Aurek entered the north pavilion garden a few minutes after Vaelen had left.

  Seraphine was still standing near the basin. Astraea stood beside the stone table, one hand resting near the teapot.

  The king looked first at the door his son had just gone through.

  Then he turned his eyes to Seraphine.

  "So?" he asked.

  Seraphine did not answer right away.

  "He felt that something had changed," she said at last. "He doesn't understand what yet. But he felt it."

  Aurek stepped closer to the basin.

  His face was calm.

  Too calm.

  "And you?" he asked.

  "So did I."

  Silence fell again.

  Astraea watched her father without saying anything.

  Aurek lowered his eyes to the water.

  "This wasn't supposed to happen so soon."

  "You've been saying that since the day he was born," Seraphine replied.

  "Because it's true."

  His voice stayed low. Tired.

  Seraphine slowly crossed her arms.

  "You always knew this day would come."

  "Knowing that doesn't make it any easier to accept."

  The wind barely stirred the pale leaves of the trees.

  "The braziers in the south pavilion weakened," Aurek said. "Two guards felt the air change in the lower court. A servant spoke of unstable lanterns."

  "I know," Seraphine replied.

  "Then you also know we have less time than before."

  This time, Astraea spoke.

  "Father…"

  He raised one hand slightly.

  Not to silence her harshly. Just to ask her to wait.

  Then he turned back to Seraphine.

  "You want to keep him close. Reassure him. Give him more time."

  "Yes," she said.

  "And I want him alive."

  Seraphine did not answer.

  The king went on, more slowly.

  "And I want to understand what is waking inside him before the world understands it for us."

  Astraea lowered her eyes for a second.

  The line was harsh.

  But less harsh than the silence before it had been.

  Seraphine took a step toward him.

  "He is your son."

  "I know."

  "Then stop speaking as if all you see is danger."

  The king's face tightened slightly.

  "That isn't what I'm doing."

  "Yes, sometimes it is."

  The silence that followed was short. But heavy.

  Aurek looked away toward the basin.

  "You think I don't see him?" he asked. "You think I don't know what time he trains? You think I haven't noticed every time he came back with fresh bandages? You think I haven't seen the way he still looks at me?"

  His last words came out faster. Sharper.

  As if they had slipped out of him.

  Astraea slowly lifted her eyes to him.

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  Seraphine, on the other hand, did not move.

  "Then why?" she asked.

  Aurek stayed silent for a moment.

  Then he finally answered.

  "Because if I show him too much, the palace will notice too."

  No one spoke.

  The king went on.

  "And if the worst day comes, I cannot afford to be too weak to act."

  Astraea stiffened slightly.

  Seraphine held his gaze without looking away.

  "So that is your truth."

  The king met her eyes.

  "Yes."

  "You are afraid of him."

  "Yes."

  The word fell without any attempt to soften it.

  Astraea lowered her eyes slightly.

  Seraphine did not look away.

  "But that isn't the whole truth," Aurek added.

  His voice dropped even lower.

  "I'm also afraid of what they'll do to him if the palace understands too soon what he is. I'm afraid of what the Council will say. I'm afraid of what the other houses will see. And I'm afraid that if I start looking at him the way a father should look at his son, I won't be able to do what must be done if the worst day comes."

  This time, Astraea paled slightly.

  Seraphine stepped closer.

  "So you push him away before the world even tries to take him from you."

  Aurek did not answer.

  Because it was true.

  "You are protecting yourself," she said.

  "Yes."

  "You are protecting the crown."

  "Yes."

  "You are protecting the house."

  "Yes."

  Seraphine paused.

  Then she asked, more quietly,

  "And who protects him from that?"

  At last, the king raised his eyes to her.

  "You do."

  After that answer, no one spoke for a while.

  Astraea lowered her head very slightly.

  Seraphine stayed silent.

  Aurek spoke again.

  "He still listens to you. Even when he shuts down. Even when he tries to convince himself it's nothing. You are the only presence in front of whom he does not harden completely."

  Then he looked at Astraea.

  "And her."

  Astraea had not expected that look. Not so directly.

  "Me?" she asked.

  "He does not fear you yet," Aurek replied. "And he watches you. More than you think."

  Astraea stayed still.

  Seraphine studied her husband more carefully.

  "So you know him better than you let show."

  The king gave a brief smile. A tired one.

  "I never allowed myself to stop watching him."

  Then he added, after a short pause,

  "I only forbade myself from letting him see it."

  The garden fell silent again.

  This time, even Astraea lowered her eyes.

  Because she finally understood something she had never truly put into words.

