The Sentinel of Cassendar: Resquarian

Dracia walked towards the large parlor in the west wing after dinner with Leal at her side and Lord Ethen on the other. She had hardly eaten at dinner, her anxiousness making her stomach feel fluttery. She had drunk two glasses of wine and thought to have another, until Roderick pointed out to her that might not be the best thing after she had been unwell for a week. Wanting to keep as clear of a head as she could, and noticing she was already feeling some of the affects of the wine, she quickly switched to water.

“You do not need to be so nervous, Captain,” said Ethen as they walked. “Whatever you might be afraid of, I think you will find it is not so bad. I know what you learn might change a few things on how you see others, but it will not change who you truly are.”

“I want to believe you, Ethen, but it is difficult. It seems what I have known about myself my whole life might have been a lie. What if I find that I am much different than the woman I have always envisioned myself to be?”

“Can I tell you how I see you?” asked Ethen. “You are a strong, kind, wonderfully brilliant woman who would do anything to save the kingdom and people she loves. You are stubborn and fierce, and so full of what is good and right, I wonder that you don’t belong to the gods.”

“That last part was a bit much,” said Dracia with a small smile. “I am very mortal when it comes down to it, with the same faults and vices as any man or woman. You are doing a good job of distracting me, though.”

“Honestly, Dracia, you will come out of this just fine. I don’t know the whole story, but I do know the end, and I hope you will be as satisfied with it as I am.”

They entered the large parlor to find everyone else all settled. Lady Elise was sitting in a large chair by the fireplace. Dracia’s parents were sitting together on a nearby sofa, as Leal and Dracia sat down on the other sofa facing her parents. Ethen sat down as close to Dracia as he could in a chair to the side of the sofa. The rest had found various chairs around the room, including King Rommel who sat towards the back of the room, his wife Queen Lyvia sitting in a chair not far from him.

“I believe this is everyone,” said Lady Elise looking around the room. Her eyes stopped on Dracia. “Are you sure you are well enough for this, my dear? It is getting rather late in the evening, and if you are too tried, we could meet again tomorrow.”

“I am not too weary to hear the truth, my lady. I will not find true rest until I hear what you have to say.”

Lady Elise nodded. “This is not just my story to tell; in fact, most of it belongs to two other people in this room, so I will let one of them start. Lord Arwel, would you like to begin?”

“I would, my lady,” said Lord Arwel, sitting forward on the sofa and looking at Dracia. “When I was of age to attend the Royal Academy, my father decided it would be better if I went and studied Mystics and other things in Siccaria. He was good friends with Lady Elise’s late husband, and he wished for me to get to know the lord’s son, Quain.” Dracia’s father paused for a moment as he looked at Lord Quain.

“I enjoyed my time in Siccaria, and I became good friends with Lord Quain, I believe. He was a good fellow, and we had fun together, but there was another who captured most of my attention during my time here. It was a young lady who I was immediately drawn to. She was unlike anyone I had ever met, lively, beyond brilliant, mischievous, and yet had the kindest spirit. She was also the most beautiful woman I had ever seen.

“I think I loved her the first day I met her, but I tried to push it away. I was already intended for another. My father and the king had long been wary of the lords to the north of the kingdom. My father wanted to create stability, so he got to know Lord Callum, Lady Owena’s father. My father offered to unite our families by pledging me to Owena when I was only fifteen years old. Lord Callum agreed, both him and my father wanting to have influence in each other’s circles.

“I had not met my future wife when I went to Siccaria, but I knew my duty. Once I was done with my studies, I would travel back to Lanoxan and marry Owena Callum, but my heart would not listen. Almost as soon as I met Lady Ava of Siccaria, I knew my heart was hers. It took a bit longer for Ava, but for some reason I found she thought well of me, and we both professed our love to each other. I wanted to run away with her, and she felt the same. I wanted to defy my father and find a way to marry her, but we both knew that it was nothing but the silly dreams of young lovers.

