Alorah wasn't sure what happened when Aurelie came close to the dragon or whose voice it was that she heard. The frightened look in her eyes confirmed that. Aurelie had never truly seen Alorah react with emotion before. Every action was calculated. Not this time.
That evening, after they had arrived back at the castle and had their dinner, Gregor arrived in her chamber with a wooden box. The famous mountain, the only one that could be seen from Highfire, was carved out at the top. Aurelie assumed that this was the important task that Alorah granted him.
Gregor placed the box in Aurelie's hands.
"Princess," he bowed lazily and walked away without another word. His meager presence showed Aurelie that the queen's plot to appease his anger had failed. If anything, he was even more bitter now than he was when they saw him that morning.
"What is this?" Aurelie peaked out beyond her door.
"I'm not privy to any information at this castle," he said without turning.
"Okay then," Aurelie said under her breath and pushed the door closed with her foot. The box was lighter than she imagined. She sat on the fur carpet in the middle of the room and put the box down.
Inside it was one of her grandfather's roses. It was held up by two silver handles and burned without damaging the box.
Aurelie reached for the rose...
***
Aurelie opened her eyes to find a large group of people surrounding her. The back of her dress and her hair was soaking wet. The ice-cold water caused goosebumps to form on her skin. She was shivering and her teeth chattered from the cold.
"Princess Aurelie," Deborah said and followed it with a sigh of relief. She pushed through the crowd surrounding her and bent down. "Are you alright?"
The back of Aurelie's head hurt. She rubbed it, feeling a soft bump, and asked, "What happened?"
"I don't know. I've sent for the Queen." Deborah offered Aurelie her hand and started to pull her up.
The fur rug she sat on earlier was still below her. Only now it was soaking wet. And from the many single beds scattered around her, it was clear that the rug was no longer in her room either. Aurelie's head spun as she stood upright. She leaned against Deborah for support until she could regain her balance
"Hold on, princess," a lady from behind her said. "You've had quite the fall."
"A fall?" Aurelie squinted trying to remember what happened.
"You don't remember anything?" Deborah asked still holding onto Aurelie's hand.
"I..." Aurelie bit her upper lip, "I remember getting the rose."
"What rose?"
"My grandfather'sâthe only the Queen gave me."
Deborah shifted her hand to Aurelie's waist and along with the help of a man, wearing a bloodstained apron, walked Aurelie over to one of the beds. "I don't know anything about a rose. We best wait for the Queen."
The man picked Aurelie up and placed her on the bed. "How's your head?" he asked and put another pillow under her.
"Dizzy."
"Feeling nauseous?"
Aurelie nodded and put a hand on her stomach. Her stomach turned as if on queue
"We're going to have to keep her here for the night. Make sureâ
"Certainly not," Alorah said. "You will take her upstairs and have a Miss Levinson watch over her for the evening."
Everyone in the room lowered in a bow.
"Of course," he said and stepped away from the bed. The people shifted to make a path for the Queen and Lukas.
"What happened?" Alorah asked once she was near the bed. She looked up at the ceiling. A large hole, the size of Aurelie, to be exact, had melted all the way through. "Quite a fall."
It was a wonder no bones had been broken. She saw the edge of her bed through the hole. Drops of water still dripped down onto the floor.
Alorah frowned and leaned closer to inspect Aurelie's face. "That eye is going to turn blue."
Aurelie reached up to touch her eye. It pained at the lightest touch. She tried to remember what happened but it was as if that whole occurrence disappeared from her mind.
"The last thing I remember is touching the rose."
"Where is it?" Alorah's eyes widened in excitement.
"Is this it?" Deborah's asked from behind one of the beds that stood just to the right, below the hole. She stood up holding onto the wooden box that Gregor had given Aurelie. The top half was broken off. Deborah turned the box toward them, reluctant to touch it and quite frightened just to be that close to it. The rose was indeed there but it no longer burned. It looked grey and withered.
"You did it!" Alorah's nostrils flared. Her eyes were so wild that the looked to be glowing. Grabbing Aurelie's arm, she bent down to her eye level and smiled. "You're going to break the curse."
Excited whispers ran through the room. "Alorah, I don't even know what I did," Aurelie said nervously.
"What does that matter?" She waved her hand to the side, dismissing Aurelie's concern. "Whatever it was worked!"
Aurelie concern lay deeper. She had been around an identical rose before, and she did not lose consciousness and rob it of its fire. Sasha had let Aurelie hold her rose when she first told her of its existence. Nothing of significance happened. It simply did not burn her skin.
"I've been around a rose like that before, and nothing happened. Why now?"
Alorah was observing the rose with Deborah peeking over her shoulder. They all seemed too excited by what was happening to pay much attention to her or what she was saying.
