***
Eramire sat outside in the gardens. The elf queen sighed, filling her lungs with the sweet-scented air. Last night had been wonderful. A frown crossed her face. It had also been terrible.
"Oh, Thorindir," she murmured sadly.
She hadn't thought he would still love her after all these years, or that old feelings could be so easily stirred within her. But she was foolish if she thought she was in any position to feel anything for her childhood love and best friend.
"I can't stay," she whispered.
Her mind traveled back to her childhood in Gaearost, bumping over the stretches of forests and hills back to the sea, where her heart always lay. The scenes came unbidden. Sweet memories of when she was only a little girl flooded back.
She was standing at the base of a large tree in a courtyard at the castle in Gaearost. Thorindir stood beside her. They both looked up, searching the tree's limbs.
"Earwen, please come down," Eramire called up at the tree. She was sixteen, Earwen twelve.
"No!" came the short, angry reply from somewhere among the green foliage of the tree.
Eramire threw her arms in the air. She looked at Thorindir, giving him a "you try to get her down" look.
The young elf soldier of twenty laughed at Eramire. He stepped closer to the tree and called out, "Please, Cricket, come down. Everyone is waiting."
"They can wait forever. I'm not going to any stupid ball."
"It's your birthday celebration," Eramire yelled up at the tree, seething with embarrassment. "You will come down this instant and act like a proper princess!"
Thorindir laughed and received a nasty glare from Eramire. She placed her hands on her hips.
Thorindir winked at her, and she huffed and crossed her arms. "Come on, Cricket," he called up again. "You know you will have to come down eventually. If you do, I promise I'll take you to training with me tomorrow."
Eramire slapped his shoulder. He couldn't take her to training; it was not appropriate. He gave her a grim look, and she relented.
The girl in the tree was silent, considering the offer. "You promise to take me?" Earwen asked, voice hesitant.
"Yes, I promise." Thorindir chuckled.
"Well, all right, I guess." The branches rustled as the young girl made her way down.
"See, nothing to it." Thorindir grinned at Eramire.
She in turn rolled her eyes and marched back toward the castle.
The memory changed to a few years later. The three elves now rode horses across the countryside. Thorindir was trotting a little ahead. Like always, he was assigned as their chaperone and protector. Eramire smiled. He was now a captain and doing very well climbing the ranks of the Gaearost army. But he always made time to visit with the sisters. The two girls spurred their horses to catch up with him.
"My horse is faster than yours," Earwen teased the elf man.
"So sure of that, are we?" Thorindir waggled his eyebrows at her.
"Race me," she challenged.
"Earwen." Eramire's voice held warning.
"Oh, psh." Earwen glared at her sister.
YOU ARE READING
The Lost Princess
FantasyAmara is lost. A former princess turned assassin, she has lived in darkness ever since her kingdom was taken by the evil wizard Goroth. Amara now only has one purpose, to destroy the one who took everything from her. But revenge seems far from reach...
