Philo Amarus's Arc

Chapter 5 of 9

Philo carried the sword and heart back to his own room because he didn't know where else to take them. He set them on the table by the window where the light made the metal look older than it probably was. The heart had been pierced clean through, but the edges weren't torn — someone had measured the angle before driving the blade in. That felt like his father. The precision of it. The care disguised as carelessness. He sat down and looked at it for a long time, longer than made sense, until he realized what was bothering him. His parents had left things behind. His father had given permission. His mother had let go. Everyone had moved except him. He'd been waiting for the obstacles to clear, and now they had, and he was still sitting here staring at a sword through a heart like it was supposed to tell him what came next. It wouldn't. Nothing would. That's what the fig had been about, back when Eris threw it at his head for being too quiet. She hadn't been angry he caught it. She'd been angry he caught it and still said nothing. He walked to the palace courtyard where the pink pond reflected the columns and found Eris sitting at the edge with her feet in the water. This was where he'd first decided not to speak three years ago, watching her laugh at something someone else said and thinking he'd wait for a better moment. There hadn't been one since. She looked up when his shadow crossed the stones and he sat down next to her without planning what to say. The water was warm against his ankles. "I've been a coward," he said, and her face went still the way it did when someone needed her. "I love you. I've loved you since the fig. I'm not waiting anymore." She didn't move for a breath, then reached over and pushed him into the pond. He came up sputtering and she was laughing, but her eyes were wet. "Took you long enough," she said, and pulled him back up by his shirt. Her hands stayed on the fabric. He kissed her and she kissed him back and the water kept moving around them like it had been waiting too.