"That's because of the curse. Mother told me what happened to you down there," Lukas said. Aurelie had done her best to ignore his presence altogether. "You must be present to seek out the magic. Unite it with yours, whatever you want to call it. Now that you've been close to the source, your magic is actively seeking it."
Alorah tore her attention away from the rose. "Exactly," she said failing to hide her smirk. "I'll start making preparations." She turned to the man that had assisted Aurelie to the bed. "When can we expect the Princess to be back on her feet?"
"She should be ready tomorrow!" His eyes were glowing too. Aurelie had no doubt that they would all throw her to the wolves if that meant the curse could be broken that second. She wasn't sure how much she could trust his judgment on her condition.
"Brilliant!"
"Alorah, I'm not ready to face Valice and whatever is around her neck," Aurelie found her say. "We have no idea what will happen. I've got scales running down my ribs from the previous encounter with dragon magic that wasn't my own. What am I to expect this time? Fangs? A tail?"
Alorah clenched her teeth. "When will we have an idea?"
"There must be some kind of lore."
"Oh, from the previous time a Dragon King consumed six dragons and cursed my land to everlasting winter." Alorah nodded. "Yes, I shall run along and read right up on it. I wish I would have thought it first though. You're a clever one, aren't you?"
Aurelie let out a loud sigh. "So you expect me to just run up to the dragon that you're not sure is dead and hope for the best?" The biggest risk was Aurelie's. Sure, Valice could wake up and cause massive damage to the land and Alorah's people but at least Alorah and her children wouldn't be right in her face when she did. And though Aurelie had grown accustomed to her scales now, she didn't want to add any extra to the collection.
"Don't you want to go home?" Deborah asked.
Such an innocent question... Only it didn't feel like one. It tugged at all her strings. She desperately wanted to go home, more than enough to do something stupid. "Yes, I do."
"I'm sorry if I'm speaking out of turn, I know it isn't my place." Deborah glanced at Alorah. "But this is my home, and it hasn't felt like it for hundreds of years. Forget the cold; immortality has been the cruelest part. My father died three hundred and fifteen years ago, my brother two years later. My mother and I have had to live on without them for all this time, struggling to make due. I had a family of my own, and now they're gone too along with my mother. But there's no end to my suffering. Illness hasn't been as kind to me. I have to carry on or take death into my own hands. And you have the power to stop that, to bring everything back to its natural order."
"I didn't say I wouldn't do it. I just want to be sure that it will be safe."
"No one knows whether it will be safe," Lukas said. "But if anyone can do it, it's you. Your grandfather made sure of that before he took off to The Dream Realm."
"Lukas," Alorah scolded.
"Is that why you're so calm? You made a deal with my grandfather?" That made all the sense in the world to her now. Of course, he would make a deal before entering The Dream Realm. He had to make sure that someone on the outside would help him get out. The Keeper's word rang true now, her grandfather was up to something, and that is exactly why the Realm was battling him.
"Yes," Lukas said.
Alorah observed Aurelie carefully, not saying a word. Strangely enough, even though this was a vital moment for Aurelie to decline and demand the portal, she couldn't do it. "I'll do it, but I want the portal with me up there. If anything goes wrong, I want to be able to leave and save myself. I won't let your people suffer my family's curse any longer. It's cruel and way past its expiry date, but I won't sacrifice myself for it. I have my own land to protect."
"That's not possiâ" Lukas attempted to say, but Alorah cut him off.
"We have a deal. I will send my guards out to tell the villagers and the nobles. The day after tomorrow, we will head over to Valice. The portal will be handed to you right before."
Aurelie nodded. "What will you do if Valice is alive?"
"Pray that she flies over to Highfire." Alorah smiled. "We'll leave you to rest, princess. Even if the curse won't kill you, it will certainly take the best of you. And you'll need your strength for that. Come now Lukas, we best check on your sister. She's back from Nalora."
"Married?"
"She put on one of her tantrums, as far as I hear. I believe the young man married a girl at the castle just so she could leave."
"What about?"
"They didn't have cheese. The goats escaped and died from the cold."
Alorah shook her head and held onto Lukas' shoulder. "Do we have cheese?"
"I hope so." Lukas laughed.
"Move Aurelie to different quarters. I'll fix that room in the morning," Alorah said to Deborah.
"I'd rather stay here. I'm feeling better now, but I'd be more comfortable with a healer around." Aurelie would accept whatever was offered if Lukas wasn't involved. She felt a lot better after lying down for a while. However, she didn't want to risk having Lukas finding her alone again. Especially not now that Alorah said she would give her the portal the day after tomorrow. Who knew how he would react? She certainly didn't want to find out.
"If that's what you want!"
She left with Lukas on her arm. Though Alorah said that Lukas was her favorite child, maybe not in so many words, it seemed suspicious that Lukas clung to her so tightly. He was too sweet and too dependent on a man that quite clearly implied that he was overdue to rule.