Adrian Silvercrest's Arc

Chapter 20 of 23

Three years passed at the cottage. Eric grew tall enough to carry a small bucket beside Adrian. Hope learned to walk, then to run, and her palm still lit when she laughed. Aldric taught her to close her fingers over the light until it went out. Elara watched from the doorway with her hand on her belly, which had begun to round again. One morning Dan came up the path with news. The old king was dead. The new one had lifted the writ against wizards and set aside the marriage Adrian had fled. The village had asked after their farmer for three years. They wanted him back. Adrian sat with it a day. Then he told his family what he meant to do. "All of us," he said. "No hiding. No story about a grandfather. I go in as what I am." Aldric set down the knife he was cleaning. "They will know me too." "Yes." "And Hope." "Yes." Elara took his hand. "Then we go tomorrow." They walked in at midmorning. Adrian wore no crown, only a clean shirt and the ring Aldric had made. Eric held his hand. Aldric carried Hope on his shoulders. Elara walked beside them in her green dress with her belly plain under it. The blacksmith saw them first and dropped his hammer. Word ran the lane faster than they did. By the time they reached the square, half the village stood there. Adrian stopped by the well. He raised his voice so the back rows could hear. "My name is Adrian Silvercrest. I was born a prince. I came here to be a man. This is my husband, Aldric. This is my wife, Elara. These are our children, Eric and Hope. Hope has magic. She is four years old and she is ours." No one spoke. Dan stood at the edge of the crowd with his arms crossed. The miller's wife stepped forward. She looked at Hope on Aldric's shoulders. Hope opened her hand and let a small blue light sit in her palm. "She's grown," the miller's wife said. "She has," Elara said. The woman nodded once. Then she turned to the baker beside her and told him to bring bread. Someone else went for cider. A bench was dragged from a doorway. The square began to move again. That afternoon they walked back to the cottage in the woods, but the path felt shorter. Aldric took Hope into the yard and showed her how to draw a rune in the dirt with a stick. She copied it and the lines glowed faint under her finger. He corrected her grip. Adrian found a straight branch and cut two wooden swords. He gave the smaller one to Eric. "Feet apart," he said. "Elbow down." Eric swung. Adrian blocked. Elara sat on the step with her hand on her belly and watched them, and this time no one had to hide.