Page 118 of The Arrow and the Alder

“Undoubtedly.”

“Mm.” Seph didn’t want to see the elders. She had nothing new to tell them, and she was exhausted of ideas at present.

But Serinbor was waiting, and she had no good excuse to deny the elders’ request, so she shoved her arrow back in its quiver, and hooked the bow over her shoulders.

“I’ll see you in a bit, Ras,” Seph said, ruffling the top of Rasia’s head. “And thank you.” She winked.

Rasia’s smile stretched. “Of course, Highness.”

Seph promptly followed Serinbor out of the training yard, where Evora joined them.

“How did it go today?” Evora asked as they walked.

“Better. I think,” Seph replied, rolling her shoulder.

“I’d put that bow away so your elders don’t realize what you’ve been doing,” Serinborsuggested.

“I don’t care, and I’m certain they already know.”

Serinbor glared at her, but Seph stared right back, unyielding, very aware of Evora watching them.

“Ah, I see,” Serinbor said at last.

Seph didn’t like his tone. “You see what, exactly?”

“The only thing that has yourcareis Prince Alder.”

Evora sighed with irritation.

“Do you deny it?” Serinbor asked in Seph’s continued silence.

“No, I do not deny caring about the welfare of Light’s ally as we go to war to save both kith and mortal lands.”

“You know that’s not what I mean.”

Seph stopped in her tracks, forcing Serinbor and Evora to stop too, and she faced Serinbor directly. “Then what is it you mean, Serinbor? Please speak plainly, because I do not have the energy for your verbal theater.”

Unease pulled at Serinbor’s eyes, as well as something else Seph could not name, and when he spoke again, his tone had lost its edge. “I mean that you should watch your heart, princess.”

“Serinbor…” Evora warned.

Seph held up a hand to Evora, though her attention was only on Serinbor. “You know nothing of my heart.”

Serinbor searched her face, his features strained. “No, I do not, but I will share mine. I know Alder. I have known him since we were too little to balance swords. I know you have a fondness for him, as I did, and I worry that affection will impede your judgment, as it did mine. There is nothing more that I want than to see my kingdom restored, but you will have to forgive me if I do not think Alder is the one to do it, and it is from this heart I speak.”

Seph gazed at him for a long moment before answering, “You ask forgiveness when you give none. What a hypocrite you are. No, I was not there to witness all the pains he inflicted, the pains that you hold so tightly, but nor were you there to witness how he’s suffered and how he suffers still. How he grieves a past he can’t change, how he’s tormented by relationships he can’t mend.” Serinbor’s jaw twitched at this. “Thank Ava that the Fates are more merciful than you are, or we’d never have been handed the opportunity to heal this world.”

Seph did not wait for his reply. She turned and walked on, toward the hall. Evora followed a second later, with Serinbor staring after them.

Seph mentioned her suspicions about her grandfather’s riddle to the elders, but they’d responded in the same way as Rasia. They didn’t think it had anything to do with the coat and believed that it was nothing more than the whimsical scribblings of a mischievous prince. While Seph couldn’t deny their impressions of a younger Grandpa Jake, she also couldn’t help thinking they were wrong about him. That they didn’t see the full picture—didn’t know him as she did. Yes, they’d been around a very different version of her grandfather, but it didn’t negate the mansheknew. The one who’d sacrificed immortality for love.

Seph thought of Serinbor, and how his feelings toward past Alder blinded him from seeing any other parts. She wished she could better defend Alder to him, but that was something they’d need to sort through themselves.

People were never so simple.

These thoughts haunted her all through the night and even into the next evening, long after she’d retired to her chambers to ruminate over those damnable characters.

Heart of a star.

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