“You shouldn’t have brought these.”
“Your mother sent them. She figured you’d want a piece of home.”
Luna eyed him up and down, setting the bag on the nightstand to enjoy later. Although she was happy have them, the bite in her mouth somehow tasted sour knowing that Clyde was responsible for bringing them. It would take more than delivering treats to earn her forgiveness . . . if it were even possible to earn back at this point.
A not-so-innocent smile tugged at his lips. “I have something else for you as well.” He rifled through his pocket and unwrapped another package to reveal a small golden hairpin shaped like a swan.
“I overheard a bit of your conversation with the king yesterday,” he said.
Luna jumped to her feet. “You did what?!” The throne room was pretty close to soundproof, there was no way he’daccidentallyoverhear. He must have cracked the door open. “That conversation was supposed to be private.”
“The information revealed to you, I was already privy to . . . I am your guard after all.” He crossed his arms in front of his chest. “It’s also why I am willing to forgive you for being drawn to that man—that beast.”
The disdain in his voice made the hairs on Luna’s arms stand on end. If he considered Damien a beast . . . then what was she? Besides, she hadn’t asked for his forgiveness. She had nothing to be sorry for.
He blew out a breath, moving to sit on the bed before he continued, “You probably had an unconscious desire to know more about your kind . . . about yourself. It’s a normal thing that children who are adopted go through. Wanting to know about who they are and where they came from.”
Her left eyebrow rose upwards. Was that supposed to be the apology?
Clyde patted the mattress beside him, gesturing for Luna to join. She shook her head, her feet remaining firmly planted where they were. His lips turned downwards. “I’m not going to hurt you. You don’t have to be scared of me.”
“I’m not.”
“Look, I’ve been doing a lot of thinking lately,” Clyde said, his voice lower than usual. “I’ve realized that I’ve been carrying around some biases. I’ve never really talked about this . . . not like this.” He hesitated, his eyes momentarily losing focus as they hit the floor. “My mother vanished whenI was eight. My dad was convinced that unicorns were to blame. Took her right from our home, in the middle of the night. We woke up to silence, her absence like a sudden void.”
He took a slow, deep breath, each inhale seeming to draw the past closer. “We spent months searching, clinging to hope she might've been taken by someone, that there was a chance we’d find her . . . but nothing. The local legends—all the stories about unicorns—they shaped our final thoughts: She had to have been killed. It seemed the only possible end.”
Looking up, Clyde’s eyes met Luna’s, his gaze laden with years of unresolved grief. “Her smile, Luna. It was the kind that could ease any worry, light up the darkest corners. It’s one of the few memories that’s stayed clear through everything. Losing her, not knowing how or why, it’s cast a long shadow over my life.”
He paused, the weight of his words hanging between them. “I guess that’s been driving me more than I ever admitted. It’s no excuse for how I’ve acted, but it’s the truth. I’m working on it, trying to see beyond the old hate, to understand more than what I was told as a kid.”
“Clyde . . .” Luna said, her hand on his arm. “That’s awful.”
He shrugged. “At least I have memories of her.”
Pain prickled in her heart, grief clouding her judgment. She didn’t have any memories of her birth mother. But he wasn’t at fault for that—Nina had given her up. Luna wondered what her life would look like if she hadn’t.
Clyde sighed deeply, rolling his shoulders back as if unburdening his soul. “I’m not telling you this to garner sympathy.” His eyes met hers with a sincerity that pierced through any remnants of her reservations. “It’s to show you why I’ve been so misguided in my actions. I’ve let old fears and biases cloud my judgment, and I’m sorry for that, Luna. Truly sorry.”
He paused, his expression softening further. “I’ve been trying to make amends, starting with understanding more about who you really are. I went to the library, seeking out anything I could find on unicorns, knowing well the challenges posed by the lack of impartiality in those texts. Most authors write from a place of ignorance and fear.”
A glimmer of hope flickered in his eyes. “But amidst the myths, I found something genuine—a book that spoke of unicorns and swans, creatures that form bonds as natural and as profound as those between humans and dogs. Bonds of lifelong friendship.”
He smiled, sheepishly, and held the swan-shaped clip out to her. “An actual swan would be impractical, but I thought this might symbolize a new beginning, a step towards understanding and maybe even healing.”
Luna took it from him, feeling its weight and the intention behind it. Though she had never felt the urge to find a swan and make it her friend, it was a sweet gesture. As much as she hated to admit it, her heart was softening a bit. “When did you find time to do all of that?”
“Watching you yesterday broke something in me. I couldn’t just stand at your door all night and listen to you cry. I had to do something. So I traded shifts with William, and he guarded your door.”
Looking down at the swan hairpin, a small smile pulled at her lips; it wasreallypretty. “Would you help me put it in my hair?”
“I’d love nothing more.” His cool hands gently brushed the back of her neck, sending a shiver down her spine.
The familiar sensation brought her comfort. Part of her desired to forgive him. It would be so easy to. She would lean in, and he would kiss all her worries away. For a moment in time, she would feel good and forget all the horrible things that had happened.
Once he was done pinning it in her hair, he sat back and gave her an approving nod. “Looks even better on you.”
“Thanks.” She touched her hand to her hair, then she walked to the door—a silent gesture that it was time for him to go. Her eyes were downcast; she couldn’t bear to see the look of rejection in his eyes. She knew if he stayed a second longer, her will would break, and she would be all over him.
