When will he co?
It had been days.
She could feel it, the absence of him.
She felt the absence of everything that broke the monotony of two centuries of nothing. The cave had been her world for two hundred years. Stone and silence and the distant sound of forest creatures that never ca close enough to matter.
And then he started coming.
Talking to her like she could hear him. Like it mattered whether she heard him or not.
She had tasted his blood. Just a few drops that reached the stone before he wrapped his hand. It had taken everything she had not to react visibly.
I did not move. But sothing inside did.
Not thoughts.
Just... awareness.
Of him.
Two hundred years and she had forgotten what warmth tasted like.
If I wasn’t sealed here.
The thought went where it always went and she stopped it there.
He didn’t know about her. That much was clear. He talked to the cave the way people talked to themselves not expecting an answer, just needing sowhere to put the words.
But he kept coming back.
How did he even find this place, she thought. The path doesn’t exist in daylight. I made sure of it.
She had built that into the seal herself, two centuries ago, when she still had the strength to shape the environnt around her. A last asure.
The daemons who had trapped her hadn’t been able to find the cave entrance either; they had simply sealed the whole region and waited.
They were still waiting.
She was still here.
Two hundred years, she thought. Alone.
And then a boy started dropping by. Talking while looking in the air.
It was the most entertainnt she’d had since the seal went up.
When he cos back I’m going to be furious with him, she decided. He deserves it for making wait.
...
What if that makes him angry?
What if he doesn’t co back.
The thought was small and she hated it imdiately.
No. He’ll co back. He always cos back.
She shifted against the stone. The seal held. It always held.
I’m so thirsty.
She closed her eyes and listened to the forest, the birds not singing, the absolute silence of every living thing that had learned not to co near.
Co back soon, she thought, to no one.
Or I really will be angry.
***
(Kael POV)
I left my room without a clear plan.
Just... Oh today was Aria’s birthday. That sat sowhere in the back of my head and wouldn’t leave. The banquet was tonight.
I found her near the garden entrance, standing with a cup of sothing warm, looking at the mountain line.
What she is looking at? Is she deep in thought.
She heard coming. Didn’t turn imdiately.
"Brother."
"Happy birthday," I said.
She turned. Looked at with those careful eyes that catalogued everything before allowing any of it to show.
"You ca to find specifically."
"I did."
"Why."
"Because it’s your birthday and I haven’t said it yet."
She was quiet for a mont.
"What do you want," she said.
"Nothing."
"People don’t seek out to wish well without wanting sothing."
"I’m your brother."
"You’re my brother who fought in a duel.
"And won," I said. "Which is relevant."
Sothing moved at the corner of her mouth.
"What do you want," she said again, but the edge on it was slightly different this ti.
"A gift," I said. "Since you’re asking."
She looked at .
"I want a gift," I repeated. "From you. For your birthday."
"That’s not how birthdays work."
"I’m the heir. I’m redefining how things work."
She stared at for a long mont.
"Fine," she said, very carefully. "What gift."
I looked at her.
"I want you to trust ," I said. "Just enough. Not completely I haven’t earned that yet. But enough to give ti to earn it."
Aria’s expression didn’t change. "That’s not a small thing to ask for."
"I know."
"After everything..."
"I know."
She looked away. Back at the mountains.
"And what do I get in return," she said.
"I’ll make you Duchess," I said.
Silence.
It lasted a mont too long.
Aria blinked once.
"...What?"
Her voice ca out sharper than she probably intended.
I watched her carefully. That wasn’t disbelief. More like her mind had accepted the words but refused to connect them to reality.
"Not the heir," I continued. "Not the spare. A Duchess. Your own title, your own land, your own authority."
Her grip on the cup tightened slightly.
"That’s not..." She stopped mid-sentence, exhaled once, then started again. "You can’t just say that."
"I already did."
"Do you know what duchess ans?"
"I know."
I raised my hand. Draw a line of mana across my palm visible, deliberate.
"I swear it on my mana heart," I said. "Aria Ardyn will hold a Duchess title before my tenure as heir is done. That’s my gift to you. For your birthday."
An oath on a mana heart wasn’t ceremonial. It wasn’t tradition or formality. A mana heart oath, if it was broken... corrupted the core, damaged cultivation, left marks that didn’t fade. No one made them lightly.
Aria stared at the line of mana across my palm.
Then at my face.
Then back at the mana.
"...Why would you do that?" she asked, quieter now.
"Because it’s correct."
The mana faded. That made her pause again.
The garden felt heavier afterward.
Aria looked at for a long ti.
"I haven’t decided whether I trust you yet," she said finally.
"I know."
"...This changes nothing imdiately."
"I know."
.....
"Happy birthday," I said again.
She looked away.
But she didn’t leave.
***
I studied my reflection.
Everything was in place. Expression. posture. control.
Except for the heat I could not fully explain.
A duchess. Equal standing.
A promise made on a mana heart.
Reckless. Or calculated. I could not yet tell which one disturbed more.
I raised my hand slightly, watching my own fingers in the mirror.
"I haven’t decided whether I trust you yet," I had said.
That was still true.
But now it felt less like a judgnt. And more like a delay.
I turned away from the mirror.
The feeling did not leave with it.
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