Inheritance

Part 2. Chapter 27: The Cost

"I don't know what to do, Francis! He won't let me leave!" Kori exclaimed with glassy eyes to the elf on the other side of the bars.

Francis rolled his eyes. "Ah, those who are not elves are so foolish—nearly sobbing in front of their enemies... You want to save Maribel, don't you, little waif?"

"Of course I do, but—"

"There's no but. If you love your kingdom, you'll save it. You shouldn't need permission to save your kingdom—even from your king." Francis interrupted her—folding his arms across his chest and crossing his ankles.

Kori frowned. "It's easy for you to say! How do I know you're not just encouraging me so that you can be freed and then escape?"

Francis shrugged nonchalantly. "You'll never know until you do it, I suppose. You have the uppherhand right now, but you won't when the queen comes knocking. You better do whatever you're going to do fast."

Kori closed her eyes. "I have to convince him... How would you convince your queen?"

Francis snorted. "I would debase myself—that's the only way she listens to anyone. I'm not sure you're willing to lower yourself the way I have, though."

Kori's cheeks were hot with embarrassment. It's as if he knows about my affair with Laurence.

"I don't know what I'm to do..." Kori continued helplessly. "I can't let Maribel be invaded. How will I convince him? How can I possibly make him understand?"

Francis hadn't looked her in the eyes for more than a moment since she had arrived. Now, he looked at her compassionately. "Little waif, now is not the time to cower before your king. If you want my queen to lower your debt—if you want to erase the fact that you captured me, if you want a future for your kingdom where you and the people of Maribel remain free, you must stop at nothing to either convince the king to free me, or free me without his permission—even if you have to... Threaten him."

Kori was about to vehemently protest, but she found that the words were caught in her throat.

She knew he had a point.

She felt tears beginning to gather in her already glassy eyes.

She wanted to show no weakness in front of a foreign elf. She dusted off her dress and dashed up the stairs so she would not cry in front of him.

She returned to her quarters in the Great Hall and sat on her bed silently.

She knew what she had to do, but she wasn't sure she could go through with it.

She hugged her knees in silence.

On the one hand, she didn't want to lose her king, her first friend, and her lover. On the other hand, she didn't want to lose the kingdom that had accepted her and the people who had welcomed her with open arms.

A fire which had been dwelling deep down in her soul suddenly began to roar.

He took Eory from me. He killed his dog; he would have killed him when he meant him no harm. Kori reminded herself to stoke the flame.

She stood up abruptly and thought she was suddenly willing to do what it took to save the kingdom. She marched to her door, completely intending to threaten the king, but then, as she placed her hand on the knob...

She leaned her forehead against the door with tears rolling down her cheeks and remembered a time long gone when the world which had previously been so dark and cruel to her, had suddenly become kind and compassionate.

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Kori had been banished from Trella and had emerged from the dark forests into broad daylight. Because waifs were nocturnal creatures, the sun nearly blinded her eyes which were unused to its bright rays and she was exhausted to no end. She was starving and thirsty without food and water which she had run out of long before; her lips were chapped and she felt unimaginably dizzy.