It was funny, how there’d ever been a point when Ision and Kyra considered moving away from Hyasari. Even only a few months after, he’d felt like it was some distant dream. He didn’t want to leave Odelle alone.

  Not with a man like Nigel.

  Yet, alone she had to be. Ision cursed himself for not seeing it sooner—how it seemed obvious only in hindsight. Though, he supposed, even before their marriage would’ve been too late by the church’s standard. He could almost be assured by knowing that his daughter had a fighting spirit… but he also knew that fighting spirits could be broken. And he didn’t want to be far when her resolve cracked.

  Kyra, unfortunately, died before she could spend too much time with the twins; she’d gotten too sick too quickly and then, before the healers could even figure out what was going on, she was gone. But Ision was able to watch them grow up quite a bit.

  Even if he always opened letters from Odelle with a mix of concern and hopefulness.

  He always prays for something like “let’s have a family dinner at the castle” or “Nigel’s come to his senses.” What he only ever saw were “I need you to watch the twins” or “Nigel’s getting too drunk again.”

  And this time, it was “I hope you can take care of Dimas and Zofie for a couple of days. I… lost this baby, too. I plan on telling Nigel tonight.” So, in other words, “Nigel’s going to get drunk and likely violent, so I need the twins out of the way.”

  Despite everything, later that day, Ision smiled when he opened the door to see Odelle, the twins, and Thero. They needed it. “It’s good to see you,” he said as if the reasoning was completely casual.

  Odelle managed a smile, too, albeit small. “Thank you for agreeing to watch them. I don’t know what I’d do without you…” She gently ushered the twins closer to their grandfather. “You’re both going to stay with Papa for a little bit, alright? I’ll see you when I come to pick you up.”

  They both nodded, even if they didn’t exactly understand the situation. This wasn’t the first time they spent a few days with Ision; it wasn’t the last, either, though it got more sparse as they got older and excuses like “tutors,” “magic practice,” or “helping the church” could be used instead.

  “I’ll see you then, too,” Ision said. He gave his daughter a quick hug. “You know I’m always here for you. You could probably stay for a cup of tea, at least…”

  She shook her head. “Kadol can’t handle everything for me. I’ll just see you later.” She bent down to give each of the twins a kiss on the forehead and mumbled something to Thero before leaving.

  Ision guided them inside. “Now… would you two like to hear a story?”

  At the sight of pulling out the book of children’s stories from the Commandments, they both stumbled over themselves to find a place to sit. He helped them up so that one was sitting on either side of him on the couch and flipped to a story he had yet to share. Thero followed less enthusiastically—he stood near the archway. Ision had never gotten him to talk much.

  …

  He acknowledged what was happening—what they all had to go through. The way it warped or grew over the time but never truly changed. Then things got worse.

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  Ision always had a bad feeling about that night; he was plagued by the thought of something terrible happening if he went to sleep. When he heard the news, he couldn’t help but find himself wondering… had that been Sachiel? Had he missed one of the few opportunities he had to do something?

  After all, Odelle was dead.

  He saw Zofie, briefly, during her coronation—Dimas, too, but he slipped away from the crowd as soon as he could. Ision couldn’t muster the motivation to talk to either of them. Not like he could do anything aside from offer empty reassurances. He stopped being royalty as soon as Kyra died; he wasn’t the one with the Holy Queen’s blood. Someone like him had already served his purpose to create an heir for the matriarchy. He thought that, with Odelle’s death, he’d finally run dry of any fragment of usefulness he still possessed.

  But then there was a knock on the door as he read through his devotions a few days later. He saw the glimpse of Thero through the window and, quite frankly, expected worse news when he opened the door to see Zofie, too.

  She offered a small smile. “Good afternoon, Papa. I… hope this isn’t too sudden of a visit…”

  Ision put on a brighter smile to hear there was no immediate danger. “Not at all! You and your brother are always welcome here. Speaking of, is he with you?” He tried looking past her, but he saw no one.

  She shook her head. “He’s… already planning his trip back. He doesn’t want to stay long. I can’t blame him…”

  Ision nodded absently, knowing it wasn’t something to dwell on. He gave her a kind smile of his own and gestured the two of them inside. “Well, what brings you here?”

  “Not a lot. Just… a cup of tea, if that’s alright.”

  “I’ll get that started right away, then. Why don’t you sit down? The tea will be ready in a minute. As luck would have it, I just started brewing a pot.”

  Zofie went to sit down at the table while he took care of the tea. Thero, like usual, lingered right by the door.

  Ision dared to ask, “Have they… figured anything out yet? About what had killed her?”

  She was quiet for a moment, then, slowly, said, “Not… really. It was probably magic, but not one that left a mark. We’re looking into a possible group but we don’t have a specific person yet. It’s… funny you mention that, actually. It’s a part of why I’m here. They’d made an… interesting point earlier. It seemed like she didn’t fight back. B-but she wouldn’t have just sat there. Not if she knew what they were doing.”

  “I can tell you now that Odelle was always strong.” Ision poured two cups of tea, then walked over to give one cup to Zofie and sat down with the other. “She built up her walls, her boundaries—she didn’t let Nigel tear her down. But… as much as I hate to admit it, all walls wear down over time.”

  Zofie looked up at him from her cup. “What do you mean?”

  “The reason she let Dimas leave for so long, the reason she found things for you to do outside of the castle… it was because her walls were cracking. I’ve seen it, unfortunately—the weight everything had on her. She might’ve had the will, but her power to fight back was waning.” He considered if he wanted to say it, though decided it was better than leaving it unsaid. “It’s possible that, when faced with death… she no longer had the strength to stand against it. I’d reckon she knew Nigel would be blamed for it—whether he did it or not, he’d pay the price for treason.”

  All the candles in the room flickered. “Why would she leave us..?”

  “I never said that she wanted to leave. I know, though, that she had confidence in the two of you. She knew you’d go on to do great things—change the world, even. She knew you were ready to be without her. Every time I talked with her, I could tell how proud she was of you. I trust her judgment.” He offered a smile. “And I believe in you, too. You were deemed worthy of your position, so I’m sure you’ll do great things. You’ll match up to your mother’s legacy—I’m certain you’ll do even better. You’ve got good people with you. Even if Odelle is gone, you’re still never alone.”

  “I… hope you’re right, Papa.” Zofie gave a small nod and managed a smile again. “Thank you.”

  “I’m simply stating facts. And remember you’re welcome any time—you and Dimas both. It’s alright if you need a quiet moment here and there. My door’s always open.”