“In the end, I left Siccaria to go back home and do my duty, but my heart did not come back with me. It stayed here, held by Ava. I went home, and I met my future wife. She had already been living with my family, attending the Royal Academy. I wanted to treat her well. I wanted her and me to be happy together, but it was so difficult. No matter how beautiful or clever she was, she was not Ava. I believe her heart belonged to another as well, but I will let her tell her part in a moment. We did marry, though, and we settled in together in the family home. My father died no very long after that, and then my mother. So, we were all alone in our big house, the Lord and Lady of Winsdell. I think we both tried to make it work.”

“We did,” said Lady Owena looking at her husband. “I think we even fooled ourselves for a few years. We had our sons very quickly, and then there were always duties to attend to, or court events in which to make appearances. I enjoyed the grandeur that came with being married to Lord Arwel, and I loved being out of my father’s house, having despised the horrible man.

“Still, there was always someone who was around who would remind me just how wrong it really was for me to be with my husband.”

Lady Owena took a breath and looked at Roderick and Galen over in the corner of the room before she looked back at Dracia. “When I came to Winsdell to learn at the Royal Academy, I had lived a very sheltered life. My father was a hard man who trusted few in Lanoxan. His mother was from Navalia, and he preferred Navalia in every way. He was always there, leaving my mother and me behind as he took my brother, trying to find some Navalian noble woman to unite him with.

“I stayed behind in our house and on our lands, with very few in the area to entertain me. We had occasional events and festivals in our home, but there weren’t many young people I was allowed to socialize with. When I came to Winsdell, it felt like my whole life really began.

“I had always enjoyed learning and reading. I was not as clever as some, but I was gifted in some areas including runes and water and stone Mystics. I had classes with a young man who had the same interest as myself, except he was twice as brilliant as me. He wouldn’t admit it. He told me I just hadn’t had the opportunities to learn as he had going to the lower academy.

“He was so kind and patient with me. He taught me how to do things I never thought possible. We were just causal friends at first. We both knew we were so far apart in power and wealth, that any kind of relationship outside of the Academy would be impossible. But as Lord Arwel found out, the heart doesn’t listen to what you should do. It only knows what it wants.

“I found myself falling deeply in love with a lower lord named Henri Ellis, and one wonderful night at some low festival, he confessed he loved me as well. I knew I should stay away from him. My future husband would come back to Winsdell one day, and I would marry him quickly, but I could not keep away from Henri. Everything about him drew me to him, his wit, his kindness, and his glorious smile.

“You do look extraordinarily like him, Roderick, though I believe he was a little livelier than you.”

Lady Owena shook her head. “Reality hit eventually though, and I had to do what I was told and marry Lord Arwel, as my Henri took a bride closer to his own station. I had my children and my life, and he had his. We stayed away from each other for years, barely speaking at any festivals or court events, me always trying to keep my eyes off of him.

“So, I lived with my husband for a few years trying to be happy in some way, but I failed. I grew bitter, and my husband grew cold. I was bored and lonely, so I turned to others to fill the void I had in my heart left by Henri. I flirted my way through the court, bedding different lords, and even sometimes wealthy tradesman. I didn’t care who they were as long as they made me feel alive for a few hours.”

“I became aware of my wife’s infidelity. It was hard not to; she didn’t try to hide it. I thought she was trying to hurt me or embarrass me in some way at the time,” said Lord Arwel.

“I wasn’t,” said Lady Owena. “I didn’t really know what I was doing. I was so miserable and full of regret.”

“I know that now, and I didn’t help matters, pining for a woman far away. I never let Ava go. I wrote her constantly, and she wrote me. She told me of men she had tried to form attachments to, but failed. She knew she needed to marry, to further the line of nobles, but she couldn’t do it.

