by Cait Marie
Reading her mind, he smiled. “We have seen it in a very old book in our search. I think we would recognize it if we came across it.”
The king sighed. While he rubbed his temple, the queen put a hand on his shoulder.
“I can take them,” Michel spoke up, surprising them all. “It wouldn’t hurt to at least look, right?”
Ada nodded, and the king and queen glanced to one another. With a sad smile toward Ada, Queen Célest said, “Of course, my dear.”
Michel led them back into the hallway and immediately turned and pulled Ada into a hug. She squeezed him tight before stepping back. When Lee laced his fingers through hers with a pointed scowl, the prince held up his hands with a forced chuckle. He’d accepted her rejection peacefully at the ball, but she imagined he’d done so purely for her benefit. Throughout the years, Michel had done everything in his power to make her happy. It pained her to think about how they’d planned to spend their lives together and she’d thrown that all away, but as Lee tightened his grip on her hand just a fraction, she knew it was the right decision. Or at least hoped it was.
“It’s good to see you, Ada. After everything that happened…” Michel said.
Her chest ached with heavy guilt as he held her gaze for a long beat.
Michel tilted his head to the far end of the corridor. “Come on, let’s look for your flower.”
He walked ahead of them, greeting guards and maids alike. Ada looked over at Lee as they made their way outdoors. “Really?”
Lee grinned, unaware of her inner turmoil from seeing Michel again. “What?”
“You know what,” she hissed. “That was unnecessary.”
They walked through gilded glass doors, out into the bright sunlight. After reaching the ground at the bottom of the small set of stairs, Lee released her hand to wrap an arm around her back and pull her close. He kissed the side of her head before whispering, “Oh, it absolutely was.”
Ada bit the corner of her mouth to keep from smiling. Looking around, she took a deep breath. She had always loved the gardens. Rayerna wasn’t very different from her home—most of the same plants grew in both kingdoms—but the royal gardens there were unlike anything she had ever seen anywhere else. Beyond the immediate benches, a fountain, and a small hedge garden close to the castle, sat a walled-in area that expanded into the forest. Flowers, trees, and bushes of all kinds flooded the large space. The air smelled sweet and fresh.
Slowly, they made their way through the colorful field, stopping at every yellow flower they came across. For what felt like hours, they searched, but nothing matched the image the book created in Ada’s mind. At the treeline, Michel stopped and turned to face them with a frown.
“I’m sorry, Ada,” he said. “I really hoped we were wrong.”
“There are still a few other areas to search through,” she replied, pointing to the forest behind him. Without waiting, she stepped around him and into the shaded area.
“Ada,” Michel started as he followed. “It’s the sunshine flower, it wouldn’t be back here.”
“It doesn’t hurt to look, right?” she asked over her shoulder, echoing his earlier words.
Both men walked along after her. They wound through the trees in silence. As children, they were always told to stay out of the forest. They could play in the garden, but anything beyond that was forbidden. The forest took up a majority of the kingdom, making it easy to get lost for those unfamiliar with the terrain. Ada trailed her fingers along the bark of a low branch. She stepped around it and stilled.
“What?” Lee whispered, pushing aside a low-hanging vine to stand beside her.
Ada took another step forward. Cautiously, she walked to the edge of a beam of light filtering down through the treetops. It lit up a small patch of ground only a few feet wide. A clearing empty of plants and flowers. Ada lifted a hand to the light, weaving it back and forth through the air that almost appeared to shimmer.
“I remember this.” She stepped forward fully into the light and turned around. To Michel, she said, “Something is different, but I remember coming here.”
He nodded and moved over to her. “It was just after your mother died. Your father sent you and Shane here for the summer to try to get you away from all the sadness but…”
“But someone said something about her while having tea.” Ada brushed a hand through her hair, holding it back from her face. With a sigh, she let go, and her arm fell to her side as she remembered that awful day.
Michel put an arm around her shoulder and pulled her closer. “You ran out of there, and no one could find you for hours.”
She leaned against him, laying her head on his shoulder. In the back of her mind, she knew Lee stood nearby, but this wasn’t something he could help with. He wasn’t there when her world shattered. When Michel helped put the pieces back together.
That day, Ada ran into the forest, wanting to disappear. She knew they wouldn’t look there because they weren’t allowed past the treeline, but Michel did. “You found me.”
He rubbed her arm. “Sitting in the dirt, refusing to come back to the castle.”
Ada’s laugh came out as a half-sob. “Even Shane couldn’t get me to go back.”
She looked down at the grass, prodding the hard ground with the toe of her shoe. Something was different, but she couldn’t put her finger on it. Shaking her head, she laughed again. Of course things looked different; it had been over fourteen years since that summer.
“I gave up quickly,” Michel went on. “Instead, I brought out your book, and we talked about the Nihryst until the sun started to set.”
With a smile, she glanced up at Lee. He stood across the patch from them, still partially in the shade. When he stepped forward, the light played with the color of his eyes. They changed from green to the color of the ocean, and she let out a breath.
“I’m really sorry, Ada, but I need to get back,” Michel said in a soft tone.
