“Restless without him?” Grandmera asks.
Arisanna almost answers before she realizes Grandmera is speaking to Cerian’s mother and not to her.
“I’m full of restless energy all the time now, it seems. I’d forgotten what it’s like to have the strength to go and be and do.”
Arisanna watches Queen Nestraya pace the room.
“And I feel that pull toward him stronger than I have in decades,” Queen Nestraya continues. “Lorial finds it amusing. I’m sure you do as well, Mera.”
“More sweet than amusing. I’ve missed the vitality of my Nestraya.” Grandmera looks toward the bed. “And my Elowyn. How like you she is. Never one to remain still for long.”
Arisanna feels like an interloper listening to their conversation, but it’s not as if they don’t know she’s here. Or as if she has anywhere else to go right now. Cerian seems unlikely to appreciate her wandering the streets of Feressa alone after dark. Not that she wants to wander anywhere alone in the dark.
“I missed so much of her elfling days,” Queen Nestraya says softly. “Hers and Cerian’s both. Did I do enough? Teach them enough? Prepare them for the hardships they would face? That they will face? Cerian, especially. So unsure of himself. Of his worth. I tried—”
Grandmera glances at Arisanna and clears her throat. “You did everything you could for them. We all did. They will find their way. And Cerian is not alone.”
Queen Nestraya looks at Arisanna and smiles. “He is not. You’re so good for him, Arisanna. I hope you know how much Lorial and I love you already.”
Arisanna nods, unsure how to respond to that. “I...love Cerian. Desperately. It’s real, isn’t it? What I feel for him? What he feels for me?”
“Of course it’s real, my youngling.” Cerian’s mother lowers herself to the bed beside Arisanna and draws her close. “He’s still Cerian. The heartbinding just helps you see him more clearly. The parts he hides from the world. His soft heart and gentle spirit. And I believe he would have fallen completely in love with you even without the heartbinding if he had let himself. Just because the magic of the heartbinding accelerated the process doesn’t mean it isn’t real.”
“It feels real. And I can’t stop thinking about him. Wondering if he’s all right. If he needs me. Which is ridiculous because of course he’s fine.”
Grandmera chuckles. “Go. Both of you. I will manage.”
Queen Nestraya glances back at Elowyn, clearly hesitant to leave her. Then she closes her eyes as if she’s concentrating on something. “Tharios is in his room with Viala.” A small smile crosses her face. “I recommend you knock first if you need him.”
Arisanna’s cheeks heat at the queen’s words. She’ll grow used to this eventually. Right?
“I always knock first with those two,” Grandmera says under her breath, and Arisanna glances down at her hands as she wills her face not to flame brighter.
It suddenly occurs to her that Tharios isn’t the only elfling Queen Nestraya can sense with her life magic.
She tries not to dwell on that too much.
“This is lovely, Arisanna,” Queen Nestraya says, and Arisanna looks up as Cerian’s mother fingers the hair behind Arisanna’s ear. “Cerian always makes such beautiful things with his plant magic, though this is a first for him.”
Stars above. Her hair. She forgot he grew his plants into her hair earlier.
She never took it down after her bath.
“He...seems fond of my hair. Which I probably didn’t need to share.”
Queen Nestraya and Grandmera laugh.
“That’s hardly a secret from anyone, my youngling,” Grandmera says. “We all have eyes. Now, off with you both.”
“I’mnotdoingiton purpose. I swear.”
“Well, I am certain no matter how many vines I send to you, there are still more. What are you thinking about?”
Cerian stares at his father. “You don’t really expect me to answer that, do you?”
Father smiles. “No. But this clearly isn’t working. And you’re growing cranky. Here.” He tosses Cerian an apple, and Cerian catches it easily.
“Forgive me. I—”
