I turn toward him. The word feels right even without explanation.
He moves to sit beside me, resting a hand gently on my knee. “Mira, I told you—you hear it the way my mother did. She never forced anything; it wasn’t in her nature. But without a doubt, she moved in harmony with everything around her. Particularly nature.”
“He’s not wrong.” Ace finally speaks, still weakened by the earlier admonishment, but warming as he continues. “I remember her in the garden. She would sit quietly humming—no tune I’d ever heard, and, quite frankly, I know them all.” Leave it to Ace to weave his usual charm back in so effortlessly. “It didn’t seem like her own creation either. More like… a call and answer. The flowers used to bend to her. The ivy would stretch with each note. That’s the real magic I remember. But—I stand by my efforts to test things out.”
Life breathes back intothe room.
“If there are answers, we can find them together,” Soria adds.
Something powerful fills my heart. With Vale at my side, I felt like anything was possible. With all of us combined, though?—
“Yes,” I say. “Let’s do this.”
We spend the rest of the evening talking. The day is drawing too late to even consider dipping into the collected journals. Tonight is a meeting of the minds.
We share a small buffet of food in the parlor and dismiss the staff for the night. Even with minimal help, we all agree it is best to keep this as tightly knit as possible until we know more.
“Can you imagine when the council catches wind?” Ace’s eyes go wide as he lets out a puff of air.
“Anyone who is privy to matters pertaining to my wife will only be so when we decide they shall.” Ever the protective king. Even Ace shrinks beneath the tone.
Soria, as always, maintains the balance between us. “You won’t be able to keep it secret forever. If she really heals the way you say, eventually they will know. I doubt it will last long enough for us to see whether she ages like us or like them,” she says, meaning mortals. My kind—that’s how I would have thought of it before. But that was before everything changed.
BeforeIchanged.
“She’s right,” I concede. “I wear the scars of my own misfortune. I’ll do something foolish that should add to the collection sooner rather than later.”
Vale nods in agreement, yet I can see the wheels turning as strategy unfolds.
“We will tell them after we’ve returned. A private council—only those we trust most and only what is essential. From there, we will allow them to share it more broadly. Our kingdom has been blessed. Our queen has been granted the ultimate gift. No talk of magic. No mention of anything else. We cannot hide all the ways she has changed, but we cannot let anyone outside this room know just how much has changed.”
“They still won’t like it. Not the council per se,” Ace corrects. “But there are those who will question any so-called blessing after all we’ve been through.”
“Anyone who questions the crown—and that includes questioning Mira—will answer to me.” I can feel Vale seething at even the suggestion of a threat.
I rest my hand on his arm, a meager attempt to soothe the beast raging beneath the surface.
“Then I’ll have to be dazzling,” I say, flicking a quick wink toward Soria. “People want hope. You’ve said it yourself—in the early aftermath, and the birth of your sister, in your efforts to build a brighter future.” I press my lips together as my thoughts coalesce into something closer to a plan. “Let’s give them as much as we can. A king and queen blessed. A kingdom with hope of a better tomorrow. Come what may, we can offer them that.
“Even if we have to build it with our own hands.”
Chapter Forty-Three
“Ican’t do this anymore.” My arms fall to my sides in surrender.
The echo of groans other than my own rises in weary solidarity.
“I loved the woman, I love revisiting these memories, but yeah… if I try to keep reading, I am quite certain I may go blind.” Ace rubs at his eyes and blinks wildly, trying to will his vision to stabilize.
We’ve been at it all day. The small private library suddenly feels even smaller now that Vale and I have doubled its occupancy by having Ace and Soria join us.
It was the right choice.
We are making progress and yet standing still. For every small hint of how magic was once used, we get distracted three times over, lost in the memories bound within the pages.
Ace is particularly fond of reading aloud anything written about him and then retelling his side of the story with the utmost dramatic flair.
“It’s important you understand my motives, not just the melee that followed my actions.”
