ARTHUR
DAWN TIPTOED along the horizon.
I was sure it was time—that Princess Pride would wake up any minute now. I watched over her until sunlight streamed in through the window. I’d been looking at her face all night, holding her hand the whole time, but she never moved an inch. Nausea roiled in my gut each time the doctors checked for signs of life. I glanced at Tiara, but she wore the same grim look on her face and stared down at our interlocked hands while I kept stroking her back. She shook her head fiercely when I asked her if she wanted to get some sleep.
“I’ll probably have bad dreams,” she replied, smiling even though she looked on the verge of tears. I’d never seen her smile with so much pain.
No matter how long we waited, Princess Pride didn’t show the slightest sign of stirring. Stale had yet to return, though I was sure he’d come rushing back as soon as he concluded his business. His absence only added to my unease.
It all happened so fast, from the moment Princess Pride started screaming all the way up to her collapse.
The other knights and I ran toward her as soon as the shrieks began. The second she was in pain, we sprang into action before our minds even processed the situation. My heart stuttered at the agony twisting her face. I ran as fast as I could, but it felt like each step was too slow. I almost couldn’t breathe in my urgency to reach her quicker.
We forced our way through the crowd…but by then, she wasn’t moving. My vision blurred. The world quivered around me, everything I’d once known suddenly unstable.
Stale was even paler than Her Highness as he cradled her in his arms. He bared his teeth like a wild animal at anyone who dared to approach. Stale shouted for everyone to make way when he spotted me, then passed Princess Pride into my arms…but my power didn’t work like it usually would have. His look of despair was seared into my mind even hours later.
I squeezed Princess Pride’s hand, touched her neck, put my hands on her head, but not only did she stay asleep, I couldn’t even sense my special power anymore.
“Why?”
I closed my mouth before anything more could slip out. It wasn’t right for me to speak of it, not as things stood.
Until now, I’d been able to heal anyone. I was so proud of that gift, so happy I had the power to save people… So why did it have to fail on her, the one person I wanted to heal most? I could have cursed myself. Staying at her bedside didn’t ease the burden on my heart in the slightest. Instead, the sight of her lying there squeezed my chest until I could hardly breathe. Horrible, painful thoughts played on a loop in my mind.
I prayed that she might wake up, that this was all just a dream, but such things were out of my hands.
I traced the lines of Princess Pride’s hand between Tiara’s fingers, feeling her smooth skin and faint body heat. At least she wasn’t gone yet. Wait, “yet”?
A chill shot through my body. No one had any idea when she would wake up or what did this to her. When the doctor had said, “If she doesn’t wake up at all…” my vision went black.
Her screams and her tormented face were already scorched into my memory. But when I thought about what came after, ice washed through my veins and my throat burned, my whole body trembling. I accidentally gripped the princesses’ hands harder.
When Tiara noticed, she leaned her head against my shoulder. Stale had kept up a tough front as well, though I’d nearly choked at the contorted smile he gave Princess Pride. Never had I seen such strong emotion overcome him. Never had he shouted like that in front of Freesia’s guests.
It wasn’t just Stale either—Captain Alan’s face was ashen, Vice Captain Eric was crying out, and Captain Callum’s hands trembled. This was my first time witnessing them in such a state.
Dad wore a grim expression as he issued orders to us, and Clark’s face was equally somber as he watched us leave. This could have been an attack or assassination attempt, so every last knight locking down the castle was ready to kill the culprit if we found him. When I looked at Princess Pride’s pale, lifeless face, my stomach wrenched itself into a knot.
Please, please…wake up soon…
It was a simple wish.
But in that moment, it was the one desire left in my heart…after I’d been so utterly powerless.