burst out into a fit of giggles. I join them when I realize that we sound like my sisters and me when we were young. I can’t remember the last time I laughed like this and I’m grateful for it, I need it.
Shaking my head, I try to calm my laughs down before I get too light-headed from my tied ribbons and pass out from lack of oxygen. The girls are busy packing the last-minute items in my trunks.
Apparently, we leave for Beallenau tomorrow. Though I’m not very excited about the prospect of war, and whatever that looks like where we’re going, I am excited for an adventure. Elias is right, I do crave an adventure, one that I know only he can give me in this magical world.
“Sybilla?” Katrina softly calls, her voice is so small that I almost don’t hear her.
Lifting my gaze to her, I notice that she’s standing next to my bed, a necklace in her hand that she’s spinning around, but not really looking at. She’s lost in thought and I wonder what could be bothering her so much.
“Katrina? Are you okay? Do you not want to join us?” I ask.
Her body jerks and she lifts her gaze to meet mine, a look of horror crosses her features. “I do want to go, please don’t leave me here, Your Majesty,” she quickly begs.
“What’s the matter then?”
Her gaze shifts from me to the window, then back to me. “I have feelings. I shouldn’t. Servants like me, they aren’t supposed to have feelings like this for men like him,” she mutters. “Forget it,” she admonishes.
Standing, I walk over to her, taking the necklace out of her hands and setting it on the bed. Taking both of her hands in mine, I look directly into her eyes.
“I am not anything special in my world, Katrina. I don’t have very much money, I don’t have any royal blood, and where I come from there are no prophecies or magic. If Elias were the king of a country where I am from, he would not even know I existed.”
Katrina doesn’t say anything, instead she chews on her bottom lip as she watches me. “What I mean to say is that, I am not worthy of my title, I don’t know anything about being a queen and I am common just like you, and yet, Elias saw me. He felt something for me immediately and now we share something deep with one another.”
“He’s confessed his love for you?” Ellyn asks.
“Quiet,” Jasmine hisses.
“We haven’t coupled, he hasn’t bedded me. I doubt he knows I exist, but I have seen him watch me. He’s smiled in my direction. I fancy him, greatly. But I’m not like others… I can’t just… and never have more.”
“She’s not lain with a man before,” Ellyn interjects. “She is waiting for her husband.”
I can’t hide my smile as I look at the sweet Katrina. She’s a virgin and she has a crush. I’m not sure who it’s on yet, but obviously she thinks that he has a higher standing than she does and that she is not worthy, but I do know that she’s been noticed, by her description at least.
“Who is it?” I ask.
Katrina chews on her bottom lip, her gaze shifting to the side then coming back to meet mine. “It’s silly,” she mutters. “I’m infatuated with him and it’s completely silly.”
“Katrina,” I warn, though I’m not sure what I’m warning, but I want to know and for some strange reason, I want to meddle.
Katrina sighs. “It’s Merek,” she blurts. “He’s so handsome, so tall and so strong. He also smiles, and he was so good to you while His Highness was away. He’s kind and handsome and he smiles at me, he doesn’t pretend that I don’t exist like most do in his station. It’s silly, I told you,” she rambles.
“I don’t think it’s silly, do you girls think it’s silly?” I ask, looking between the other two women.
Jasmine is a bit older than Katrina and Ellyn, I don’t miss the flash of pity that crosses her face for just a moment before she wipes it away.
“I don’t think it’s silly,” she begins. “However, I do believe if you took it any farther, you would be setting yourself up for heartache. Merek is of royal blood and King Elias will no doubt arrange a marriage for him that will give a political advantage.”
Katrina’s shoulders slump and her chin drops in defeat. She already knows that