Faye nodded imperceptibly, still not entirely convinced.The inside of her cheek must be bleeding now, the way she was worrying at it with her teeth.
“Remember when you and Kira were playing with your dolls, and Kira accidentally dropped one of the dolls over the balcony? You were upset but knew it was an accident? Being a grown up is about being able to forgive when someone is genuinely sorry. Just like Kira was. Just like Leander is.”
Well, that certainly wasn’t true. But he wasn’t going to interrupt Verin when he was being so virtuous. And he certainly wasn’t going to contradict his brother as he defended him.
“Then why is Uncle Leo still here? Father said he might go back to Estalian?” Faye asked.
Verin glanced at Leander, who nodded for him to continue. “Saying sorry can be one of the hardest things to do,” Verin began, his voice soft. “It means admitting that you made a mistake and taking responsibility for your actions.”
Faye’s brows knitted together in confusion as she frowned. “It’s not that hard.”
“It depends on what you did, and who you have to say sorry to,” Aerilyn said in response.
Which none of them knew, when it came to Leander’s transgression.
“And saying sorry can make us feel vulnerable, like standing in front of everyone and having our flaws exposed, and that can be scary. But it is important because it shows that we care about the people we hurt and that we’re willing to make things right.”
Alix turned to look at Leander, uninhibited curiosityalight in his eyes, but there was no judgement there. “Have you said sorry to the person you hurt, Uncle Leo?”
After a moment of hesitation, Leander shook his head. “There are a lot of people I must make amends with. And Taskevi wants me to prove to her that I am a good man before she welcomes me back.”
“But you are a good man,” Kira piped up.
Leander smiled at his oldest niece. “Thank you, Kira, I’ll be sure to let Taskevi know you said that.”
Kira grinned and nodded, apparently satisfied with the response she had been given, as if that would make everything alright.
“What did you do, Uncle Leo? What makes Taskevi so mad at you?” Alix asked
“I accidentally maimed one of Arran’s favourite white stags,” he replied promptly. He had been prepared for this question for some time and was surprised it had taken so long for the children to ask him.
“Oh. I bet Arran is very sad.”
“She is. A lot of people are, Alix.”
“Do you want that, Uncle Leo? To go back to Estalian?”
There was another sharp pain in Leander’s chest, much like the one he had experienced the night before. “I wish that very much,” he finally said, his voice a croaky whisper as he tried to speak around the lump in his throat.
“But then we would never see you again!”
Leander couldn’t help but smile at Everly’s horror. “I could visit, you know. Estalian isn’t far away.”
Aerilyn made to stand up and usher the children from the room. “Bath time.”
“But we’re clean, we’ve been swimming all day!” Alix said in incredulity.
“That’s not a bath. You smell like fish and if you think you’re going to sneak into my bed tonight stinking, you have another thing coming, young man. Come on.”
With groans, the four children got up and dragged their feet as they left with Aerilyn, three to their own rooms and Faye to one of the many guest rooms which she used when staying over in her grandfather’s home.
Leander and Verin remained behind, sitting in silence for a few minutes.
Verin got up and busied himself with pouring the pair a dram of whisky each. He handed one to his brother. “You didn’t even hesitate when you lied about injuring Arran’s stag.”
“God of Lies, remember?”
Verin smiled, a tight-lipped, rueful smile. “I have a suspicion Arran would have been more forgiving. Whatever you did, I am just a tiny bit glad I finally got the chance to meet you. Kira was right, you are a good man. It’s just hard to see, sometimes.”