“When I found out my wife had broken every promise ever made to me, and my father now dead, I knew I could do as I pleased. I told Owena I was calling her out on her broken promises and dissolving our marriage. I went to a priest in the hills and made it official, leaving directly for Siccaria after sending Ava a message.”

“As this was happening,” interjected Lady Owena. “Henri found me one night at a festival and called me out on my behavior. He told me how I was acting was not who I truly was. He reminded me that night of who I really was, and that was a woman deeply in love with him. It wasn’t long after Lord Arwel left, that Henri and I ran away to the Yates summer manor to be together and make plans.”

Lord Arwel nodded. “I found myself free, and I met Ava in a small house in the south of Siccaria that I was able to purchase. I wasn’t sure she would come. Her father had died, and she was now the true leader of the Siccarian people, but she still came to me. She said nothing could keep her away from being with me. We married almost immediately, and planned to stay in the small house together for a few months before facing her mother and brother. I would give up my place in Lanoxan and stay by her side in Siccaria. I figured when Colm was of age, he could become the High Lord of Winsdell.

“When we were getting ready to come here to the Aurorial palace, we became aware that Ava was with child. She was very sick for most of each day, so we decided to stay put. I found her a healer and a midwife, and they assured us what she was feeling was perfectly natural. In the later months of her pregnancy, she did feel much better, but I didn’t want her traveling in her condition. She knew her healer and midwife well, and Ava was content to stay in the small house by the sea to have our child.”

“As this was going on, I was at the Yates summer manor with Henri. We had many happy days and nights together, but I could tell he was feeing guilty. He may not have loved his wife as he loved me, but he was fond of her. They had a son together, and Henri knew he had broken her heart by running away.

“I knew I was losing him, but I fooled myself into thinking I could make him stay. Then he got a note from Lady Glain, announcing she was several months pregnant with his child. He could not stay after the letter. His guilt would not let him. He apologized to me, saying he would always love me, but we had both made our choices, and we had to live with them.

“Sometime after he was gone, I found myself with child as well, and I knew it was Henri’s. I started a dozen letters to him to let him know, but I finished none of them. He was right, there was no way forward for us. He had made his choice, and he had to live with it.

“I stayed at the summer manor, with very few attendants, having a local healer attend me. I would have my child, and then do I know not what. I thought I would beg Lord Arwel for some sort of establishment in the distant hills. I would beg for him to set me up for a somewhat comfortable life as the mother of his children.

“It came time for me to have my child, but it did not go well. The labor lasted all day and night, and when it was over, my beautiful dark haired little girl did not survive. I was very weak myself, but I still remember looking at her before they took her little body away. I could tell she favored Henri in most ways with her large eyes and dark hair.

“I grieved and hoped for death. I refused to eat, or rise from my bed. I wanted to do nothing but waste away, until one day Lord Arwel came into the house with a dark haired little girl of his own.”

“When it came time for Ava to have her child, all seem to go well at first,” said Lord Arwel after taking a long breath. “The healer and midwife seemed pleased with her progress, until something went wrong, and Ava started bleeding heavily. The healer could not stop it. The midwife managed to pull the baby out, but Ava could not be saved. She held on long enough to look at her child, at you, Dracia. Her last words were of how very lovely you were, and how much she loved you.”

Dracia felt tears fall from her eyes, as Leal took her hand. “My mother was Lady Ava, Lady Elise’s daughter?”

“Yes,” said Lord Arwel, shakily. “You are my daughter, Dracia, and the one piece of Ava I still had after she had gone. I do love all my children, but you were always special to me, because you were born out of the greatest love of my life.”

“But why not tell the truth, then? Why did you hide me away, and pass me off as the daughter of Lady Owena?” asked Dracia. “Why not come here and tell the family the truth.”

Lord Arwel shook his head. “I was in shock. I barely knew what I was doing. I had a simple farewell for Ava and kept her ashes with me. I had planned to come here eventually, but I could not face it at first. I retreated to my summer manor, to take some time. I didn’t expect to find Lady Owena half dead lying in my bed.”

