Reincarnated as an Elf Prince-Chapter 136: New Comrade (2)

But Lindarion wouldn't ask.

Not yet. Maybe not ever.

There were other things to worry about.

Like what waited beyond the trees.

Like how quiet the forest had been all morning.

Like the faint thrum that still echoed beneath his ribs.

[Affinities recovery in process]

The system didn't say anything else.

But his breath came easier.

—

The fire had burned down to a soft flicker.

Lindarion stayed beside it. His boots warmed slightly on the stone, but the cold was already starting to bleed back into the room. It didn't wait long. Not here.

Ardan hadn't moved. Still near the bench. Still silent.

Ren was quietly humming to herself now. Something off-key and wordless. It barely counted as a tune. Meren had given up arguing with his blanket and sat hunched over a pouch of dried roots like they might turn into breakfast if he stared long enough.

Lira stood again. Back near the wall, eyes tracking the window slit like it owed her a reason for everything outside it.

Lindarion watched her for a beat.

Then another.

He crossed the room. Not loud. Not slow. Just steady.

She noticed.

She didn't look at him, but her weight shifted slightly. Enough to say she wasn't surprised.

He stopped a few paces from her. Close enough to speak low. Far enough to not crowd her.

"Are you coming?"

The question dropped between them without ceremony. No buildup. Just the quiet truth of it.

Lira didn't answer right away.

Her gaze stayed fixed out the window.

"Where?"

"Wherever we end up," Lindarion said.

That earned him a glance.

He held it.

"You think I belong in your little band of survivors and smug wanderers?"

"I didn't say that."

"Then why ask?"

He looked past her, toward the window. Grey trees. Low sky. The kind of cold that looked permanent.

"Because we're heading into something," he said. "And I don't think you want to stay on the edge of it."

She said nothing.

He waited.

'This is the part where she says no. Where she says she has her own things to deal with.'

But she didn't.

She just watched him now.

Like she was trying to see if the offer was real.

Lindarion didn't flinch.

"I don't need a bodyguard," he said. "But I'm not stupid enough to turn one down."

Her mouth twitched. Almost a smile.

"I'm not following you, prince."

"I'm not leading."

That made her pause.

Then she stepped away from the wall, slow, deliberate. Her hand passed once over the small satchel near her feet. She didn't pick it up. Not yet.

"You're not afraid of what I've done?" she asked.

"I don't know what you've done."

"You know enough."

He nodded. "And I'm still asking."

The room was quiet again.

Even Meren had stopped chewing.

Ren didn't hum anymore.

Lira's eyes narrowed.

"You sure?"

"No," Lindarion said. "But I'm asking anyway."

She stared at him.

Then finally, quietly, "I'll think about it."

Lindarion didn't push.

"Good."

He turned back toward the fire.

Behind him, he could feel her still watching.

Not judging.

Just… wondering.

'She would just fit into the crazy group perfectly..'

—

Lira stood near the storage chest. Her fingers were resting on the lid like they had forgotten what else to do. She could feel the grain of the old wood under her palm. Rough in the way that only age made useful.

She didn't look at Lindarion now.

He'd gone back to the fire. Sat in that quiet way he did, like stillness was something he earned, not something that happened to him.

'Are you coming?'

The words echoed louder now than when he'd said them.

She hadn't given an answer. Not a real one. "I'll think about it" was just a shape people made when they needed time to find their own lies.

But she wasn't lying.

Not yet.

She looked at him from across the room.

He didn't turn. Didn't watch her. He was too busy listening to the fire. Or pretending to.

'He's young. Too young to carry that much silence.'

He didn't move like a prince. Didn't posture. Didn't look like someone who needed to be followed. But people did.

She'd seen it already. The way Ardan didn't argue. The way Ren watched him when she thought no one noticed. Even Meren, for all his jokes, sat a little straighter when Lindarion spoke.

That kind of presence didn't come from a bloodline. Or from training.

It came from surviving.

Her arms folded slowly.

The wood creaked under her hand.

She thought about the sword. The one she gave him. She hadn't planned that. Not really. It had just felt right in the moment. Like something old finally finding a shape again.

And now he was asking her to follow.

No, not follow.

Come with.

That was different.

He wasn't trying to command her.

He wasn't even hoping she'd say yes.

He was just making space.

She exhaled once, slow. The kind of breath that came from someplace deeper than lungs.

The others were moving now. Quiet preparations. Ardan checked his pack. Meren was still chewing. Ren had found something sharp to poke at the coals.

Lira stepped toward the far wall. Her cloak hung on the peg where she'd left it last week. She pulled it down, careful not to shake the frost loose. It clung to the edges like memory.

The clasp still worked. Barely.

She fastened it across her shoulders and adjusted the fall of it with practiced hands.

No one looked at her yet.

Good.

She turned, walked back toward the fire, and stopped beside Lindarion.

He looked up at her.

She didn't speak right away.

Then, simply, "I'm coming."

He didn't nod. Didn't smile.

Just held her eyes for a second.

Then looked forward again.

She stood beside him a moment longer. Let the warmth of the fire touch the edge of her boots.

'Let's see what you turn into, prince.'

She didn't say it aloud.

But the thought felt real enough to hear.