anger and fear choked my voice. “Why am I here, Harlan?”

“Do you realize that if the High Court had discovered that an actual descendent of the royal family also had powers as coveted as yours, they would have either killed or enslaved you?”