Ch 28.5 — Eli felt as if a giant had stomped on him. He had been stressed out all day. All he’d wanted was a good night’s sleep, and now he wouldn’t be sleeping at all. His stomach gurgled. Just the thought of facing his father made him break into a sweat. What was he going to say to him? And Matthew! Matthew was going to kill him. Eli groaned. How he wished he’d never set out on that stupid quest to kill the dragon. Why hadn’t he stood up to Matthew at the very beginning? How had life become so complicated?
Eli looked over at Ezra. Yep, his brother was still upset. And if there was one person in the world whose opinion Eli cared about the most, it was his little brother. Ezra may have been a naïve, skinny little kid, but he loved Eli. He looked up to Eli.
At least he used to.
Eli’s head throbbed. “There’s something else you should know.” He got up, went over to the large wooden chest in the corner, and unlocked it. He handed Ezra an envelope.
“I found this under my pillow two days ago. Someone from the Tulgey Woods warned me not to marry Zelda Mary, Princess of Saltonia. They said the princess is cruel, spiteful, and tried to have them killed. They warned me to break off the engagement before it’s too late.”
Ezra frowned as he studied the letter. On the bottom of the letter were the initials “J. S.” He leaned down and sniffed the paper. “And you still want to marry Zelda?”
Eli sat back down on the bed and slumped. “Did I ever have a choice?”
Ezra reread the letter. “This is a serious accusation. I think you need to go up to the dragon’s cave and talk to Princess Janine. Apologize to her and the dragon. Find out more. Then you need to go to Saltonia and check out her claim. If there’s really something wrong with Zelda, it would be better to know it now.”
Eli stared at his brother. “Wait. You think this letter is from Princess Janine?”
“Who would know Princess Zelda better than her sister? And it would explain why Janine has been hiding all this time. It’s really decent of her to warn you, considering what you did.”
Eli winced. “How do you know it’s true? And how do you know this letter is really from Janine?”
“The paper smells like dragon, plus a whiff of Miracle Mix. And there are only a couple of people in Nelsonia who might still have any Miracle Mix.” Ezra frowned. “I wonder what really happened to Janine.”
At that moment, Eli felt really old. “You’re asking for a lot. How do you know I won’t get roasted before I get the words out of my mouth? How do you know Janine didn’t make up the whole thing about Zelda?”
Ezra gave him a sharp look. “Doesn’t it strike you as the least bit strange that you and Zelda have never met?”
Carol Nicolas 