The elders looked at her and then looked at each other.
“Princess, forgive us for our ignorance. We must speak of this further. Will you take a room?” Elder Braithe said in a conciliatory way.
“I will, but only if you bring Clay to me. I know you must have him here somewhere,” she told them, eyes narrowed. The elders looked at each other wordlessly for a moment.
“Of course,” Sylwynn finally said, turning to walk to the entrance of the chamber. He spoke to someone outside and then returned. “He will be brought here immediately. Forgive us for our treachery, princess. We thought it would be…” he trailed off, looking at the other elders, apparently unsure of how to continue.
“Clay abandoned his mission and went against our orders that he must not speak of it to anyone. He was imprisoned. It is the law,” Roland told her apologetically.
Lana chose not to speak. She just ignored the men, eyes glued to the entrance, waiting for Clay to come through it. Long minutes passed before the door finally creaked open, and there he was.
Clay was looking thin even for an elf. He appeared dirty and weary but when his eyes fell on Lana, he immediately burst into movement, running to her and falling at her feet.
“Lana, forgive me,” he said in a sorrowful tone. “I should never have left you. Please give me a chance to explain.” Clay looked up at her and their eyes met.
Suddenly, Lana realized that she had left her anger at him somewhere on her travels. She had every reason to be furious at this man. He had given her such a sweet moment of bliss and then abandoned her. He had made Nym promise not to give her any explanation. She had worried about him, pined for him. But she felt none of that now. When she looked into his eyes, all she felt was a deep caring and concern.
Lana knelt and took his hands, drawing him up to stand in front of her.
“We will speak of this privately,” she told him quietly, giving nothing away about her true feelings. She turned to the elders. “We will take a room. Send someone to speak with me soon, but tonight we will rest.” Then she strode out of the room, every inch the princess. They paused outside the door as the elders instructed the guards to show them to a room.
“One with a window,” Clay said, eyeing Braithe smugly.
The guards escorted them to a comfortable room with a large bed and departed. Now that Lana and Clay were finally alone, she flung herself into his arms. She wanted to hold herself back, make him explain why he left her but she couldn’t help it. She was so happy to see him well. He clung to her tightly, his breathing shallow and murmured apologies into her hair. With her new ability, she could feel his love for her and his joy at finally being reunited. It was overwhelming.
Lana pulled back and looked up at him.
“I need to know why you did this to me,” she said softly, without recrimination. She just wanted to know so she could understand and finally let it go.
Clay sighed and walked to the bed, sitting down and running a hand through his hair.
“I will need to go back to the beginning, I suppose.” He looked up at her and continued. “I was not on a rescue mission. I was, in fact, sent to kidnap the Loral princess. I spent a lot of time trying to convince you that I meant no harm so you wouldn’t fight me or attempt to flee. It was all a lie, Lana.”
“What?” she exclaimed. This made no sense. She remembered him saying he’d come to kidnap her but after admitting it was a rescue mission, she’d thought he was just being cheeky and irritating before. Perhaps she’d chosen to believe him simply because she wanted to. How could she have been so gullible and witless?
“Yes, I was ordered to kidnap you and return to Eva. I was told to keep you safe but they never said anything about your safety once you reached Thelsamel…” he trailed off, looking away.
“Lana, I didn’t know what they would do with you once they had you. I didn’t know their motivations. At first, I was simply following orders but as we became closer, especially after that last evening together… I had to know, do you understand? I couldn’t bring you here if they were going to harm you. I couldn’t bear it!”
He stood and began to pace.
“Why didn’t you just tell me?” Lana asked him in a quiet voice. She wasn’t sure how she felt about this revelation. Clay stopped pacing, facing the wall with his head down.
“I couldn’t. If you knew how close I had come to possibly delivering you to people who would harm you… I was too ashamed.”
Lana sat down at the table and looked at her hands. This was a hard truth to hear. The man that she thought she loved had planned to take her to what could have potentially been her death. He had done so much to make her feel safe so she wouldn’t run or panic, the entire time knowing that the people he would be delivering her to could mean her harm.
“Why did they want me here?” she asked him.
Clay threw up his hands. “I still don’t know, they
