29. Chapter 29
Hope exploded inside my chest as I started to stand, but instantly stopped as I saw the tension carved upon Lady Simret’s face. Fyom had just turned when she took her right hand and slapped him across the face.
Hard.
Fyom barely flinched, as if he’d been fully expecting this reaction.
“You show up here? Now? After what, twenty years?” Lady Simret was fuming. “You think I haven’t counted?”
Twenty years?
“Paige…”
“It’s Lady Simret to you!”
Fyom released a shaky exhale and made a small bow of his head. “Lady Simret. It’s a pleasure to see you again.”
I could only see one side of Lady Simret’s face, but that was all I needed to see that a well of tears had formed in her eyes.
“Only letters. Only letters for years. You never show up to anything. I have to learn from my nephew how his father is doing. He comes to visit me from time to time, you know? As he makes his rounds. Visits every equinox. He knows how important the equinox is for me and Loamil.”
Nephew? She learns of her nephew’s father? Thoughts started to click into place.
Lady Simret and Fyom shared the same warm brown skintones.
Their noses were different, but there was no mistaking their shared cheekbones and brows.
Even their eye shape was similar, with the only difference being Fyom’s bright shade of green compared to Lady Simret’s crystal blues.
Even her chin—it was a little sharper but jutted out just like Fyom’s did.
“Oh shit,” I whispered.
“What?” Ora looked at me.
“Tresdore.”
“What of it?” Ora hissed.
“I just remembered that before she was married, Lady Simret was…Paige Tresdore.”
“Oh.” Ora looked with wide eyes at the two who were in a heated exchange. “Oh shit.”
Sury finally turned around, mouth full and jelly smeared on his face, to observe what was transpiring.
I looked toward Peiro, who still stood with his arms crossed, looking bored. I mouthed did you know? to which Peiro only shrugged in response.
“We can talk about the past another time, but we’re here for your help, sister,” Fyom said lightly.
“By the giants, naturally. How very like you…” Lady Simret turned to look at her other guests.
It took my years of practiced court etiquette for me to hold in a gasp as I looked at the woman’s face.
She had the same fine lines of age around her eyes and mouth, but one side had been completely marred.
Cruel, wicked scars were etched across the right side of Lady Simret’s face, with bits of flesh that still looked in the process of healing.
A deep line was carved across her brow that started at her temple and rested at the top of her cheek.
A small part had even taken a patch of her thick hair.
Part of her right eyelid barely functioned as she blinked at us.
She squinted her marred eye to help focus on the faces before her. “Princess Aurora?” She gasped. “Princess Ophelia?”
Emotion overcame her as she hurried across the room.
We quickly stood, ready to face whatever came our way.
She took us both in her arms, completely ignoring the amount of dust and dirt that coated our garments.
I squeezed her back as tightly as I could.
The embrace felt like that of a mother who hadn’t seen her children in a very long time.
Familiarity glowed deep as tears threatened to fall from my eyes.
Once released, Lady Simret took our hands into hers and observed us both, bewildered. “But how—how did you…”
“Survive? It’s quite the story,” I said with a sad smile.
Lady Simret let out a sigh and turned to sit opposite of us on the couch when she noticed Sury standing behind her.
She let out a small yelp of surprise and flung her arms tightly around him.
“Oh! Your father will be so relieved to hear that you’re okay!
” she said into his dusty shirt. She withdrew, wiping tears from her eyes.
“Oh, I cannot express the joy it is to see you three again.” Ora grabbed a napkin from the tray and handed it to Lady Simret, who quickly dried her tears. Ora did the same.
“Come and sit, you old buffoon. I’m assuming you’re part of the reason these girls have returned to me.” Lady Simret waved her hand in Fyom’s direction to invite him to a chair, but one that was farthest away.
Seeing this side of Lady Simret—a woman filled with excitement like she had just found a missing piece to her heart—made my heart expand, and a sense of peace settled deep in my being. It was so opposite of what she typically showed in court, but I could sense this was her true nature.
“The pleasure is partly mine,” Fyom grumbled. “You do owe some thanks in Peiro’s direction, I suppose.”
