Valencia

    As promised, Mary returned a few minutester, holding a tray in her hand.

    She set up a small table for me on the bed itself and ced the tes on it.

    “Do you call this light dinner?” I asked, looking at the sandwiches, juices, and sweets she had brought for me.

    “This is approved by the royal healer so you can’t wriggle out of it”

    She said, warning me sternly yet there was a smile on ehr face.

    “I wonder if Sarah is also getting such food” I mumbled mostly to myself but Mary heard it.

    “If you want, I can send the same to her room too. You were saying her name nonstop earlier. But I am not sure if the templedies would allow me to do that”

    She added thest line hesitantly.

    “Why not?” I asked and reached for the sandwich on the te.

    Mary fussed over my pillows that she adjusted for no reason.

    “The Temple of Elorin may be in Elorin but they operate like a separate identity. They have rules and beliefs that are different from the rest of the Kingdom. The King does not interfere and I am not sure thedies there would like us tainted people to step in there, much less offer food.”

    The sandwich tasted like ash on my tongue but Mary had her eyes glued to me, checking if I was finishing the food or not. Plus, she kept on insisting that I needed to get my strength back sooner to start training again.

    That only made me feel sad.

    I was trying to be good at both the training and the temple duties but I sucked at both. I had made just one friend but she went through so much for my sake and I had yet to knock down a dummy on my own, much less start training in realbat anytime soon.

    So despite my stomach refusing to want any food, I ate it slowly but surely and also swallowed another bitter drink that was supposed to rx my tired brain and muscles.

    “Did you never want to go to the temple instead of working here as a servant?” I asked.

    I had noticed quite often how she withdrew herself whenever other men were around but was rtively at ease around Killian. She had also run away when Sir Nichs appeared one day to invite me to dinner.

    So it would make more sense for her to go to a ce filled with justdies.

    Mary chewed on her bottom lip as if she was not sure if she wanted to anser me.

    I saw the conflicted emotion on her face and added

    “Rx. You don’t have to tell me if you are notfortable.”

    After a few words with Killian, I had noticed pushing him was not getting me any closer to the truth. Even if he trusted me or wanted to share’stuff with me, he would not do it the instant he saw me.

    Everybody here had some secret or the other, that much I had learned after spending thest few weeks here.

    10:57 Tue, 26 Aug 0

    If Mary wanted to, she would tell me without me having to ask her.

    Mary’s shoulders immediately rxed and she just replied. “I like it here”

    I nodded in understanding and she seemed relieved that I wasn’t pushing her.

    ? ? 28% 2

    She then took the empty tes of food and tray away and wished me goodnight as she walked out the door.

    Meanwhile, my mind kept drifting to different thoughts and people around me- Nina, Killian, Sarah, the temple etc.

    And suddenly something shed in front of my eyes.

    It was a symbol of some kind.

    It was shining brightly and just disappeared before I could see it clearly.

    What was that and why had it randomly popped in my head?

    Had I seen it before somewhere?

    I tried to focus on it but the more I tried, the more it evaded me. It was as if I was trying to hold onto sand and the tighter my fist, the more the sand slipped through between the gaps of my fingers.

    When I could not recall it anymore, I just decided to ignore it and let my eyes close for a while to rest.

    The food had been nice and I could now rest assured that Sarah was doing well because Killian said so.

    And I believed him.

    So I drifted off to sleep as darkness greeted me like an old friend. The next day, I woke up quitete but thankfully, I didnt have an angry Killian waiting to punish me for skipping training.

    Instead I found a note sitting on the table addressed for me.

    Curious, I picked it up and saw words written in beautiful handwriting.

    38

    “I hope you will rest for a few days until you are fit enough to start training again. Meanwhile, if you wish I can have someone send a few books from the library for you to read if you are getting bored. Send a word through Mary or any other servant if you need anything. Take care, K.”

    I read through that note a few times again as I felt my lips curl up into a smile. Back when I was still working at the Bureau and staying in my apartment, I often used to dream of having him with me.

    The few nights that he didn’t return to meet me, I would look around for notes that he might have left for me on the fridge or the dining table.

    Somehow, this note reminded me of that wish.

    I was a fool to still cling to that dream of a future with a man who literally tore me away from the world I knew and brought me at an unknown ce.

    I still had no idea how to leave this kingdom or where to even begin searching for a way back home. And then I realized something with a surprising rity.

    á realization that shocked me.

    That as time passed, 1 had stopped looking for a way home.

    That I had forgotten all about the map I had vowed to draw myself to find out the entry and exit points of Elorin.

    10:57 Tue, 26 Aug D

    28%

    +38)

    I had not even thought of going home in the past weeks, nor had I wondered about work or Sophia, my one and only friend back in the city.

    Had I gotten so used to this kingdom and its people that the thought of home had not even crossed my mind in the past few days?

    Had I just epted that awakening my magic, finding the connection to Morwenna and freeing this kingdom of its curse as my destiny?