“He walked in with you, Dracia, and I woke up. I demanded to know where he had gotten you. In my crazed state, I almost thought you were my own daughter stollen by him. Your father is a good man, and he felt compassion for me as he realized what had happened. He saw me nursed back to health and then explained to me what he had done, and who you were. I knew immediately we had to protect you.”

“Protect me from what?” asked Dracia.

“From my father, and the powers in Navalia. Growing up I had often eavesdropped on my father’s meetings with different lords from Navalia. They talked of taking over the land, of gaining back what was meant to be theirs, whatever it meant. They spent hours looking over prophecies and listening to foretellers.

“I snuck in a few times to my father’s study, and I looked through his things, reading these prophecies he had collected. He had written many notes on the subject, and in the end he and his Navalian friends felt only one thing could truly stop them, and that was a Siccarian alliance with Lanoxan. Specifically, they feared a Siccarian High Nobel daughter and Lanoxan prince.”

“I believe my father watched Lady Ava for years, seeing what she would do. I believe he worked on finding ways to end her. When King Rommel married a princess from Indomia, he let her be, realizing the risk of murdering someone of the High Nobles of Siccaria wasn’t worth the risk at the time.

“Seeing you, Dracia, a tiny helpless baby, a true daughter of a High Noble of Siccaria, I knew what would happen if my father heard of you. I at first tried to convince your father to go to Siccaria and present you to Lady Elise and Lord Quain, hoping they could keep your hidden and safe, but he refused to be separated from you.

“After much thought, I decided the best course of action was to pass you off as my daughter with your father. We remade our promises to each other, and we have kept them. Not many knew of our troubles, except Henri and his wife and a few trusted attendants. We had our sons sent to us at the summer manor and stayed there for two years, saying it was for my health.

“We went back to Winsdell with you as our daughter, Lady Dracia Yates. I have thought of you as my daughter ever since,” said Lady Owena.

“But you have always been so cold to me, so harsh,” said Dracia angrily. “If you thought of me as your daughter, why were you so cruel?”

“I have never been a very warm mother, not even to my sons,” said Lady Owena. “There were times I would look at you with your dark hair and lovely brown eyes, and feel jealous. Jealous that your father could not love me as he loved your mother, and jealous that my own dark haired little girl could not have lived. I did take it out on you at times, and it wasn’t fair. You were not to blame for my sins or your father’s weakness, or our fathers’ actions.

“I also wanted to make you strong. I knew what the prophecy had said, and I knew one day there was a good chance you would be the queen of our kingdom. I watched you with the prince as you grew up. I could see how drawn he was to you. It surprised me that nothing ever came of it. I even had a few conversation with the queen about you two before she became ill and was sent away. I guess I wasn’t watching close enough, because you both fooled me for a time, even though I always had some suspicions.”

Dracia dropped her head into her hands, feeling suddenly very weary. She felt Leal’s hand on her back, rubbing it gently. She didn’t know what to think, or how to process all of this.

“You really believe your father would have killed me?” asked Dracia as she looked up from her hands at Lady Owena.

“Yes, I have no doubt of it. He was driven by the idea that Lanoxan should be destroyed in some way to make way for Navalia. I don’t know where he got his ideas.”

“There is a bit more, I would like to say,” said Dracia’s father with a sigh as he looked over at Roderick and Galen. “Your father was suspicious when we came back as a seemingly happy family with a two year old daughter. Seeing her dark hair and eyes, I believe he worried Dracia might have been his.”

“He asked me many questions about her,” said Lady Owena. “I told him she was not his, and was definitely Lord Arwel’s daughter, but he didn’t believe me.”

“He started trying to find out what he could from attendants at our summer manor and the small village next to it. I was afraid he would actually find the truth at some point,” said Lord Arwel. “Owena tried to get me to agree to tell him all, saying he was trustworthy, but she had made me so worried for you, Dracia, that I thought the less people who knew about you the better. Eventually, I knew something had to be done about Henri Ellis.”

