Page 59 of A Kingdom's Heart
The mornings felt longer now. Colder too. I had gone to the riverbank each day, hoping he might be there, waiting like before. But he never was. The swings stayed still. The water kept moving.
Now I sat in the healer’s wing, the air heavy with the scent of herbs and smoke. My hands were wrapped around the book he had given me.The Song of the Willow Bride.I held it so tightly my fingers ached. The pages had started to bend from where my tears kept falling.
The guilt was unbearable. It pressed on my chest until I could hardly breathe. What I had done was cruel. I had lied to him, betrayed the only person who had ever looked at me without expectation or duty. I hated myself for it.
Raven crouched down beside me, her shadow falling over the book. She studied my face for a moment, then sighed. “You can’t cry all the time, Iris.”
I wiped at my cheeks, though it did nothing to stop the tears. “I can’t help it.”
“Yes, you can,” she said gently. “You’re not the first person to make a mistake.”
I looked at her, my voice breaking. “He hates me.”
Raven frowned, resting a hand on my shoulder. “Maybe he’s angry. But hate? No. I don’t think so.”
“He told me it was over,” I whispered. “He looked at me like I was a stranger.”
“Maybe he needs time,” she said quietly. “Men like him, they hold things close. But if he cared for you before, that doesn’t just disappear.”
I shook my head, staring down at the book. “It should. I lied to him. He deserves better.”
Raven sighed and gave a small shrug. “It’s been three days, Iris. Maybe he’s cooled off by now.”
I looked up slowly, still holding the book close to my chest. “You think so?”
“I don’t know,” she said, her tone soft but steady. “But you won’t find out if you just sit here crying over it.”
I bit my lip, uncertain. “He told me to leave, Raven. He meant it.”
“Maybe he did,” she said, standing now, brushing off her skirt. “But people say a lot of things when they’re hurt. Maybe he just needs to hear you out properly.”
I hesitated, the ache in my chest tight again.
Raven crossed her arms. “Look, I’ll cover for you again if you want to go talk to him. But only if you promise not to run away this time.”
My head snapped up, eyes wide. “You’d really do that?”
A faint smile tugged at her lips. “You think I enjoy watching you cry every day? Go fix this before you make yourself sick.”
I let out a shaky breath, my heart already beating faster. “Thank you, Raven.”
“Don’t thank me yet,” she said. “Just go before I change my mind.”
I rose slowly, my knees weak beneath me. My fingers brushed the tears from my cheeks as I straightened my headband. The air outside felt sharp, heavy with the weight of everything I had left unsaid.
I clutched the book tighter to my chest as I stepped out of the healer’s wing and into the courtyard. The light was bright and open beneath the afternoon. My breath caught at the sight of it all: the walls, the gates, the place where we had once passed each other in silence.
I told myself I would only walk to the gate. That if he wasn’t there, I would turn back. I would let it end quietly.
But I kept walking.
The light was almost blinding, the kind that made everything too clear. The air felt still, expectant, as if the world itself was holding its breath.
And then, through the glare of the sun and the shimmer of steel, I saw him.
He stood near the main gate, tall and steady in his armor. His helm was on, concealing his face, and the wind brushed through his armor. The sight of him struck something deep in my chest. Relief, fear, longing. All of it tangled until I could hardly tell one from the other.
He looked the same and yet not at all. There was something colder in the way he carried himself now, something careful, distant.