  Her father had not been absent. He had been holding himself back.

  And that restraint hurt just as much as absence did.

  Seraphine looked at him for a long time.

  "You think you are protecting him by letting him grow up in that emptiness."

  Aurek did not answer.

  "And one day," she continued, "that emptiness may become the wound that drives him furthest from you."

  The king closed his eyes for a second.

  Then opened them again.

  "I know."

  His voice was even lower now.

  "But I was afraid from the day he was born, Seraphine."

  The name quieted the rest of the garden.

  "Not only afraid for the kingdom. Not only afraid for Solis. Afraid of him. Afraid for him. Afraid of what I might have to do if he became what I fear."

  Seraphine did not answer right away.

  Then she asked,

  "And today?"

  Aurek looked at the door Vaelen had gone through.

  "Today, I was mostly afraid of realizing that I may not have much time left to repair what I let grow between him and me."

  Astraea turned her eyes away slightly.

  Not to avoid the scene. To leave her father what he had just admitted in spite of himself.

  Seraphine stepped closer to him.

  "Then start."

  The king turned toward her.

  "Start what?"

  "Being his father before it is too late."

  Aurek let out a brief laugh. More empty than the last one.

  "You think he'll let me?"

  "I think he has always wanted more from you than you ever gave him."

  The king stayed silent.

  Then he asked,

  "Did he ask questions?"

  "Yes."

  "Which ones?"

  "What was inside him."

  Aurek lowered his eyes.

  "And you didn't tell him."

  "Not today."

  The king barely nodded.

  "Good."

  Astraea frowned slightly.

  "Good?"

  Aurek looked at her.

  "He needed a truth he could bear. Not all the weight at once."

  Astraea did not answer.

  This time, Seraphine took her place.

  "But one day, you will have to tell him."

  "Yes."

  "And that day is getting closer."

  Aurek did not argue.

  Then he straightened fully.

  The king's calm returned to his face.

  But neither Seraphine nor Astraea was na?ve enough to believe there was nothing left beneath it.

  "From now on," he said, "he will not train alone before dawn."

  Astraea nodded.

  "I can be there some mornings."

  Aurek looked at her for a second.

  "Yes."

  Then he turned his attention back to Seraphine.

  "And the southern classes will need to be watched. Quietly."

  "You think he'll do it again?" she asked.

  "I think he has realized something is being hidden from him. And I think a child like him will not leave a closed door alone for very long."

  The silence that followed was brief.

  Then footsteps sounded behind the garden door.

  Heavy. Even.

  Astraea turned her head slightly.

  The door opened.

  A man stepped in, then bowed to the king and queen.

  He wore the white-and-gold uniform of the royal guard, but without any useless ornament. His presence was enough. Tall, straight, with a closed face, he had the simple hardness of men who had never needed to speak much to be obeyed.

  Aurek did not turn right away.

  "Dareth."

  "Your Majesty."

  At last, the king turned toward him.

  "From today onward, Prince Vaelen's movements in the north wing and the secondary courts are to be watched more closely."

  Dareth asked no questions.

  "Yes, Your Majesty."

  Astraea looked at the man in silence.

  He did not have the face of someone who talked too much. Nor of someone who tried to please people.

  Aurek continued.

  "He must not notice."

  "Understood."

  The king stepped closer to him.

  "And if anything abnormal happens around him again…"

  Dareth lifted his eyes just enough.

  "I will come to you immediately."

  Aurek nodded.

  Then he added, more quietly,

  "No. You go to the queen first. Then to me."

  Dareth paused for the smallest moment.

  Then answered,

  "Understood."

  The king was already turning away.

  For him, the conversation was over.

  But before Dareth left, Astraea looked at him for one second longer.

  Because she had understood something very simple.

  Even the palace was beginning to fear what Vaelen might become.

  Dareth bowed one last time and left the garden.

  Silence returned at once.

  But it was no longer peaceful.

  Aurek looked at Seraphine.

  Then Astraea.

  "If it happens again," he said, "I want to know at once."

  Seraphine nodded.

  "You will."

  The king left the garden without adding another word.

  Astraea kept looking at the door for a long time after it had closed behind him.

  Then, at last, she asked,

  "He really is afraid of Vaelen, isn't he?"

  Seraphine did not answer right away.

  She was still looking at the basin.

  "Yes," she said at last.

  Astraea lowered her eyes slightly.

  "And he loves him anyway."

  This time, Seraphine turned her head toward her.

  "Yes."

  After that, neither of them spoke for a few seconds.

  Then the queen looked back at the still water.

  "That is exactly why all of this may become even more tragic."