Dracia looked over at Roderick as he looked at her. She could tell they both had the same horrifying thought. “Father, did you kill Roderick and Galen’s father?” asked Dracia in almost a whisper.

“No, at least I don’t think so, not completely. It was not my intent,” said Lord Arwel holding his hands together nervously. “I had something made up for him, a drink that was supposed to make him more susceptible to mind control. I visited with him in a tavern one night and slipped it into his drink. I told him that Dracia was certainly mine and Lady Owena’s and he should leave it alone. He became ill and died soon after. I was assured it was one of the diseases that was ravaging the kingdom at the time, but I always worried that what I gave him contributed to his illness.”

“What did you give him?” asked Galen as he leaned forward in his chair.

“It was a mixture of ompia and fox leaf,” said Lord Arwel as he looked at Galen.

“You didn’t kill him, my lord, and I doubt you did anything to help your cause. You probably just made him sleepy for a day or two. You have no guilt in the death of our father,” said Galen.

Lord Arwel seemed to sit back in overcoming relief.

“You thought you had killed Lord Ellis all this years, didn’t you, father?” said Dracia with distaste. “You believed you killed him and deprived these young men, their brother, and their excellent mother of a father and a husband, and you kept it to yourself.”

“I didn’t really know, but I was always afraid I had done something to weaken him to be more susceptible to the disease,” said Lord Arwel weakly.

Dracia stood up and walked to the fireplace. She could not look at her father at the moment. In truth she hardly knew what she was doing. She put her hands on the mantle and leaned in, closing her eyes, feeling the warmth of the fire. It was all too much. Her mother was Lady Ava. Her father had lied to her for years. The woman she thought was her mother had been in love with Roderick’s father. And then there were these prophecies trying her to Leal that it seemed many Navalians believed.

“Dracia, my dear,” said Lady Elise who had gotten up and walked up to Dracia. “I know this is so much to hear in one night, but you do realize what this means don’t you? You are truly my granddaughter, and in right, the next leader of our people. Your mother was the eldest High Noble when you were born.”

“Ethen will be your leader,” said Dracia as she opened her eyes and looked down at the fire. “He knows your people and your ways.”

“And Dracia will be the Queen of Lanoxan,” said Leal who now stood at her other side.

She looked up at him as he gave her a very small smile. She loved him so much, but the ideas of prophecies were getting to her. What did her mother mean she always knew Dracia would be a queen?

“Spring’s tree,” said Queen Lyvia. “I told you long ago Rommel, the answer to that silly curse you were always trying to figure out was spring’s tree. You had the answer in front of you the whole time in our dear Dracia.”

Dracia turned around and looked at the queen and king. King Rommel looked at Dracia with wide eyes as he slowly nodded. “I think you are right, my dear. You have chosen wisely Leal.”

It was too much for Dracia. She turned back to the fire seeing Roderick and Galen out of the corner of her eyes. She couldn’t face them, not knowing that her farther thought he had killed their father for so many years. She could see Lady Elise looking at her with worry, but Dracia could not talk to the woman, not yet. She turned slightly to see Leal. Why did he love her? Her mother had said he was drawn to her for many years. Did he really love her, or was their something to these prophesies and curses? Every one of them talked about a tree of spring. If that was truly her, was she only with Leal because of some ancient magic?

“I’m sorry,” said Dracia as she turned around. “I just, I’m sorry.”

She fled the room before her tears could fall, trying to get away from everything she had just learned. Her head was so full, and she was so tried. She couldn’t process it all. She just had to be alone, to try to think.

