115 Elia's Epiphany

ELIA

She understood, then, what he'd been doing. Why he'd brought her there. And what he'd hoped to achieve. And she loved him even more, because he was right. It worked.

When he'd insisted on bringing her there, she'd thought they were coming there to have a break, to be alone. And she knew that was part of it. But now she understood something he'd seen right away: She needed to know her importance to him, to understand her importance to everyone.

When the King held you high, the people should too.

As they lay there, tangled together in the bright clean air of Anima, and Reth dozed on her shoulder, still inside her, she stroked his back and his hair, and she smiled and stared at the sky and started to recalibrate her life.

She had been so busy trying to find her way, she'd lost herself.