The Exiled Elf Prince Next Door Dies on Day Seventy novel · Chapter 23 of 24
Chapter 23: The Festival Barn
The festival barn smelled of cut hay and cider, and it was completely empty.
Ribbons hung from the rafters, and strings of paper lanterns glowed along the beams.
From across the village the fiddles and drums of the festival came thin and happy on the wind.
Caelrin shut the big door behind them and dropped the bar.
Aoi's knees gave out.
She sat down hard on a bale and began to shake, all over.
Her teeth chattering.
"Hey," he said, going down on one knee in front of her. "Aoi."
"I'm fine."
"You are shaking."
"I stood on a barrel," she said wildly. "I stood on a barrel in front of eight hundred soldiers and told them they were eating my turnips."
"You did."
"I'm not a person who does that."
"You are exactly a person who does that." His mouth curved. "You always were."
He unbuckled his sword belt and set the sheathed sword on the next bale.
He did not look at it again.
He took her hands and rubbed them between his, one and then the other, until the shaking slowed.
Then he reached up and began unpinning her braids.
His fingers were slow and careful, and each loop of hair came loose with a soft sigh.
She let her head fall forward against his chest.
"I want you to stop being brave now," Caelrin said. "Just for an hour. You may be anything you like, and I will be here."
"I want to be yours."
"You are."
"I want you to tell me I did good."
"You did good," he said.
The warmth in the words hit her low in her belly.
The rest of this chapter is part of the paid portion of the series. Chapters 1–6 of The Exiled Elf Prince Next Door Dies on Day Seventy are free to read — start from the beginning, then unlock the rest with coins in the app.
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