Page 96 of Starkeeper of the Fractured Crown

“Thank you.” He started down a near hidden path, his hands folded behind him. “I pride myself in my gardens.”

I followed after him, wondering what his plan was. Wondering if I had just led myself right into a trap or if he truly wanted to speak alone. “I apologize if I interrupted your breakfast,” I said, trying to have some kind of conversation. Maybe there was a way I could somehow negotiate this in my favor. A way where Mark wouldn’t be corrupted, and I didn’t lose my family.

“I wasn’t eating much anyway. I assume you’re here to talk about your brother.”

I nodded, taking in the daisies, the roses, wondering howthey had gotten them all to grow while it was so cold out. “I just wanted to know what the details were.” I couldn’t wait until the Spring. I had planted roses along the pathway leading up to my front door. They would start growing as soon as the ground thawed.

Part of me wished I hadn’t set fire to the ones Trick had brought me. They had been so beautiful, and I had just burned them in anger. I regretted doing that now.

“You want to make sure he is safe,” Raphael confirmed. “A good sister through and through. I assure you, he will be well taken care of, safe, warm. He will get three full meals a day, whatever clothes he needs, lessons in history, language, politics. He will grow up strong and healthy.”

I felt my lungs start to shrink again, the room closing in around me. It sounded like a really good life for him. I had to let him go. I had to be strong enough to let him go. “My mom?” I choked out, sliding my hand over my stomach, trying to hide the trembling. This was good. It was for the best. Him living like a King and not like a pauper. I would be selfish keeping him with me, I knew that.

Raphael sighed, staring only at the path ahead. “Both of you will have the option to move in, but unfortunately you will not be a part of the meals or his training. You won’t be a part of anything. You may live here, but that is all it would be.”

Despite my trying to rationalize it, my heart wouldn’t slow. “That’s kind of you,” I whispered, the roaring growing in my ears. It was fine. Mark deserved that. He deserved full meals and a soft bed.

Raphael was quiet a moment. “I understand that this is hard for you.”

No, he absolutely did not.

“But I can promise you that any life we give him will be a good one. I promise you that I will do everything in my power to raise that boy in a way that will make him a far better fit than Raymond. He was…” Raphael’s walking slowed, his head dipping.

I stopped, taking in the true age in the lines of his face. He looked like he hadn’t slept through the night in decades.

“I will personally raise him, Kyra, I promise,” he finally said, turning away from me. “I will do everything in my power to keep him from turning out like Raymond.”

Hatred.

I could see it plain as day, feel it like burning liquor across my skin. He hated his first born. “Sir—”

“Raphael, please.”

Even his words were heavy, each one carrying more weight than the last. It made me forget my own issues as I focused solely on him. “Raphael,” I corrected, trying to catch his eyes but he wouldn’t meet them.

He was gripping his hands tightly behind his back, his shoulders tense. “Something is wrong,” I finally whispered, daring to push him. “Isn’t it?” Why else would he word it like that? Why else come here to speak alone? Something had happened. Something had changed.

He looked up, not at me, but at the room, looking around as if searching for something. Someone. After several seconds, he finally turned to me, eyes sparking infear, the burning liquor shifting to burning sugar. “I’m a pri—”

The door opened, causing me to turn. “Raphael?”

Evanora?

I turned back to the High King, finding nothing in his eyes again, nothing in his expression, as if a switch had been flipped. “I will take good care of him, Astraea. I want for you to have a choice, but you don’t. The time limit is a lie,” he whispered quickly, so quiet, I almost missed it. “They’ll destroy him.”

“Ah, there you two are,” Evanora sang as she came around the corner wearing a smile.

My heart skipped as I wiped my expression clean, my skin crawling in prickles of fear.

“Have you two made a decision about Mark?”

I hated that. I hated his name leaving her lips. I hated it so much I couldn’t breathe. “No,” I decided evenly, shocking even myself. “I haven’t made my decision, but that doesn’t matter, I know that.” I shouldn’t have said that. What was wrong with me?

Evanora’s smile remained sweet. “Did Raphael tell you that you could move in? We’re not breaking you up, sweetheart.”

I wanted to slap her just for calling me ‘sweetheart’. I wasn’t hersweetheart.

I glanced towards Raphael again, but his eyes were cast down. A beat dog waiting for orders. He had done what he could, by warning me. I wanted to thank him for it, but then there was still that little voice whispering to me about how selfish I was. That no place in this worldwas better than a castle.

---