“Right,” she replied. “Thank you for letting us look.”
“Of course.” He released her and began walking toward the path. At the edge, he paused and turned back. “You two should stay for dinner. My parents will insist.”
As Michel continued to the garden, Ada moved toward Lee. Before she could reach him, something caught her foot. Lee grabbed her arm to steady her, but she looked back to the ground. The circle of dirt was compact everywhere but one small spot in the center. Her foot had hit a hole covered in loose dirt. Her brow creased, and she leaned closer to get a better look.
“Everything all right back there?” Michel called through the trees.
“Yes, just tripped.” She stood and shook her head at Lee’s questioning stare. Sliding her hand in his, she pulled him along.
“You really did take my story everywhere,” Lee whispered as they made their way to the sunny gardens. She simply smiled with a nod.
Michel was a few yards ahead, talking to a guard. He glanced back at them, seeming to make sure they followed, then went back to talking with the other man. For as long as she had known him, he had been as friendly with the guards and maids as he was with nobility. It made him loved throughout the kingdoms. His kindness was why she had been so drawn to him. It was why she had been happy to one day marry him. Until she met Lee.
She looked up at the man beside her. So very different from what her future once held. Though she would never admit it out loud, he was also kind. Just in different ways. He took charge and fought for others. While Michel was sweet and friendly, he had never been the kind to jump in and take action. He was calm and relaxed, a naïve prince who didn’t truly know hardship. She hadn’t really known either until running from her father and boarding a ship with a bunch of strangers—until she sailed the seas with Lee, fighting crooks and tending to sick children in the orphanage in Obaith. Until she discovered he was the man she’d set out to find—the immortal she’d vowed to find and set free as a child. She argued with him more than anyone she had ever known, but her life was
tied to his. The prophecy said so.
They just needed to figure out how.
“Is this all really necessary?” Phillip looked down at the tailor pinning his trousers. He sighed loudly, exaggerating to get Shane’s attention.
Shane smiled at his dramatic friend. “Yes, it is.”
Phillip groaned, making him laugh. The tailor finished with the hem then made Phillip change back into his other clothes. Shane thanked the tailor for his work and made arrangements for the garments to be delivered to the castle when finished.
As they stepped back into the crisp fall air, Shane explained, “If you’re going to be the captain, you need a uniform that reflects your position and rank.”
Phillip nodded but kept quiet. With two other guards trailing them, they made their way up the street. Shane knew his friend was wary about the position. He also knew Phillip would do great. Not only was he the man Shane trusted most in the world, the others cared about him, respected him. Phillip had joined the guard as soon as he was old enough. Though his father’s high rank and his own relationship with the royal family did help Phillip get his position within the castle, as opposed to one out at sea or in another part of the kingdom, he worked hard to prove he deserved it. He spent every spare second training even before he joined. To the point where he’d become the best swordsman Shane knew. No one could best him in a spar.
When his father died, Phillip worked even harder. Shane overheard the other men talking from time to time about the young guard’s strength and dedication. He knew many of them would approve and defend this decision.
“How about we visit your family to tell them the news?” Shane suggested.
His friend agreed, and they walked to his mother’s quaint home. She led them inside with smiles and hugs. The familiar dining area felt more like home to Shane than the castle most of the time. Carys ran out, and Shane scooped her up into a hug. He sat at the table with Phillip’s younger sister on his lap, needing to take a break from standing. Walking through the village had started to become a laborious task that made his legs shake with weakness and his lungs burn for oxygen.
Phillip watched him, as if he could see through the façade to the exhaustion.
“What are you doing here?” Carys asked. Her wide grin matched the glint in her eyes—bright and shining as always. When Shane’s father had imprisoned her and her mother, it had killed him to see her so scared. That was why he could not fault Phillip for telling the former king where Adalina had been heading in her search for help. The truth did sting, but in the end, Shane knew he would have done the same thing if the roles were reversed. His father had forced Phillip to go with his men to retrieve the princess, but when they found her, Phillip helped her escape and joined her on the Nihryst’s ship. Eventually they all made their way back to Detmarya to take on Shane’s father. Phillip fought side by side with them, protecting Shane, Adalina, and his family, and that was what mattered.
“We came to share some news.” Shane gave Phillip a pointed look.
Phillip brushed a hand through his hair and leaned against the wall. “Apparently, I am being promoted.”
Mrs. Lavens clapped her hands together. “How wonderful!”
“To what?” Carys asked.
In Phillip’s hesitation, Shane said, “Captain of the Guard.”
Carys didn’t understand what that meant, but her mother did. Mrs. Lavens moved to pull her son into a hug. “My boy.”
“It means he’s in charge,” Shane whispered to Carys.
She looked up to her brother in awe. Their mother stepped away, and Carys jumped down from Shane’s lap and into Phillip’s arms. He held her close before shifting her to his side.
“Your father would be so proud of you,” Mrs. Lavens said, wiping away a tear.
Shane gave Phillip a smug smile. He knew the Lavens family would be overjoyed. It was the highest position, and it held a level of respect within the kingdom. Phillip rolled his eyes, but Shane could see him fighting back his own happiness. It was Phillip’s dream growing up to become the captain one day like his father before him. They just never thought it would happen so soon.
