His place is always already cool by the time I reach for it. Kiss stirs first each morning, her body already searching. Ari does not wake. He never does. I ask for Colsar once, briefly, before the healer arrives.
"His Majesty is in council."
I nod and let it pass.
The healer's hands move with quiet precision, unwrapping, examining, rewrapping. "You are healing well," she says.
"I would like to be healed faster."
"The healing pools. At least once daily. They will accelerate what your body is already doing." She pauses, glancing at the twins. “It is not a failure to step away for a short time. Your body still requires care if you expect it to hold for them."
The words sit differently than instruction. Something closer to permission.
"I will consider it," I say.
She steps back. "You will be fully healed. The question is how quickly you decide that matters."
Then she leaves.
I dress and go. The hidden corridors are still, the turns familiar enough now that I move without thinking. I find him once, not directly, voices carrying through an open threshold ahead. The Sovereign and others, maps spread across a long table, Colsar standing over it with one hand braced against the wood, already inside something I am not part of.
I do not interrupt. Back in the chamber the children sleep. I send for him once and he does not come. I send again.
"He is still occupied."
I sit at the table with a blank sheet of parchment in front of me and do not write on it. We had already decided. Shalvar. Then Veynar. I do not understand why it feels as though I am the only one moving forward.
When he finally enters the light has shifted into evening. He looks tired and pulled in too many directions.
"You should be resting," he says.
"I have been."
He looks at me carefully. “How are you?"
"Better. The healer says the pools will accelerate it."
"They are not necessary."
"They are if I want to be healed quickly."
Silence.
"I was thinking you could come with me," I say.
"To the pools?"
“Yes. They are not entirely public. Not if you do not want them to be."
"No."
Something in me goes very still. "Why?"
"Because I do not have time." There is no apology in his tone. Just fact.
"We need to talk about Veynar."
"We will."
