‘So there she was, the woman he cared about, she had to be, why else would Joseph have her on the ship?’ Elissa thought upon seeing Rhea. There was a pain in her heart at the thought that she had waited all these years for him to return for nothing. She gave him a nod when he told her to get some rest. Elissa held it together until he shut the door, then the tears began to fall. This wasn’t at all how she had imagined their reunion to be.

Elissa curled up on the bed still in tears. It didn’t take long for her to cry herself to sleep. She was exhausted, having been awake since the morning of her birthday. Her stomach grumbled but sleep won out. Elissa was still shivering from the fever, but the warmth of the blanket and the coat helped ease some of the cold and lull her to sleep.

The coat was too big on her thin frame, her fingers barely peeked out from the sleeves as they curled to hold the cuff. She still held some of the features she’d had as a child, the freckles and the bright blue eyes. However, she wasn’t as awkward looking as she had been when she was younger. She was grown now, more beautiful and less clumsy, having grown accustomed to her long limbs. She wasn’t much taller than most women her age, but was tall enough for others to notice the difference. Before she had escaped her first room she had braided her hair in the style she had worn daily as a child. A braid was about the only way to tame the wild curls and even then some still snuck out and she’d tuck them behind her ears.

In her dreams her and Joseph were young again, fighting Blayne and making plans for the future. They were happy and laughing as children should, forgetting the problems between their fathers. The past had been a happier time, even if it had contained it share of problems. Never could she had imagined worse trouble was waiting for her once she was older.

As the dreams turned to nightmares, Elissa frowned in her sleep. Tear still rested on her cheeks and more were soon added. “No! Leave me alone!” She sobbed. “Joseph, help!” She cried out in her sleep.