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The goodbyes were said, and the only thing that stopped me from boarding my ship were the chests that lay stacked on the dock.
In truth, I didn’t know why I was here early.
That was a lie. I knew that reason, and I tucked it in my heart like a wounded child.
I crossed my arm and pulled myself to preserve warmth. I traveled the world and beyond. I’ve seen beauty unparalleled, but when it was time for my ship to depart, I met and accepted with this truth. But the leave from Terrasen was different in that I felt home here.
I looked out into the sea, and I was lost in a storm of my own making. Thoughts wrapped me in a cocoon that I wasn’t entirely too safe to be in. They were filled with harsh words and begrudging, angry goodbyes. To leave on that note was a wound I was unsure would heal.
The heavy sound of gallops broke my train of thought, and I was just numb enough that I did not turn. Likely, it was another guard coming to accompany me on the journey back to Varese, but the guard did not stop, and soon the horse was just yards away. I turned and not for the first time, I froze and color drained from my face at the sight and sound of the Wolf of the North.
Aedion swung down from his horse, and before I could comprehend what was to happen, I was crushed to him. Here. This was the reason that even the glimpse of the ship that would take me away made me hate it.
“I’m sorry,” he breathed into my hair. “I was rude and selfish, and I’m sorry.”
But I pulled away. Apologies were futile. “I still have to go,” I said, and the words were arrows.
“I know,” he said, and the second arrow struck. “But you’re coming back.”
“Aedion-” But the hurt and exhaustion between the battle we had raged was plain in the way those once proud shoulders stood curved. In this we were a mirror.
“Promise me that you’ll be back.”
“I can’t promise,” I replied, and the weight of that truth hit me and broke the reserve I built for myself. Gods – I promised myself that I wouldn’t cry. What were promises good for?
With searing eyes, he placed one of his hands on my jaw and the other clasped in my own. “What makes you think that either of us can live too long without the other halves of our souls?”
I shut my eyes in order to shut off emotions. How was it possible that I could feel my heart clench only by a few inches of turquoise and gold? I sighed, “I’ll come back.”
And then in resolution, he pressed his lips to mine. A promise sealed.
“You have six months,” he said. “Six months, and then I’m sailing to Wendlyn and dragging you back home.” My icy gaze leveled him.
He sighed in resignation, “Fine. A year.”
“And what will Wendlyn do without its princess, then?” I smirked.
“Manage.”
And another promise was sealed.