Lorand's POV

As soon as I sit up, Aveline hugs me and cries into my shoulder.  She must have thought I was dead.  I know Morden poisoned me, but was I actually dead?

“Lorand!” Charlotte runs down the stairs, nearly tripping, and darts over to me.  “He’s alive!” she yells.

Five pairs of feet pound on the stairs and run across the room.  Lilac hurries in from outside.  Everyone hugs me at once, and I tear up when I realize how many people had been grieving for me.  Am I really that important?

“I’m going to make a special dinner tonight,” Nellie says.  “Lorand, what do you want?”

I’m so happy that I don’t even care.  “Anything!”

“Split pea soup!” Millie cries.

“You know I hate that,” Gladys grunts.

“We’re having split pea soup!” Martha concludes.

“Did you even hear me?”

Martha jumps up.  “I’ll get it started!”

One by one, everyone lets go of me.  Aveline helps me up.

“There’s two more people that came to see you,” she says.

“Dane and Harriet?”

“Yes.  I don’t know if they know you’re alive yet.”

“Where are they?”

“Dane ran outside, and Harriet followed him.”

“I’m going to go find them.”

“I’ll come with you.”

I take Aveline’s hand, and we walk outside.  I can see them between the trees.  Is Dane crying?

“It’s all right…” Harriet says.

“It’s the furthest thing from all right!”

“We’re all hurting over him…”

“No!”  Dane collapses onto the forest floor and buries his face in his hands.

Harriet looks up for a moment and gasps.  “Lorand?”  She runs to me and squeezes me.  “I’m so glad you’re alive!  Dane, look!”

My other best friend stares up at me for a long time before curling up with his back to me.  Why is he acting like this?

“Dane?” I ask.

No response.

I turn to the girls.  “You can go back.  I’ll be there soon.”

They walk back to the cottage.

I sit down next to Dane.  “Hey.”

“It’s all my fault.”

What?  “No, it’s not.”

“It is.”

“Do you want to tell me?”

He swallows.  “Two days before I came here with Harriet and Aveline, King Morden asked me to find out where you’d gone.  Somehow he’d known that you were alive.”

“Did you say no?”

“I couldn’t.”

“Why not?”  Should I hate him?

Dane’s gray eyes fill with more tears.  “He was going to kill Harriet if I didn’t tell him.”

Harriet?  No!

“So I told him I would, because honestly… I love her.”

Love.  I understand.  There’s no way I could hate Dane for loving someone so much, even if it meant he had to betray me.  And he saved Harriet’s life.  How could I hate him if he saved the girl who’s like a sister to me?

“After we returned to the castle, I went to tell Morden where you were,” Dane continues.  “I drew a map for him.  And he said that if I hadn’t told him by then, I would’ve been killed.”

The thought of losing both of my best friends horrifies me, and in a way, I’m almost happy that Dane betrayed me.

“You hate me now.”

“No!  I could never hate you!  If you hadn’t done that, my two best friends would have died.”  I hug him.  “Oh, and we’re having split pea soup if you want to stay for dinner.”

Dane smiles.  “That sounds great, but I hope there’s other options.  You know I hate split pea soup.”

I can’t help but laugh.  “Then you can sit by Gladys.”

We stand up and go to the cottage.

Dinner was fun.  Luckily for Dane and Gladys, there was bread and vegetable stew.  Everyone was excited and in good humor, so it was the best dinner of my life.

I sat next to Aveline.  Whenever we weren’t eating, our hands were clasped under the table.  I constantly had the urge to lean over and kiss her, and I regret not doing so.

For dessert we had cake.  It was so popular that Martha had to get up and make another one, which must have taken a while, but it felt like only five minutes.

It’s dark out when Dane and Harriet say their goodbyes and head outside.  I follow them out.

“You should tell her,” I whisper to Dane.

He doesn’t reply to me, just goes to her, spins her around so she’s facing him, and kisses her.

“What?” she says in confusion when he pulls away.

“We’ve been friends for years, Harriet.”  Dane pauses, then continues.  “And for most of them, I… um… I… Lorand, help!”

Harriet looks over at me and laughs.  “You knew?”

I shrug.  “Only for a few hours.”

Dane laughs awkwardly.

“Well, I think I get it now.”  Harriet smiles and hugs him.  “And I love you, too.”

“Lorand!”  I hear Ruth call.

“I have to go.  I’ll see you later.”  I don’t get a reply.  They’re too busy staring at each other, so I just go back inside.

“We have a bit of a problem,” Ruth tells me.  “Due to a lack of planning, we have no idea where Aveline will sleep tonight.”

“She can sleep in my bed.  I’ll sleep on the floor.”

Aveline puts a hand on my shoulder.  “You really don’t have to,” she says.  “I can sleep on the floor.”

“But you’re the guest.”

“Not anymore.”  That’s right.  She’s here to stay, and that makes me ecstatic!  I grab her hand and squeeze it.

“Still, I will sleep on a thousand floors to make sure you sleep comfortably.”

“Lorand, that makes no sense,” Ruth says.

“Don’t worry.”  Aveline smiles at me.  “I get it.”

Later that night, I’m rolled up in a blanket next to Aveline’s bed.  She had given me the pillow.  I’m only slightly tired, since I’m so happy.

I hear her move.  I stiffen and try to breathe quietly.  I hope I didn’t wake her up.

“Lorand?”

Oh.  “Yes?”

“I love you.”

The words fill me with absolute joy.  “I love you too.”

“Guess what?”

“What?”

“Lavender lizard.”

I cover my mouth, trying not to laugh and wake up everyone else.  “You still remember that?”

“Of course.”

“That was fun.”

There’s a long pause.  I sit up and look at Aveline.  She’s sleeping again.  How sweet!  I kiss her forehead before lying back down and falling asleep.