Silver
CAELAN
There was a mundane thing that humans did. They made wishes on a flower.
Hope was a powerful thing. Just as powerful as desperation.
When the petitions started coming through, I searched the tomes for a loophole, for anything that might help our situation. There wasn’t one. But I had already made a choice. Choosing her was something I’d do, no matter the cost.
I would make her my wife. I would tear the kingdom down to its foundations and build it again if that was what it took. I’d rewrite the laws. Burn the doctrines. Empires had fallen for less. Thrones had been reshaped if they stood in her way. I would do it gladly as long as she chose me.
We were never given the option to choose. It was chosen for us the moment Crown stepped foot into Twilight.
It was the best outcome, I knew that it was. It could have been worse. She could have been imprisoned indefinitely in Crown, but she wasn’t.
Still, I wondered if Crown had not come, if she had the choice, would she have chosen me?
With or without the bond. Crown or no crown. Not the assassin and the prince. Just Caelan and Sera. Would it still be freedom that she’d want, or would she choose to stay in Twilight with me?
I twirled the dandelion between my thumb and index finger. I’d thought of Sera. Then blew without thinking about it. The seeds drifted with the wind, scattering into the garden before me. I dropped the stem and rubbed a hand over my face.
Stupid.
And worse, the sound of lazy footsteps approached from behind me.
“Wow,” Maelor’s voice cut through. “Did I just see the great terror of the realm make a dandelion wish?”
“I was scattering seeds.” I gestured toward the garden. “The field was uneven.”
The poorly restrained grin on his face told me he was not convinced.
I didn’t let him comment and headed back into the estate.
Maelor wisely stayed silent and followed.
The scent of veyras hung heavier in the summer air. Groundskeeper Sylas had filled the garden beds in this courtyard with them after he found out that Sera liked them. Some of the staff had gotten used to her. Even started liking her. It was obvious in the way they had taken care of her.
I walked faster back into the estate.
Maelor closed the study door behind him.
I rounded my desk to sit in the chair. My knuckles were sore from hitting the sparring post, one of them split open.
“People aren’t thrilled about the border restrictions,” Maelor said as he walked about my study as if he were judging the decor.
“It’s temporary while I think of another solution.”
Sera had turned away my guards just as I had expected.
She was completely open to anyone who had the nerve to try.
I couldn’t take any chances, and the border closure was the only thing I could think of.
New requests for entry denied. The only people allowed in were those who had been cleared.
It wasn’t foolproof. But it was something.
I heard all about how unhappy the people were during court this morning.
Therefore, I had reminded them that the assassination attempts were very real.
And because they forced me to exile my personal guard, this was a precaution I had to make.
I just didn’t say the attempts were on Sera and let them believe it was on me. They didn’t object after that.
“The patrols have been increased on the eastern and western fronts,” Maelor added.
He stopped in front of my desk and picked up a hammer.
“You building a house, Prince?”
I ignored him and picked up a report.
There was a knock on the door before Riven let himself in.
He looked at Maelor with my hammer, didn’t comment on it, and produced a stack of paper.
“From Xander.”
I looked over the reports.
Crown had no records of minting. Tide did, but that was expected.
Elion did not operate his trades by the books.
Illegal trading was far more lucrative. Winter recorded minting for military funds.
Which was also not surprising, given their shortages and the harsh winter last season.
Mallas complained extensively about the disorder that resulted from the panic regarding food supplies.
According to the dates, the rumors of Twilight planning to rebel and Sera causing my loss of control started at the same time.
“The rumors were planned,” I said to the room.
I looked up at Riven.
The way his hand clenched once told me he had come to the same conclusion.
I watched him and thought about the day Sera had left.
The estate gates loomed behind us. Maelor, Brie, Riven, and I. The silence settled heavily enough that the moment felt disturbingly like a funeral.
Brie was tearful, which was not at all surprising.
Then there was Riven. He had stood next to Maelor, who was offering commentary no one had asked for.
He was watching her in a way I had never expected him to watch anyone.
It wasn’t with desire. That would have been preferable.
Sera was beautiful, and I would not be surprised if another man looked at her with desire.