She practically ran down the halls of the Aurorial palace, not really knowing where she was going. She took a left down a smaller hallway that led to some double doors. She opened them and ran through them to find herself in another hallway. From there she turned right until she came to a large door at the end of the hall. Opening it she found herself in a small courtyard. She stepped out into the cold night air. Snow was gently falling and was already coating the courtyard in a light dusting. Dracia walked close to the walls of the courtyard and found a small bench. She sat down slowly, hung her head, and cried.

She cried for Roderick and Galen, realizing how awful it must have been to live without their father, and to now realize he had never really loved their mother. She cried for Lady Elise to have gone years not knowing what happened to her beloved daughter. She even cried for her parents as mad as she was at them. They had suffered because of others. Perhaps most of all she cried for Leal. He was bound to her and trapped because of some ancient magic. He had been forced to stand against his father, thinking he loved her all because of some prophecies and curses made long ago.

What could she do? There had to be something. Could she run away, and go somewhere no one would find her? Surely Roderick and Galen couldn’t stand the sight of her now. Lady Elise must look at her and be reminded of the daughter she had lost, and the man who had taken Ava away from her. Her mother would always see Dracia as evidence her husband did not really love her, and be reminded of the child she had lost. Leal would be bound to her if she did not let him go somehow. Yes, she could run away, go far into Siccaria, maybe out to the other coast, and find a boat to take her far away from the land. Surely this place would be better off without her.

She sat there and cried, losing all track of time. Finally, she stood, deciding she should run. She was thinking of finding a cloak and running to Aarit, when the door to the palace opened, and Roderick walked out. He stopped short when he saw her, breathing heavily. Dracia could see his fast breaths in the air.

“You must hate the sight of me,” said Dracia turning away from him.

“What?” asked Roderick in confusion. “What do you mean?”

“I can’t imagine how much you must despise me now, knowing what my father did, or what he thought he did. I plan to go away; so you won’t have to be around me anymore.”

“What is this nonsense you are speaking, Dracia?” asked Roderick. “You aren’t going to go anywhere; you know better than that.”

“I have to go away. Can you imagine what pain my mother must feel when she sees me? Or what Lady Elise must be reminded of when I walk by her. You and Galen have been through so much, and to think of the pain your mother must have gone through because of my mother and even me. Do you think she thinks I am your father’s daughter? Is that why she dislikes me so? And Leal, poor Leal, to be tied to me because of some old magic.”

“No one wants you to leave Dracia, the least of all me. If you ever did manage to run, you must know I would go with you; not that your prince would ever let you leave,” said Roderick.

“He should let me leave, or he should get far away from me. What have I ever really done for him but cause him but pain and worry? What have I really done for anyone?”

“Now you really are being ridiculous. None of us would be here now without you. Have you already forgotten what you did in Navalia to save us all while almost killing yourself?” asked Roderick now standing very close to her.

“But we wouldn’t even have been in Navalia if it wasn’t for me,” said Dracia. “Don’t you see that the downfall of the kingdom and everyone else seems to be tied to me?”

“No, I don’t see it because it isn’t true. You have had a shock tonight, and you still aren’t feeling well. You aren’t seeing things clearly. You should come inside before you freeze out here and rest. Tomorrow things will seem better,” said Roderick.

“I don’t see how,” said Dracia as she felt fresh tears fall from her eyes.

Roderick pulled her into his arms and held her as she cried against him. He said nothing as he let her cry and hold on to him desperately. She eventually cried herself out and lay still against him.

“We need to go inside,” said Roderick as he rubbed her back. “I am sure the whole palace is looking for you at this point, and you are trembling, you are so cold. No one blames you for anything. How could anyone? What our parents did is not on us, Dracia. My father made his own choices just as your mother and father did, as well as Lady Ava. If the result of it all is you were born and are here now as my friend, I have a hard time being angry at any of it.”

“I’m so sorry, Roderick, for what my father did.”

