Duncan woke me up a little after nine the morning. Usualy, I got up at six or seven to get ready for the day, depending on what time my first meetings were. Since it was my birthday, I’d slept in a bit, and it felt nice but strange.

He wouldn’t have woken me at al, except Elora requested to eat breakfast with me today since it was my birthday. I didn’t mind being woken up, though. Sleeping in that late made me feel surprisingly lazy.

I didn’t even realy know what I would do with the day. It’d been so long since I had a ful day that was free of plans. Either I was working on things for the kingdom, helping Aurora with the wedding plans, or spending time with Wila and Matt.

I met Elora in her bedroom for breakfast, which was usualy where I saw her. She’d been in decline for a while, but even before Christmas, she’d been on bed rest. Aurora had tried healing her a few times, but she was only staving off the inevitable.

On my way to Elora’s chambers in the South Wing, I walked past the room Loki was staying in. His bedroom door was closed, and Thomas stood guard outside. He nodded once as I walked by, so I assumed everything was stil going alright.

Elora’s bedroom was massive. The double doors into her room were floor to ceiling, so they were nearly two stories high. The room itself could easily fit two of my bedrooms in it, and my room was quite large. Making the room look even larger was a ful wal of windows, although she kept the shades drawn most of the time, preferring the dim light of a bedside lamp.

To fil the space, she had several armoires, a writing desk, the largest bed I’d ever seen, and a sitting area complete with a couch, two chairs, and a coffee table. Today, she’d had a smal dining table with two chairs set up near the window. It was al laid out with fruit, yogurt, and oatmeal – my favorite things.

The last few times I’d visited with her, Elora had been in bed, but she sat at the table today. Her long hair had once been jet black, but it was now silver-white. Her dark eyes were clouded with cataracts, and her porcelain skin had wrinkled. She was stil elegant and beautiful, and I imagine she always would be, but she’d aged so much.

She was pouring herself tea when I came in, her silk dressing gown flowing behind her.

“Would you like some tea, Wendy?” Elora asked without looking up at me. She’d only recently begun caling me Wendy. For a long time she refused to cal me anything but Princess, but our relationship had been changing.

“Yes, please,” I said, sitting across from her at the table. “What kind is it?”