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“Planning to drink the palace dry?”
Eretria lowered the delicate glass goblet–either her fourth or fifth one–from her wine-wet lips to glare at Ander.
“Is that against the rules, Your Highness?” She drawled, straightening from her position leaning against one of the cool, marble columns of the noisy ballroom.
“Only if you don’t leave enough for me to enjoy too.”
She chuckled, shaking her head at the grinning royal. “Celebrating your abdication, I see.”
They both glanced at the newly crowned Queen Amberle, dressed in a stunning gold gown, at the center of the crowd, chatting and laughing and looking like she was born for this. She was born for this, Eretria reminded herself dutifully. That was the whole problem, after all, wasn’t it?
The princess and the rover, bound by a tragic fate.
When Amberle had told her that all those weeks ago–before they had traversed the world, before they had fought the demons, before they had saved the Ellcrys–Eretria never had imagined that tragic fate would involve something more painful than death.
She is not for you, and you are not for her.
“She’ll be brilliant at this,” Ander remarked quietly, looking at her with a careful side glance.
“I know.” Her voice was certain, but harsh, too reactive and vulnerable for her liking.
“But she can’t do it alone.”
Eretria stiffened, then turned towards him. “What is that supposed to mean?”
“You’re worth more than devoting yourself to drinking away your sorrows. Trust me: the answer you’re looking for isn’t at the bottom of a cup.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” she sneered.
“And I don’t know why you’re wasting time pretending something completely insurmountable stands between you and my niece. It will be had, I won’t tell you otherwise. But she needs you, Eretria, more than either of you know. Fight for her, because I am more than sure she will fight for you, to be with you, too.”
She wanted to scoff, to blow off his comments as nothing more than sentimental drivel from a royal who had spent too much time living in the sky-high palace to understand how the world really worked. There was a sincerity to his voice with a pleading undertone though,, as if he was desperate to fix a mistake she hadn’t even made yet. As she glanced over at him, realizing he was not looking at her, but at Commander Tilton, and suddenly she understood that maybe she wasn’t the one who had made a mistake at all.
“You really think so?” she finally rasped out. Her hand gripped her goblet so tightly she thought it might break.
“The only thing you can do is try.”
He gave her a curt nod of approval, and so with a deep breath, Eretria took a step forward, right in Amberle’s direction.
Maybe they were indeed fated, but maybe theirs didn’t have to be a tragic fate after all.