But it was protectiveness. Which was more complicated than if it had been simply desire.
When I thought back on it, there had always been signs that I refused to acknowledge. The way Riven would sometimes take Sera to the training yard whenever he had time. The way he always waited until she left a room before following.
If that wasn’t obvious enough, paying the cost for healing her would have been. Another thing I refused to acknowledge.
It should have been me. Riven had told me that I had a kingdom to rule and it wouldn’t have helped anyone. I had listened. But deep down, I knew it should have been me. He was trying to atone for something he believed was his fault, and I let him.
Yet, I still allowed him to leave the borders at sixth bell to watch her. I was sending him straight to her. The two of them, alone in a cottage in the wildlands, with no one but the moonlight as witness.
Maelor had at some point taken the report from my hands and was already finished looking over it.
I lowered my hands.
“The king will hear about the rebellion rumor soon,” Maelor said.
“And about Sera,” Riven added.
Moving to the cabinet, I turned the thought over in my head.
“Civil unrest is manageable,” I said, reaching for a bottle of whiskey. “A rebellion might complicate things. Father likely has heard about it by now. He probably isn’tt sure what to make of it yet.”
“He exiled you for something you can’t control.” Maelor dropped the report back on my desk, face reddening. “What the fuck do you think he’d do if he thinks you’re rebelling?”
Riven speared him with a look that would silence most men.
Maelor was not most men.
“Rebellion is enough to strip Caelan of his title and formally exile him from Primoria,” Maelor said evenly. “Twilight will be lost, and the army will belong to the king.”
“The men will only answer to Caelan,” Riven said.
Maelor stared at him. “Congratulations. You’ve just made him sound like a man preparing to overthrow a crown.”
I sat back into my chair and poured heavily into a glass.
Riven’s gaze dropped to it. “It’s third bell.”
I glanced up at him. “Is it already?” And poured it to the brim instead.
“Maybe we can open the borders back up for now,” Maelor said.
“No.” I looked at him. “Opening them now changes nothing and might make me look like I was caught in the act.”
I took a long drink and turned the glass in my hand.
Single malt whiskey from my favorite distillery.
The same whiskey that Sera had choked on when we first met.
I let myself think about it for five seconds, then stopped thinking about it.
I looked at the pouch of neutral coins still sitting on my desk and plucked one out.
“The Crown can’t act based on rumors alone. They will conduct investigations, hold trials.” I flipped the silver coin in my fingers. “We have nothing to hide. They won’t find anything.”
Maelor sighed, then nodded. “So we wait.”
“So we wait.” I looked at the coin.
“There’s something else,” Riven said. “Winter delegation is leaving tomorrow.”
I shut my eyes and exhaled.
Mallas was still in Twilight. He had come all this way to assist with the trial and I had completely forgotten about him.
“We’ll have dinner before he leaves.” I rubbed my face.
Riven nodded and left without another word.
Maelor hovered by my desk, watching me and not leaving.
I glanced at him. “What?”
He looked at me like he was searching for something and couldn’t find it.
“You okay?”
No.
“Yes.”
He didn’t press, which surprised me. He simply nodded, then turned to leave. When he reached the doorway, he said over his shoulder, “Brie and I visited Sera.”
I lifted my head.
“Just thought maybe you wanted to know.”
Then he was gone.
It was good that Maelor and Brie had been keeping her company.
The guards on patrol mentioned that Hollow creatures were left by the tower, all with stab wounds.
That was Sera. She cared without meaning to.
Did things for others without expecting recognition or gratitude.
All her life, she had been shaped into a weapon.
And she still had not learned how to be anything but good.
I didn't realize I was smiling until I saw it reflected back in the surface of the coin.
My smile faltered, and I looked closer at the coin.
The sheen was not uniform where it should have been. At the edge of the coin were flecks of pale green where the color should have been consistent.
Mixed metals in coins were hardly unusual. Minting authorities sometimes substituted metals of similar composition and value when the primary material ran short. A silver shortage, for instance.
Time slowed as my ribs squeezed tight.
There was only one kingdom in Primoria that had been managing a silver shortage.
Winter.
I set the coin down carefully and finished my glass of whiskey.
Mallas.