“Want—?”
“Thedistanceyou old goat! This space between us! You said I wanted it. But I-I don’t.” My eyes were wet. “Please forgive me. I’m so sorry for my inexcusable behavior. I was wrong. I was rude. I’m so very sorry, and I don’t want you to go away. Not ever.”
Elías rolled his neck. “We are fine, Your Highness,” he said. “There is no space.”
“But,there is space,andyou keep calling me Your Highness, not Svana, and you said ‘we are,’ not ‘we’re,’ and I said I was sorry. Please. Please call me Svana, Ser. Please call me a brat. Please tell me I am poorly behaved. Please just speak to me!”
He sighed and said, “Svana…” nicely, then danced his shoulders. “You don’t have to injure yourself apologizing, alright? I am not upset with you.”
“How could younotbe upset?” I asked. “I was so very rude.”
He looked around and then spoke quieter. “Not entirely. Youarean adult now. I amnotyour father.”
“You’re right. You’re more important.”
“That’s not true. Don’t say things like that,” he said.
“You care about me. The King does not.”
“Nikolai cares. He loves you. He just can’t-”
“No,youlove me,” I said. “And I love you, and I’m sorry. And Imissyou.”
He nodded. “I miss you, too.”
“You do? Good. Then we must vow to never fight again,” I told him. “Not ever.”
That rolled his eyes, near out of his head as he opened my door.
“You won’t agree?” I asked. “You think we ought to fight?”
“No.” He grinned. “No. I think you’re entirely too much of your mother to make good on that vow, is all.”
“You don’t think I’m more of my father with how angry I got with you?” I asked.
“No,” he said, chuckling. “Angry or not, Nikolai and I rarely fight.”
I considered it. “You fought with my mother?” I asked. “I thought you were friends? Close friends?”
“We were,” he said. “But we fought.”
“Oh.”
“I think we fought more than we got along, if I’m being honest.”
“Well I don’t wantthat!”I told him. “I said I was sorry. I meant it.”
“I know you’re sorry. And obviously tired,” he replied, inspecting the color beneath my eyes. “Have you not slept well?”
“I’m alright,” I said. “Just… There’s a lot to think about these days but I’ll be fine. Iron and all, right?”
“Can I do anything?” he asked.
“No. You’ve done enough,” I said. “Hellveig is gone. I’ve just had a few bad dreams of her, is all.”
He nodded.
“And Ser Willoughby… Strangely, he was… comforting, I think. He woke me the other night. He told me he wanted to protect me.”
