Page 47 of When the Moon Met the Sun

“Hm?” I mumbled, content to stay here forever.

“My love, we need to talk,” he said, still speaking quietly, as though he didn’t want to scare me.

At that, my muscles stiffened. I knew he could feel the shift in my body language from the look in his eyes.

“You’re alright, I promise,” he reassured me. “We agreed on open communication, right? This is me finally holding true to that,” he explained, still holding me. His grip on me tightened, like I might fade away.

Nonetheless, I could feel myself starting to worry. I gently detangled myself from him and moved to sit beside him—though my body screamed at me not to—until my back rested against the headboard next to him. Though, I didn’t have it in me to move myself further, our shoulders and sides flushed with each other.

“Alright,” I said after a silent moment. Though my heart had started to pick up its pace in my chest.

He reached over and gently grabbed my hand, holding it in both of his. From there, I could see both of our tattoos—where we took on each other’s family crest. The symbols for two different nations. It still felt surreal, to see the ink on our arms.

“Why didn’t you just tell me you could wield? Especially so many zirilium?” he asked quietly, and I could hear the hurt in his voice as he spoke. My heart ached at the sound.

I let out a sigh. “You don’t understand. Father forced me to hide what I was for my entire life—even from Dimitri, my twin. The only one who knew was Aurora, my best friend. Father wanted Dimi to be his heir, not me. But the laws state whoever can wield more zirilium is to be the heir, so Father had me hide that part of me away so the title would revert to Dimitri. I… never had a choice,” I said the last part softly, remorsefully.

Robyn ran his thumb thoughtlessly over my hand, and my skin ignited from the innocent contact. “That explains why you never told me about the Northern zirilium. Good job on hiding it, by the way.” A small swell of pride overcame him, surprising me. “But what about the Southern zirilium?”

“That, I had no inkling of until that day the flowers sprouted from my tears. From what I’ve gathered, the elixirs my father had me take every day nullified any part of that. I didn’t know I had any Southerner in me at all until after I smashed the remaining elixirs and the flowers sprouted. When you left to go to Hollis, I did as much research as I could in the library. I met another Northerner there, Laurence. He said Chess saved his life years ago, and he’s been helping in the library ever since. Anyway, he said he remembers when Father and Mother got married. And he, along with records, helped confirm it—that my mother was originallyfrom the South.”

Robyn’s idle strokes on my hand came to a pause. “You trust Laurence to know this kind of stuff about you?” he asked.

I nodded. “I trust him.”

Robyn seemed to think on this for a moment, then nodded. “I remember him. If you’d like, and if he agrees to it, we could appoint him as your personal guard. He’s definitely still got the qualifications for it. I hadn’t appointed you one yet because I didn’t want to scare you, but it will be necessary when we return.”

For a moment, I was stunned. I was surprised he was allowing me to have a say in any of this.

“I’ll ask him about it when we get back. If I must have one, I’d like for it to be him,” I said, though the idea of a personal guard made me wary.

For a wing-beat, we sat in silence, his thumb rubbing the skin along my hand once again.

“Training is going to be necessary. You understand that, right?” he asked, but there was no venom in it. Just pure concern.

“Definitely. I’ll start first thing tomorrow morning,” I said, nodding in agreement.

Suddenly I felt a wave of nerves overcome me, and I remembered he must feel it too when he asked, “You’re nervous?”

I nodded again, forcing myself to be open and honest for one of the first times in my life. “I don’t know the Valwain all that well yet. And… I’m scared of hurting people. I’ve never had any official zirilium training,” I admitted sheepishly.

I saw a smile cross his face out of the corner of my eye. “We can fix that.”

Suddenly he hopped out of bed, staring right at me. My hand was still warm from where he had been holding it.

“Join us for dinner tonight. They want to help, Avi,” he said. This idea obviously brought him much joy, as he wasglowing.

I couldn’t help but smile back, and I agreed, stating that it was agood idea.

“When is it?” I asked.

“Sunset,” he responded, still grinning like I’d offered him the moon in the palm of my hand.

“What? That’s any minute!” I said, scrambling to get out of bed. I double checked the window and saw the sky painted different shades of orange, the sun sitting on the horizon.

I heard Robyn laugh as he watched me stress, obviously not at all pressed.

“They’ll wait for us, it’ll be fine,” he reassured me, but I was already heading for the door.

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