“It’s time,” I told Gaea.
“I know,” she said sadly. She looked down to River, who squeezed her hand. “I must leave you now, my precious boy. You do all the things I told you and mind your manners. Life here will not be like living in the stables. You’ll have to listen well and be helpful.”
“I will. Promise,” he told her.
She lifted him into a hug and held him for several minutes, then sat him back down and placed his hand into the glassmaker’s wife’s. “Take care of my boy,” she said softly.
“With all my heart,” the female answered.
She reached out, touched my arm, and in the next moment, we stood back in my rooms at the castle. It felt like an eternity had passed since I had been here last. She turned to step away and I reached for her once more. “Will you ever forgive me, Gaea?”
She paused, her eyes locked on the floor. “There’s nothing to forgive.” She lifted her gaze and I wiped the tears that fell down her cheeks. “You made the right choice, Temir. It wasn’t the easy one, but it was right.” Her voice was thick with sorrow as her shoulders began to shudder. I pulled her into my arms and willed her sadness to become my own. “I’ve done everything wrong. I should have loved you even when it hurt. I should have let you in when I could see you wanted me to. But I didn’t. And I’m sorry. You’re all I have in this world. If I let myself love you, and you die too, then what do I have? I let the wedge build itself into a wall because I didn’t know how to get back to this. How to just let myself find peace in your arms. I’ve spent all this time thinking that if I had happiness it would be a betrayal to him. Because he never got to have that.”
I put my finger below her chin and forced her to look at me through her tears. “Loving someone would never be a betrayal to the man that taught us how. I can’t imagine he’d want anything more than that.”
She sniffled. “I know. I let that tiny seed of doubt become something so much bigger and I’ve ruined everything between us because of it.”
“We are not ruined. Grief doesn’t come with directions. I’m still here. I’m standing right here waiting for you to see me.”
“I see you now.” Her voice was like a promise. Those four words held so much more meaning than she could ever know. I knew she was hurting and maybe I was the selfish one as I condemned her for her sorrow, but somewhere within our own mistakes, was a buried love.
“I see you too,” I whispered as I leaned into her. I wouldn’t push her. I’d waited for this moment for so long, I let her close the distance. She pressed her lips to mine and I waited for my heart to roar to life, to remind me why I’d loved her so ardently. But it remained silent.
She stepped away and smiled and for a moment I saw the fae she was before, but something was wrong. Because I wasn’t the same either. And though she’d finally opened up about her true feelings, as mine came crashing into me, I realized nothing was better, in fact, it was so much worse.
“Ready?” she asked, wiping the remnants of tears away.
I set my packed bag with the glass box in my study below my desk, and we strolled through the bustling halls of the chilly castle as if nothing had happened. This was the final piece of our careful plan and we had to set everything to the side, for now. If the king even detected the flower was not authentic, he would have us killed or imprisoned.
As we approached the doors to the throne room, the twins stepped into our path. “The king is busy and asks not to be disturbed,” one said.
“Tell him we have returned,” Gaea answered, putting on the annoyed face she wore so well.
“Wait here.” He slipped into the room.
We stood for several moments outside of the guarded doors. We had never been ordered to remain outside before. I kept my face calm and tried not to look at Gaea as I wondered if our plan was foiled before we had even a chance to trick the king.
After several moments, the doors flew open and the seamstress stormed out with her chin in the air, and shortly after that, her tearful daughter followed with her face buried in her hands. Instead of walking around me, her small framed slammed right into my chest and I sucked a sharp breath between my teeth as I grabbed her shoulders, righting her before she fell to the floor.
“Forgive me.” Her voice was tender and she was even thinner than last time, with knotted hair and torn rags for clothing. Whatever had happened, she was far more distraught than her stubborn mother. Everyone around her felt it. My hands lingered on her arms as we had a silent conversation. Something within me needed to know that she was alright. That I was not standing idly by as the king took another victim. Her honey-colored eyes held mine for an eternity until she dipped her chin and pulled away. I watched her until she rounded the corner and Gaea cleared her throat. My head snapped back to her, but she would not meet my eyes. She looked straight ahead, waiting for the king to summon us.
We stepped into the empty throne room, and I chanced a glance at the king. His face was red. Whatever had happened with Nadra and her mother had set the stage for our potential demise.
“It’s been days!” he screamed, standing from his throne. “Where have you been?”
“Forgive me, my king.” Gaea bowed low. “I had not been able to travel as close to the ruins as I had hoped. We were caught in a dangerous blizzard.”
“Once we were able to finally get to the ruins,” I said, telling him what we had practiced. “We had to search and search for the flower. We did find it, but the ruins caved in, and we were trapped below for a long time.”
He waved his hand, not caring about the process. “Just give it to me.”
I stepped forward and pulled the replica from my pocket. I treated it as gently as I had the real adda, walking up the dais stairs and placing it carefully into the king’s out-turned hand.
His frown was instantly a disturbing smile. His hard eyes widened as he held the flower up to the light. “So, it is like glass,” he whispered, mesmerized by the depth of flames within the petals of the flower. “Do you see, Eadas? This is what delivery looks like. This is what happens when you give an order and those who are loyal to you actually follow through.”
“Yes, Your Grace,” Eadas said from behind him.
“If only I could get that fucking seamstress to do the same.”
