The waters in the pool bubbled like they were boiling underneath. Elys and Aleksander, with Cordelia and Henry on their tail, swam to the edge in their fear of getting sucked down into the depths.
"Take my hand," Aleksander tried to help her out of the pool.
Elys saw him reach out to her with his hand held out, but the princess disregarded his offer and climbed out on her own instead. She whipped some stray hair away from her face, wrung the water out of them, and then proceeded to do the same with her dress.
"I'm fine," she said afterwards, "I'm the Northern Warrior Princess, I am no damsel in distress."
The prince withdrew his hand to his chest. It was embarrassing to him that Elys had literally denied his attempt to be nice. Somehow, he could feel frustration rise up within him, but decided to keep it in.
He had been a jerk to her far too long in the first place – this was most probably his karma.
