Chapter 0629
Elva held tightly onto her teddy bear. She looked down at it with sad eyes.
"I don't understand, Mommy," Elva said. "Why do we hate bears now...?"
| lowered myself down to her level. Holding her shoulders, | explained, "We don't hate bears, honey. But... they
could be dangerous right now. They're all pretty grumpy about sthings that happened a few years ago. Until
that gets sorted out, we need to be extra careful."
Elva nodded, soaking in my words. Then she held out her bear toward me. "Do we report Mr. Fuzz Bear?"
My heart cracked down the middle. How could I possibly, properly explain this situation to Elva, a child? She
couldn't see the difference between wolves and bears. To her, they were all her tea-party guests.
"No, Elva," | said, gently pushing Mr. Fuzz Bear back toward Elva. "Mr. Fuzz Bear is a bear we can trust. It's every
other bear that we see that we must stay away from and report, okay?"
She didn't seem to understand, her face still scrunched up in confusion. But, she eventually nodded and pulled
Mr. Fuzz Bear back into her arms. "Okay..." she said in a tiny voice.
Slowly, we walked back to our room. | hadn't told Elva yet that | would be leaving without her today. | knew she
was going to be upset about it.
As | dressed in less flashy clothes for the adventure, Elva stood in the closet doorway and asked me, "Where you
going, Mommy?"
"| just have to go out for a little while."
"What about the bears?"
"I'll be okay," | told her. "Nicholas will be there to protect me."
"Can | come?" Elva asked.
Absolutely not. | would endanger my own life, but I'd never put Elva at risk. "No, honey," | said. "Not today." "But
Mommy-"
"I'll be fine," | said, "But it's too dangerous for little girls."
That was apparently the wrong thing to say. She scrunched up her nose in frustrated anger.
"If you can go, | can go too!" she said.
"No, Elva."
"Why?" she asked.
Follow on NovᴇlEnglish.nᴇt"| told you why," | said, though even I could admit that my reasoning wasn't very sound, at least from her
perspective. If | could choose to endanger myself, shouldn't she be able to, too?
"Why, Mommy?" she demanded.
A knock sounded at the door, abruptly ending the argument. Nicholas opened the door.
He was dressed casually too, a suggestion made by Julian. They didn't want to stand out as princes and
candidates while we were beyond the palace walls.
Nicholas wore blue jeans and a polo shirt. It was odd to see him dressed so informally, although the jeans
hugged his backside delightfully.
"Did | cat a bad time?" he asked.
"Nick-lass!" Elva said, stomping out into the main room. "Tell Mommy | can come!"
Nicholas's almost smile immediately fell. "I can't, princess, I'm sorry."
"But | want to go!"
*The answer is no, Elva."
Her bottom lip quivered, and watching Nicholas, | could see the moment his heart broke, having to deny her. He
even placed a hand to his chest, as if that would help ease sof the pain that was burning there.
"We'll be back before you know it," Nicholas added, softening.
Elva shook her head. She was still mad.
"Can | have a hug goodbye?" Nicholas asked, holding open his arms.
Elva frowned, but ultimately gave in. She cforward and he wrapped her in the safety of his embrace. Slowly,
he released her. Then she looked at me.
"Do | get a hug too?" | asked, stretching open my arms. She quickly raced to me, and | earned a hug as well."
Thank you," | told her. "I love you," | said and kissed her cheek. In case the worst should happen, I didn't want to
leave any room for doubt about how | felt about her.
She was my darling daughter now and forever, no matter how long or short my life. She would always be mine.
Nicholas and | left Elva in the care of her nanny and stepped out into the hall. After bidding good day to the
guards at the door, the two of us walked away from the room.
*Elva really wanted to come," | told him.
"I saw," Nicholas said. "It hurt, to turn her down. Even though | knew that was best for her."
| nodded. "I didn't want to frighten her. | don't want her to know fear at her age, but | also want Elva to be
cautious. It's a difficult balancing act."
"l can see that."
"Especially when she doesn't understand why | am willing to risk my life, but she is not permitted to do the
same," | said.
"I would prefer it if neither of you risked your lives," Nicholas said. "But Elva's safety is paramount." He shook his
head a little. "I will do my best to bring you safely back to her. | hate that anyone has to be at risk."
*| fear that we might always be in slevel of danger," | said, slipping without meaning to, because | was
speaking of a future where Nicholas was King and | was his Luna.
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Nicholas," | said after a moment to
recover. | touched his arm, stopping
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him. He turned to look b me. hdidn't
know hype What wanted to
Shy. There were so many levels of
Follow on Novᴇl-Onlinᴇ.cᴏmfeeling within my heart, so many
conversations we needed to have, if
we were both thinking about a future
together. The content is on
novelenglish.net! Read the latest
chapter there!
But such an idea, such a feeling, was so overwhelming, it seemed too large a subject to tackle right here on the
way to meeting Julian and others.
But we needed to talk about this. Sooner rather than later.
"I know," he replied, as if he could read my thoughts. Perhaps it was truly my heart that he could read. He laced
our fingers together and squeezed my hand.
God, if | could stay in that hallway with him and live in this moment forever, | would.
But, we were to meet the others soon. This conversation would have to wait until later, at the very least.
"I will bring you back here safely," Nicholas said. "Not just for Elva, but also for me. Then... perhaps a
conversation is overdue."
| nodded. Though, before | could
speak to Nicholas about this, | mn
needed to havea cohvedsdtion with
hig fBthaY, the King. That man would
understand that | was not going
away quietly. The content is on
novelenglish.net! Read the latest
chapter there! @
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That Nicholas was mine and | was going to fight until my dying breath to keep him, no matter what | had to do, WOMEN?
what uncertain future | had to face.
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desperately want
But, unfortunately, now was neither the tfor that. ‘a, matiire man!
"Let's go," | said to Nicholas, and tugged him by his hand toward the stair. [JOIN NOW|
Before we could solve our love life, we had a war to stop. Beli ll