Benedikt gave Grielle an apologetic look. Their faces were only a short distance apart and he thought he might have seen something like hurt in her eyes. She helped him closer to the coffin. His chest hurt all over and he fully expected to see dark bruises across it if he removed his shirt. The others gathered around, except for Moose who was tending a nasty wound on the back of Berne's head.
Ludvig and Reyn hoisted open the glass lid, which caught the sunlight and cast thousands of specks of multicolored light across the princess and the greenery that surrounded her.
"Unae," Talitha moaned as she grasped her sister's unmoving hand. She gave Benedikt a pitiful, pleading look.
Benedikt glanced at Grielle who pressed her lips closed as if she were desperately trying to suppress something she wanted to say. The look in her eyes made Benedikt ache in a way that made him wonder if she truly did feel something for him she wasn't allowing herself to show. He turned and gazed down at the peaceful, slumbering Unae. After coming all this long way he couldn't not kiss the princess on some vague hope that Grielle's feelings had shifted in his favor. He still had a duty to Stalvart.
Benedikt knelt down beside the sleeping princess, his sides aching in protest. This was, perhaps, the moment for which he had been waiting for the past twenty years. He had gotten this feeling every time he'd knelt to kiss a princess — but something about this moment felt different. He was more ready to take up the crown than ever before. He was ready to rule. His eyes unwillingly turned to Grielle who looked like she was about to cry, but instead of letting him see whether she would, she turned her back to him. The others turned their backs as well, to give him his moment. All except Talitha who still desperately clutched her sister's hand.
Benedikt positioned himself over Unae and took in the flawless lines of her face. Fifteenth time's a charm, he thought as he pressed his lips to hers. They were soft and warm.
And very much unmoving.
He withdrew and took in the princess's serene face. A beat passed and she didn't stir. He pressed another kiss to her lips but she still remained asleep. Anger and frustration burned to the edges of his limbs, but something else stirred in his chest. Relief? he wondered.
"No!" Talitha moaned. "No!" The others spun around to take in the sleeping elf and her sobbing sister. Benedikt sank back onto his haunches and hung his head. Talitha's gentle crying echoed through the clearing and the dragon gave a sad rumble as if to say she was sorry too. Benedikt placed a hand on the edge of the coffin and struggled to his feet. He ran a hand through his dirty, dampened hair.
"Benedikt, I'm sorry." Grielle's voice was gentle.
Unable to listen to Talitha's crying, he hobbled into the green of the forest. He filled his lungs with air that smelled like ash, and defeat. The earth trembled around him. Or perhaps it was he who was shaking. Benedikt fell to his knees and dug his fingers into the mossy ground, trying to stop his mind from reeling. How could he have failed again? And at something so simple? Kiss a princess under a curse. Return with your queen and True Love. What would he tell his father? Would his regency be postponed or would he be stripped of his title as heir?
He flinched as he felt the warmth of a small hand on his shoulder. He glanced up to see Grielle standing at his side. A streak of gray of ash marred her face from the battle and red patches blistered on her forearms from when she'd shielded him from the dragon's fire. Benedikt took her hand and gently pulled her to the ground beside him. He turned on his knees to face her and then pulled her into a hug. He wrapped his arms around her and held her as tight as his remaining strength would allow. He buried his face into her hair and pressed his stinging eyes closed. Hot tears coursed down his cheeks and mingled in the dampness of Grielle's hair.
~
Grielle clutched his shirt in her shaking fists as she pressed her face into his shoulder. She felt the movement of Benedikt's chest as he drew in ragged breaths. It broke her heart to hear him cry, to see him so defeated by something as banal and archaic as True Love's Kiss. "I am truly sorry," she said again.
"Don't—" Benedikt mumbled into her hair. "I should be apologizing for dragging you all out here and putting you in harm's way."
Grielle pulled her face from the crook of Benedikt's neck to take in his dark brown eyes. "We knew what we were getting into when we accepted your father's offer. And I think I can speak for the others when I say that you were worth it." A smile flickered on her lips.
Benedikt let out a shallow laugh and wiped the wetness from his cheeks onto his sleeve. "Thanks, but I have no idea what my father will say when he finds out I've failed for the fifteenth time."
"You are a great warrior, fearless to a fault, and a kind man. I would follow you, with or without a queen by your side, Your Highness." Grielle stood from her kneeling position and helped Benedikt to his feet.
He clutched his side and let out a groan.
"She got you good, did she?" Grielle covered Benedikt's hand with her own.
"Yeah—" Benedikt began, but his voice faltered as Ludvig rushed to where they stood.
The look on Ludvig's face chilled Grielle to her bones. His brows were knit together in both fear and sadness.
"Come quickly, it's Berne," he said in a low voice.
They followed Ludvig in a full run until they saw the others kneeled around a figure on the ground. Grielle pushed through them and dropped to Berne's side.
"Berne? Are you okay?" Grielle asked as she placed a hand on the thick leather sleeve of Berne's doublet.
Moose already had tears streaming down his angular cheeks. He cradled Berne's head in his arms. Blood stained his white shirtsleeves, spreading like ink spilled on a page. Yorick's lips were pressed together in a thin line.
"Talitha can you—" Grielle began, but Talitha shook her head.
"Where is Benedikt?" Berne growled.
~
Guilt surged through Benedikt, wrenching and clawing at his heart. He crossed to Berne's other side and fell to his knees. "I'm here," he said, his voice shaky and uneven.
