He crouched beside the telescope, adjusting the small brass gears at the base, aligning it with the sky. “Gwenna wanted a better way to study the stars. We’ve been working on it for months. It’s not perfect yet, but…” He peered through the eyepiece, made a minor adjustment, then stepped back. “Go ahead. Take a look.”
Finn slipped past him, moving in close as he eased down to the eyepiece. A breath of silence—then an audible gasp. “Is that...the moon?”
Cedric chuckled, folding his arms across his chest as he watched Finn take in the sight. “It is.”
Finn continued to study the moon, brow furrowed in quiet concentration. “I knew it had splotches on it. But I never knew they looked like that.”
“Craters,” Cedric said softly. “Those are called craters.”
Finn pulled back to look at him, eyes glinting with something between curiosity and admiration. “How do you know all this?”
Cedric cleared his throat. “Gwenna and I have been studying the sky for years. And that’s not all.” He gestured toward the telescope. “Before you came here, we were tracking some of the nearby planets. Did you know they have moons, too?”
Finn blinked, clearly caught off guard. “I thought everything up there was just…stars.”
Cedric grinned, shaking his head. “There’s so much more than meets the eye.”
He sat down on the low wall that lined the top of the tower, cool stone pressing into his palms. A quiet thrill rippled through him when Finn stepped away from the telescope and sat down nearby.
For a time, they simply sat there, the silence between them comfortable rather than strained. The sky stretched above them, glittering with a thousand tiny lights, as if the universe itself was listening.
Then Finn spoke, his voice quieter now. “Speaking of more than meets the eye…” Cedric tensed. “Can I ask you something else?”
Cedric exhaled slowly, forcing himself to nod. “Go ahead.”
Finn hesitated, as if carefully choosing his words. “Why did you give up being a prince? I mean, I know you said it was to protect Gwenna, but...was there more to it?”
Cedric stilled.
He could lie. He’d done it before. But for some reason, tonight, he wanted to offer a small truth.
A long pause stretched between them before Cedric finally said, “Part of it was for Gwenna, yes.” His voice was even, which said more about his spectacular ability to suppress his emotions than anything else. “But…there was another reason.”
He swallowed. A truth too long buried fought its way to the surface. Cedric half expected Finn to cut in with a barb, but the knight only watched him, really listening. “When everything fell apart, my parents were preparing to announce my betrothal to Princess Cassara Marovelle.”
“She’s Revendarian, right?” Finn asked.
Cedric took a slow, calming breath. “Yes. It was supposed to strengthen our alliance with Revendar, to keep the Avalisians from creeping in at their borders. And more than that, it would have secured access to their Revendarian steel.”
The knight cocked his head. “That would have been a huge benefit for us.”
“Yes,” Cedric agreed, then cleared his throat before continuing. “But after the attack…everything changed. And when the people wanted someone to blame, they looked to Revendar. My marriage—our peace—burned to the ground with my parents. If I had stayed, they might have forced it anyway, but it wouldn’t have mattered.”
By the furrow of Finn’s brow, he understood the connection immediately. “Ah. I’ve done my fair share of time at the border. Not right to marry you off to a kingdom half the realm thinks is the enemy, anyway.”
Cedric’s jaw clenched. He wanted to blurt, I think Revendar is innocent, but that would lead to far too many questions. So instead, he sidestepped to another aspect of the issue. “Even without that, I wasn’t looking forward to such a marriage. Even if the treaty had held, it wouldn’t have been right—to her or to me. I’m not interested in princesses. Or any women, for that matter.”
He braced himself for Finn’s reaction. He glanced at the knight’s face. And what he saw wasn’t judgment. Wasn’t surprise. Just…understanding.
“I see,” Finn said simply. Then, after a beat, he added, “I’m attracted to both men and women myself.”
Cedric hadn’t expected that. He blinked, searching Finn’s expression for any hint of jest, but there was none—just quiet honesty.
“…Oh.” Brilliant. Absolutely brilliant response, Cedric.
Finn chuckled, shaking his head. “You look like I just told you I’ve got three heads.”
Cedric let out a small breath, something like a chuckle caught at the edges. “No, I…just didn’t expect you to say that.”
