Chapter 37 Chapter 37

Chapter 37 Chapter 37
Liora’s POV 

“Caelum, there’s no way I am apologizing to her! You were not there, you do not know how bad it was!” I argued, as I plucked another blue petalled flower for his healing practices. 
Caelum was already an excellent healer, among other things, but he still believed he always had to practice. 

My brother sighed for probably the umpteenth time that morning. 

It had been about three days since the overly dramatic earthquake that my mother unleashed on us the other day. 
One of my older brothers had managed to calm her down in time that day, else, we'd be debris by now.

After that, I got scolded. A lot. My older brothers loved every opportunity to make me feel worse, but I was already too used to it for it to matter. 
I mostly just stayed quiet when it happened. 

“It's not about who was right,” he paused as he turned to me, watching me struggle to pluck another flower, “It's just to make peace” 

I snapped the stem a little harder than necessary and added the flower to his satchel.

“Peace?” I repeated. “She told me I’d make a worse ruler than you.”

Caelum didn’t flinch at that. He rarely ever did anyway.
But I did. I knew how that statement sounded. 

“I don’t mean that you-” I started to explain but he rolled his eyes and cut me off, waving me off

“She was angry,” he said. 

“No, Caelum. She was being cruel.”

There was a difference. A very clear one.

The wind shifted through the garden, carrying the faint scent of damp soil and crushed petals. The training fields were visible beyond the lower terraces, empty now in the late morning light. 

It reminded me of Kysen. I had not seen him since that day, because our families forbade it. I was not even allowed to go to Velaryth. 
Who knew a day would come where it's be ordered not to go there?
On a normal day, I would be happy, but in this case, the situation was upsetting. 

Well, it was all just supposed to be that way until the ‘clarification of intentions’ investigations were over.
We would see each other soon enough. Well… that depended on the outcome.

The only way I knew he was alive was through his drakyn. 
Quite frankly, it sucked. 
At this point, I had cursed Joan more than a million times. 

Now, I was stuck with a memory that refused to leave me alone, and it all felt like a dream.

Caelum knelt beside another cluster of blue blooms, careful not to damage the roots.

“You know how she is,” he said.

“Yes,” I replied flatly. “I do.”

Oh, I definitely did. All too well.

He finally looked at me properly then, eyes narrowing slightly. “You’ve barely left your wing of the palace.”

“I’ve been busy.” I said, avoiding his eyes. 

“Brooding is not a task.” he accused.

I shot him a glare. He ignored it.

“You think apologizing means admitting she was right,” he continued calmly. “It doesn’t. It means you’re choosing peace over pride.”

I laughed once, humorless. “Is that what we call earthquakes now?”
Why can’t she be the one to chose peace over her pride for once? Even worse, she’s the one in the wrong!
She just had to be dramatic and almost collapse the entire building. 

He huffed out the faintest breath of amusement, but it faded quickly.

“You embarrassed her,” he said.

My head snapped toward him. “Excuse me?”

“She allowed you to train with the Dravon heir, despite her reservations. Then his family sends a letter implying you’ve entranced him.” he explained.

“I did not entrance him,” I muttered.

Caelum’s brow lifted slightly.

Heat crawled up my neck.

“That is not the point,” I added quickly.

His silence was pointed.

I focused very hard on the flowers.

Three days.

Three days since the letter.

Three days since I had seen Kysen.

The cave replayed in my head at the worst possible times.
The way his hand had trembled slightly before settling at my waist.
The way he had whispered my name like it meant something dangerous.
The way he had said he never wanted to hurt me.

After making sure he was okay on the first day everything went down, I had not heard anything from him. 
I knew I could try to reach out to, and so, I did. But I got nothing back. 

His drakyn only told Vyrmoth he could not talk, and that was it. 
I knew he was fine… Well, physically…
But I was still so worried, and if I was being entirely honest with myself, the silence hurt.

I kept telling myself that he was just stuck, and unable to communicate with me, but still, it hurt. 
More than I'd like to admit. 

“You care about him,” Caelum said quietly.

It wasn’t a question.

I didn’t answer. I couldn’t even lie to Caelum. 

The wind picked up again, lifting strands of my hair across my face. I brushed them away, irritated.

“He hasn’t tried to contact you, has he?” Caelum asked.

My fingers stilled around the next stem.

“No,” I said.
That part stung more than I liked to admit.

Caelum studied me for a moment, then looked back down at his satchel. “That doesn’t necessarily mean what you think it does.”

“Oh?” I asked coolly. “And what do I think it means?”

“That he’s choosing them.”
I swallowed.

Because yes, that was exactly what I thought.

“He wouldn’t,” I said, though it came out softer than I intended.

Caelum didn’t argue. Which somehow felt worse.
It almost felt like he did not want to say anything to make me feel bad, or maybe he just had no opinion on it. 
Instead, he stood and brushed dirt from his hands. “Mother is meeting with the Dravons tomorrow.”

My heart dropped.
“Tomorrow?”
I thought she already did and was just refusing to tell me anything about it. 

“She postponed it after… the incident. But she rescheduled. It will be formal, of course.”

Formal meant public enough to matter, but private enough to be dangerous.
Most people already knew something of it anyways. There were rumors flying around. 

“Will I be present?” I asked.

He hesitated.
“That depends on whether you’re still at war with her.”

All I could think of after hearing that was that it was a chance to see Kysen again. 
Ugh, nicely played, mother. 
I looked away.

The palace loomed above the garden terraces, tall and unyielding. It had never felt small to me before. Now it felt like a cage.

“If I apologize,” I said slowly, “she’ll expect obedience.”

“She already expects it.”

I hated when he was right.

“And if I don’t?”

“She will assume the Dravons have influence over you. And I know you don’t want that”
The accusation again.
The narrative was already forming without me in the room.

I exhaled sharply and shoved the last flower into his satchel. “Fine.”

Caelum blinked. “Fine?”

“I’ll speak to her,” I clarified. “Not apologize. Just speak.”

“That’s a start.”
He gave me a small nod. He was clearly relieved.

As we began walking back toward the palace steps, I couldn’t shake the unease building in my chest.

It had been three days of distance, and even worse, silence, so I had no idea where he stood in all this. 
And tomorrow, our families would sit across from each other and pretend this was about strategy.
When in reality, it was about two people who had kissed in a cave and changed everything. Not like they knew that though. 

What if he didn’t show up? 
Or what if he did not say anything and let them handle it?

I didn’t know which would hurt more.
I just knew that I needed to see him.