In a slow and deliberate motion, Berne lifted his massive hand and placed it behind Benedikt's head. His eyes weren't filled with spite, as Benedikt had expected, but pride instead. A smile spread beneath Berne's scraggy beard. "It has been a pleasure, and an honor, to serve you."
Benedikt grasped Berne's hand as a surreal pride welled up inside of him. A lump formed in his throat as Berne's dark eyes seemed to lose focus, watching him and then nothing at all. Benedikt was filled with regret at never having talked much with Berne, but then filling silences with words had never been part of Berne's nature.
"You have served well," Benedikt said with a steadier voice. He took Berne's hand from the back of his head and curled the fingers around Berne's massive sword, which he then laid across Berne's chest. "Go on, in peace, to the world of our forefathers and all the warriors who have gone before us."
Berne drew in a ragged breath and the smile fell from his face. Moose placed a kiss on Berne's his forehead and then they watched as the light left Berne's eyes.
Across the clearing, the Vicewing gave a high pitched grumble, something like a whine, from where she cowered behind the coffin. It didn't shield her massive body, only her head.
"She is sorry that she causes us pain," Yorick translated.
No one dared to speak, but Benedikt knew they couldn't fault the creature for following her instincts.
They laid Berne to rest as the sun dipped below the trees and painted the western sky in deep oranges. The Liberators silently assembled a pile of stones to make his grave, and each laid them one by one on his still body. The dragon watched them as they worked, her yellow eyes sorrowful, and her head low to the ground. In the twilight, they said their goodbyes.
As Benedikt turned his back to the stone tomb, his heart filled with an empty ache. This was the first time he'd lost a comrade in battle. It stung far worse than his failed attempt at True Love's Kiss to know that Berne had died in vain for his trivial quest.
The others gathered around the small fire to dry their cold and damp clothes.
Benedikt cleared his throat. "I want to thank you all for your service, but I cannot in good conscience ask you to continue this quest with me. At dawn, I head for Stalvart by the Passage of Oryn. I will, of course, send payment when I reach Stalvart, but as of tonight, I release you from my service."
Ludvig shook his head. "Did you hit your head or something?"
"What?" Benedikt asked, his eyes darting between the somber faces of the Liberators.
"Are you thick? We aren't going anywhere," Ludvig said. "At least, I'm not."
Grielle nudged her shoulder into Benedikt's arm. "I'm not going anywhere, either."
"Berne would want us to see you safely home," Moose said.
Reyn gave Benedikt a flicker of a smile. "We finish what we start."
Benedikt bit his cheek as a lump formed in his throat, and he sat beside Yorick. The fire was warm and welcoming after spending an entire day in soaked garments.
He pulled his white shirt over his head and set it at his feet. A dark purple bruise spread over his right ribs and down his side. Yorick saw the bruise and examined the wound, poking Benedikt's major organs to make sure the damage was only superficial.
Benedikt drew in a sharp breath through his teeth as Yorick prodded his tender ribs.
"It looks worse than it is," Yorick assessed.
"Thanks," Benedikt replied, pulling on his shirt.
After that, they sat around the fire and just listened to the crackle of the burning wood, the moment too heavy for words. Talitha headed to her hammock first and then Moose followed suit and headed to his own tent. The others wandered away too with the exception of Grielle. Benedikt had his eyes fixed on the embers when he felt Grielle move closer to him.
"I think if Talitha gives me one more wistful look, I'm going to melt into a puddle of shame," Benedikt whispered.
Grielle shifted her weight to let her shoulder rest against his.
"What am I supposed to say? I feel like I've let everyone down." He kept his voice low so only Grielle could hear.
"We've all been there. I know I will always feel partly responsible for Berne," she said. "It was the same with my father."
Benedikt stilled. "Your father?"
"I should have seen what was happening. He'd started to train me to take over the Liberators. I was too busy trying to prove myself that I didn't notice he was ill until it was too late."
"Could you have done something?" Benedikt asked.
"I asked myself that many times, but nothing good ever comes from those types of questions," Grielle said.
Benedikt nodded and silence fell as he tried to figure out how to move on from this. "I don't know what I'm going to tell my father."
"You'll find the words."
Benedikt liked the feel of Grielle's shoulder pressed against his. It felt like the only steady thing in the world. "I hope you're right. But then what? How do I move on from here? I don't think I have it in me to chase down another sleeping maiden — to fail for the sixteenth time."
"It's okay to retreat if that's what you need," Grielle said. "But you've picked yourself up after defeat before. You can do it again. I can't say that the loss we've suffered won't hurt. There are many days when I feel my father's death here," she placed a hand on the top her chest, just below her neck. "I feel a sadness like I did the first without him. You can take a step back when those moments come, but let them fuel you, and push you when you return."
Benedikt didn't have words. She was right. He felt so much anger and sadness in his chest that it threatened to choke him. "What if I can't come back from this," he said quietly.
Grielle shook her head. "I won't allow it. Whatever you need, I'm here for you. We all are."
"Thanks," Benedikt said. He wanted to say more, but he felt unnaturally tired. "I think I'm going to get some sleep now."
As he removed himself from Grielles side and headed for his tent, she said his name.
"Ben."
He paused.
"It gets better."
Benedikt took in a steadying breath. It shuddered in his aching chest. "I hope you're right."
~
Thank you guys so much for reading! Now what do you think of this chapter, and Benedikt's latest failure?