“What did he really do? He wanted to protect you, and he never intended to hurt my father. He didn’t in the end. My father died as many men do, and life went on. Whatever happened, you are not to blame. I nor Galen hold any anger towards your father, and certainly not towards you. Whatever my mother’s problem with you is, I am sure it is due to misinformation.”

Dracia pulled away from him and wiped her cheeks with her hands. “I am a mess. You must think I have turned into some hysterical woman.”

“No, you just received an enormous amount of information from people who have lied to you your whole life. Whatever intentions they may have had, you have been kept from the truth by those you should have been able to trust without question,” said Roderick. “Will you please come inside and rest. Everything else can wait until tomorrow morning, or whenever you are ready, but you must rest.”

Dracia nodded as Roderick took her hand. He pulled her gently towards the door of the palace, her following just behind him as he held her hand. She walked with him back to the main hallway where they met Leal and Ethen both walking towards her.

“Dracia, thank the gods, you found her Roderick,” said Leal as he took Dracia’s hands. “You are freezing, dearest. Have you been outside?”

Dracia nodded as Ethen said, “You should get her to your room and get her warm and in bed, your highness. I will tell my grandmother and the others she has been found. There is no need for her to have to endure anymore conversations tonight.”

“Come along, my love,” said Leal as he pulled Dracia by her hand.

“Wait,” she said softly. She let go of Leal’s hand and turned to Roderick. “Thank you, Roderick. You are the truest friend I will ever know.” She reached up and kissed his cheek gently before turning back to Leal as he took her hand again.

She walked with Leal in silence to their room. As soon as the door closed, he pulled her to him and looked down at her.

“Dracia, I can’t imagine what you must be feeling at the moment, but I am here for you however you need me,” said Leal very softly.

Dracia shook her head. “How can you be so wonderful to me, knowing what we do now?”

“What do you mean?” asked Leal. “All I have found out is a lot of people made some very questionable decisions that is no fault of your own.”

“What of us?” asked Dracia.

“I don’t understand,’ said Leal. “Nothing has changed, except I seem to be even less worthy of you than before.”

“Do you believe these prophecies, Leal, because it seems that many do? What if there is something to them? What if the reason we are together is because we are tied together by some ancient magic?” asked Dracia as she turned away from him. “What if our love isn’t real?” She whispered the question as she was afraid to ask it.

“You know for being one of the most brilliant people I have ever met, you do ask rather silly questions at times,” said Leal. “Dracia, please look at me.”

Dracia turned slowly and looked up at Leal. “I do love you. How could I not? I have never questioned my love for you. I have only questioned how someone like you could ever love me. If it took some ancient magic prophesy for you to be mine, I cannot be mad about it,” said Leal.

“I’m being serious, Leal,” said Dracia.

“I am as well,” said Leal with a small smile. “Do you think you only love me because of these prophecies you speak of?”

Dracia sighed. “No, I love you for many reasons. I can’t imagine not loving you at this point.”

“Do you think it is any different with me? Dracia, whatever the reasons it does not matter. I am in love with you, and you are my wife. You seem to be determined to put me off somehow, but I will not allow it. Not as long as you say you love me.”

“I do love you,” said Dracia quietly.

“Then there will be no more questions of us,” said Leal as he took her hands and pulled her to him. “We are together, finally, as we always should have been. There is so much uncertainty in our lives, but the one thing I know without question is that I love you, and I need you by my side.”

Dracia nodded as Leal bent down and kissed her gently. “You need to sleep. Tomorrow we will deal with everything we learned tonight, but right now I just want to hold you and let you rest.”

Dracia got ready for bed with Leal’s help. She was soon under the covers in their bed, wrapped in Leal’s arms.

“I am sorry I ever questioned us,” she said quietly. “I was just so overwhelmed by everything, and I was so scared I could lose you.”

She felt him hold her even tighter as he leaned down and kissed her forehead. My heart is tethered to you, he whispered in the old tongue of the Cassendars.

As Dracia fell asleep she whispered back to him. And it will never come untied.