Adrian Silvercrest's Arc

Chapter 21 of 23

The village needed a prince again. Word came from the capital by rider: the new king wanted Adrian at court to help settle the wizard lands. Adrian left at dawn most weeks and came home late. When he stayed in the village, men lined up at the door with disputes over fences and grain prices. Eric trailed him everywhere, small hand on his coat, learning to bow when he bowed. Aldric took work too. The king sent letters asking for spells, wards, a school for the new mages. He set up a table in the front room and stayed at it. Hope sat under the table with her doll, drawing runes in chalk. When she got one right, he touched her head without looking up. Elara moved through the house alone. Her belly grew round again. She kneaded bread. She hung wash. She spoke to the goat more than to her husbands. Some nights Adrian did not come home at all. Some nights Aldric slept at his table with ink on his cheek. One evening she waited until Adrian sat down to eat. "I need to tell you something," she said. "Say it." He was reading a letter beside his plate. "I am lonely, Adrian." "Mm." He turned the page. "It will settle. Give it a month." She tried Aldric the next morning. He was grinding something in a bowl. "Aldric. I hardly see you." "I know. I am sorry. This has to be done by the feast day." He did not stop grinding. She stood there a moment. Then she went to the garden and pulled weeds until her hands shook. A week passed. Two. She said it again, softer each time, and each time one of them nodded and kept moving. On a gray morning she packed a small bag. She kissed Eric's forehead where he slept. She kissed Hope's. She took off her ring and set it on the kitchen table beside the bread knife. Then she walked out the back door and down through Dan's fields, into the trees. Adrian came home at dusk with Eric on his hip. Aldric was already at the door with Hope, calling for supper. The house was quiet in the wrong way. No pot on the fire. No footsteps upstairs. Adrian saw the ring first. He set Eric on the floor. "Elara," he called. Nothing. Aldric came into the kitchen with Hope on his shoulder. He looked at the ring. He looked at Adrian. His face went white. "How long," Aldric said. "I don't know." "She told me. Last week. I was grinding valerian." Aldric's voice broke flat. "She told you too." "Yes." Hope reached for the ring on the table. Adrian caught her hand before she touched it. He held it there, small and warm, and understood what he had done.