“Is it true Princess Adalina is off fighting pirates?” Ever the inquisitor, Carys broke the mood with what Shane was sure she had wanted to ask since their arrival. He was proud that she waited that long before it burst out of her.
“Carys!” Her mother looked appalled at the idea, which made both Shane and Phillip laugh.
“No,” Phillip said. “She’s not off fighting pirates.”
Shane reached up and squeezed Carys’s sides. “She’s off fighting with pirates.”
The little girl squealed in delight. She wiggled down, out of Phillip’s hold, and ran out of the room, no doubt to get the practice wooden sword he had gifted her weeks earlier. Like Adalina, Phillip wanted her to learn how to protect herself. Though, for now, it seemed like only a toy to her.
Phillip’s mother shook her head. “You really should not encourage her.”
“It’s the truth…” Shane said softly. She knew more than most what had truly happened with the king. She did not, however, know that the princess left with the Nihryst after the ball. “She is with Captain Lee and his crew. They’re looking for a cure for the Kald and a way to break the curse.”
The day they fought the king, she saw it all. She watched as Loxley was stabbed and then came back to life. The woman’s brow creased, her eyes full of sadness. “That poor girl has been through so much already. This should not fall on her shoulders. Surely someone—”
“Mother,” Phillip cut her off. “Ada couldn’t just sit by and let others do all the work. She’s never been that kind of girl.”
His mother shook her head, looking toward the ceiling. “Don’t I know it.”
“Do you remember when she begged you to make her birthday cake instead of the castle chef?” Shane asked.
“She was six.” Mrs. Lavens’s tone softened. “It was her first birthday without your mother. I would have given anything to make her happy.”
“We all would have,” Phillip whispered. Shane nodded in agreement, smiling at his friend standing against the wall beside him. Gratitude filled his heart for that family. His family.
“The kitchen staff too. They let me use all the space and supplies I needed, offering their assistance,” Mrs. Lavens continued. “Then, those little footsteps came running in, and Adalina demanded I let her help. We spent the whole day down in that kitchen baking her cake and helping with dinner for that evening.”
“She needed to stay busy,” Shane said. “Our father was holed up in his study. At the time, I thought he blamed her for our mother’s death because she died while reading Ada a bedtime story. I thought he blamed her for not getting help fast enough, and it hurt too much to see her or something.”
Phillip placed a hand on Shane’s shoulder. Adalina was the spitting image of the queen. Shane had never shared those thoughts with anyone before.
Phillip asked about it as they sat alone in the former king’s study later that afternoon.
“I don’t want to talk about it,” Shane insisted.
“Shane.” Phillip pulled the papers from his hands. “That’s not how your father felt.”
“I was ten,” Shane said. “I didn’t know how he felt. He hid away from his children, leaving us to mourn our mother alone.”
The words surprised him. He pushed his chair back and walked toward a bookshelf in the corner. Phillip stayed quiet but moved to stand beside him. His presence comforted Shane, even when he wasn’t speaking. Shane turned around to face him.
“That’s how you felt.” Phillip’s quiet words were not a question. “You blamed her for not getting us sooner.”
Shane shoved his hands into his pockets and looked at his feet.
“No,” Phillip said. “You blame yourself.”
Shrugging, Shane stepped around his friend. He went to the tray of glasses and water a maid had brought up. He poured some and took a
deep gulp, avoiding the accusation. It was true. For years, he wondered what would have happened if he got there quicker—if he would have been able to wake his mother and get the physician fast enough. The guilt ate him alive at night. He still woke up from nightmares from time to time.
“There was nothing you could have done,” Phillip said, mirroring his thoughts. He grabbed Shane’s shoulder to turn him around, nearly sending the glass of water to the floor. “Shane, she was dead before Ada even screamed. She was poisoned. There was no bringing her back from that; it was too late.”
“I know,” Shane said. “I know that now, but before my father confessed, I…”
“You thought it was your fault for not saving her,” Phillip finished for him. “You’ve been walking around with that guilt for fifteen years? Why didn’t you tell me?”
Shane didn’t have an answer to that. He always told Phillip everything, but that was something he could never bring himself to say out loud.
He placed his glass back on the tray as Phillip said, “Wait, is that why you were scared of becoming king?”
Another secret he never shared with anyone but Phillip. His entire life, he trained and learned and prepared to one day take the throne. Outside of his room, he held his head high, showing the kingdom a confidence he rarely felt. Not even Ada knew how terrified he was growing up.
Shane nodded. “If I can’t take care of my family, how can I take care of an entire kingdom?”
Phillip shook his head slowly, seeming to consider his next words. Instead, he pulled Shane into a tight hug. As his friend held him, Shane was grateful the Kald could not spread through touch alone. His father’s scientist, Viktor, had developed the never-before-seen strain of the illness in his laboratory downstairs. He’d created enough to inject individuals directly, as well as food and water supplies throughout the kingdom. But when Shane took the crown, he’d destroyed all but a small number of the vials for studying. Now, the sickness could only infect others through blood or saliva.