At the mention of the name, Lady Simret whipped her head around the room until she locked eyes with Peiro, who still stood stoically at the desk with his arms crossed.
“Oh! Come here, young man!” She practically squealed in excitement.
“Hello, Lady Simret,” Peiro said softly as she threw her arms over his shoulders and squeezed tightly. The genuine smile on his face did funny things to my emotions.
“Paige! It’s Paige to you all! Fuck formalities!
This room is full of family!” she said with a laugh as she planted a light peck on Peiro’s cheek before letting go and motioning for him to sit.
She looked at us all, a fresh wave of tears escaping her eyes before landing them once again on me and my sister.
“I feel like I’m looking at ghosts,” she said through a sniffle as she finally sat.
I leaned over and grabbed her hand between my own. “Tell us what’s happened. What do you know?”
“Girls.” Lady Simret sniffled, regaining her composure.
“You know I’ve never been one to beat around the bush, especially in court.
We all know there are vipers in that pit and I never had the patience for it.
Still don’t. I hate politics with a passion.
Your mother and father barely had the patience for it either, but they knew their hands were tied with certain individuals and had to endure them just like anyone else.
“But it has been just awful since you two disappeared. I refused to go back to Grianmore. Vovias is spreading that you were taken by Dokvalon by your sister’s design.
He’s been trying to convince the remains of the court, and upcoming members, that you, Ophelia, are in the works with Dokvalon because of some petty jealousy for the throne.
But if anyone truly knew you, they would know you never had a desire for it.
Not because you couldn’t rule—I always knew you could if the laws had been written differently—but because anyone with half a brain could sense the undying loyalty you two sisters have for one another. ”
A tear finally crested and cascaded down my cheek at Paige’s words, at the fact that at least one person in court had sensed my own worth and knew me as more than just the small speck within the family name.
“As for you, Sury. Vovias has twisted it that you, of all people, were jealous of Aurora and wanted to be in cahoots with Ophelia. But once again, I have no idea why anyone in that gossiping court has not realized how much you and Aurora have pined after one another since you were teenagers.”
“I have not pined!” Sury exclaimed, parts of biscuit falling from his mouth.
Paige rolled her eyes. “Regardless, anyone with the observation skills of a mongrel would quickly see that their future queen would not marry just anyone, but that her heart had already settled on a particular lord.” She winked at them both, causing Ora to blush.
“Told you that you two were obvious.” I snickered and elbowed Ora in the ribs just as she turned to poke me in the side, making me yelp.
“Vovias tried to sway your own father, Sury, in these halfwit notions—but as far as I gather, he remains unconvinced.”
“How is he?” Sury tried his best to keep his face neutral as he asked. Since our visit at Ventus Bluff, Sury had kept quiet or worked to change the subject any time his father was mentioned, but it was evident he was worried by the look on his face.
Ora must have sensed it as well, because I spotted her giving him an encouraging smile.
Paige clasped Sury’s hand in hers. “He’s a fighter. You Anmathios men are stubborn as an ox. We need more men like you in this kingdom.” She winked as she softly smiled.
“Are the rumors true? Is… Is he unwell?” Sury swallowed hard.
Paige released a soft sigh. “He’s alright. Stressed, naturally, but alright. I know once I send a letter to let him know you’re alive and well and in great company, that’ll lift his fighting spirits. Your mother’s, too.”
Sury looked at her in both relief and confusion. “He’s not on Cisoi’s doorstep, then?”
Paige patted his hands. “No, my dear boy. We correspond regularly and he said he’s the same as before, but feeling better each day. Who told you otherwise?”
“Beralt,” Ora, Sury, and I said in unison, earning us a chuckle from Paige.
“That blubbering fool. All cock, no feathers.” Paige huffed in clear annoyance.
“Well, we’re glad to hear that you’re okay, too.” I felt some of the weight lift off my chest from being in someone’s company who was for us. For my sister. “I’m so terribly sorry to ask, but what happened that night?”
Paige turned to me with sadness in her eyes. “That feels both easy and complicated at the same time. One moment we were all preparing for our portion of the ritual, then the next was the fire.” She began staring off like she was seeing that day fresh in her mind. “Then those beasts arrived…