❄❄❄
NEXT thing I knew, I was in a bed in a warm room. Father looked at me, the tension in his face easing.
“Where’s Bern?” I asked.
“She’s sleeping,” he replied curtly.
Several questions fought for my attention: What had happened after I passed out? Had anyone gotten hurt? My whirling thoughts dissipated, however, when I noticed Father’s expression.
I grasped the blanket, averting my gaze. “I apologize,” I said, my tone contrite. “What I did was careless.”
It really had been, especially for a noble. My life was more important than the other kids’, no matter how much I liked to think of us as equals. One of Vulkan’s children dying in Eisberk surrounded by commoners could have dire consequences, even if it were just an accident.
Father rested his hand on my head. “Everyone’s safe and sound.”
“They are?”
“Yes. Yes, they are,” he affirmed. A tear rolled down my cheek. “Good,” he said, and not a word more.
I’d thought he’d be angrier, and the fact that he wasn’t made it hurt that much more.
✦ ✦ ✦
❄❄❄
SOMETIME later, I was informed that Bern had woken. I scrambled to her room as fast as I could. Her father was there at her bedside, as one would expect. Bern was sitting up, chewing her lip, her face pink.
“What timing. Have a seat, Felzen.” Eisberk’s frequent smile was nowhere to be seen. His eyes were deadly serious.
“Felzen had nothing—”
“Quiet. You have not been given permission to speak yet,” he said, his voice cold.
Bern’s entire body stiffened, as did mine. Even my father wasn’t so intense. The contrast between the Eisberk before me and his usual, kind self was chilling. At that moment, I came to understand just how scary Eisberk could be.
“You too, Felzen.” Eisberk smiled, looking pointedly at a nearby chair. His smile was soft but frigid. I timidly complied. “Obli alerted us to your predicament. No one was hurt.” The tension in Bern’s body eased. “The children claimed they were to blame.”
“What? That’s—”
“Absurd? I can tell, Bern. I can tell what happened just by looking at you, but they didn’t say anything. They didn’t say anything about what you did. Instead, they apologized for not looking after you, hanging their heads and soaking wet from the waist down.”
Bern started bawling. It was the first time I had ever seen her cry. She didn’t cry when she took a hit in our sparring sessions, nor had she when she’d been bitten by an angry sheep or stung by a bee, yet tears were streaking down her face all the same.
The kids had kept their word, taking Bern’s half-joking remark to heart.
How? They were up against adults—and not just any adults, but nobles, lords. My chest felt so heavy I could barely breathe. My nose stung like I had just inhaled water. I felt more in pain than I had sinking to the bottom of the lake.
Eisberk smiled again, his gaze no longer quite as frosty. He gently rubbed my cheeks. “I see I’ve brought you to tears as well.”
It was only then that I realized I was crying. “I’m sorry,” I choked out.
“I’m glad you came out unharmed.”
“I-I’m so, so sorry…”
“Never forget what happened today.”
“I won’t.”
Needless to say, the incident left a permanent impression on me.
Eisberk stood up from his seat.
Bern wept, staring up at the ceiling. I crawled into her bed, putting my arm around her shoulder.
Bern tried rubbing her eyes, and I tucked her head under my chin. I hadn’t had the foresight to bring a handkerchief with me but thought I could at least let her use the collar of my soft pajamas.
Bern wrapped her arms around me and clutched my shirt, shivering. I realized then just how small she really was.
I wanted to protect you, and I failed. I was the one who caused you all this pain. I began wailing. My throat clenched, my eyes felt like they were going to melt.
We cried and cried until sleep overcame us.
✦ ✦ ✦
❄❄❄
I pried my heavy eyelids open. I slipped out of bed, the evening sun permeating the room. Bern was still under the blanket, sleeping.
I noticed a dark shadow and followed it to its source where a platinum blonde sat in a chair. Her hair reflected the sunset as if painted red. She looked like something straight out of a fairy tale.
It was none other than Lilia. How long has she been here?
“I see you’re awake.” I nodded. “You must be thirsty. Here, I brought you some lemon water,” she said, pouring it into a glass. Floating in the water was a slice of lemon and some mint leaves.
I took a sip. It tasted a little salty.
Kind of like tears.
“Thank you, Felzen.”
Her words caught me completely off guard. I shook my head. “A-All of this was my fault to begin with. A-Apologies,” I stammered, bowing as deeply as I could bend.
I should’ve given up on the boomerang. All I had to do was ask Father, and he would’ve bought me one. If only I hadn’t gotten so attached.
“All because of some lousy boomerang,” I muttered like a curse under my breath.
All because I’m a lousy brat.
“Lousy?” Lilia pushed the boomerang into my hands. The layer of ice had melted, leaving it dry and light. “It’s beautiful. I’m sure it’ll fly far.”
The way it sliced through the autumn sky was beautiful, so beautiful that it had caused the whole mess. I’d hurt Bern; I’d forced my playmates to lie.
I gripped it tightly. Why I oughta—
Lilia placed her hand over mine. “Bern hung onto it. It’s clearly dear to her, so don’t call it lousy, not in front of her.”
I gaped at Lilia, speechless. It almost sounded like she was referring to me, not the boomerang. My chest felt like it was about to burst.
“Thank you for saving her,” she said. “Thank you.” Her face seemed troubled. “I care only for Bern’s happiness. What Father says is irrelevant. How a noble ought to think is of no interest to me. Selfish, right? Your image of me must be crumbling right now,” she mumbled in a low voice.
I shook my head. “But I—”
“What took place before doesn’t matter. You saved Bern from drowning, and that does.”
She was saying that I—my magic—was good for more than just violence. A warm sensation spread through me. It was a gentle kind of warm, nothing like a scorching-hot flame.
I opened my hand, running it over the boomerang. Lilia must have dried it off, I thought.
“I hope you’ll continue looking out for Bern. If you haven’t given up on us already, that is.”
It was as though a deity had given me a divine charge. I’ll never give up on Bern. She’d rescued the emotions I had almost left behind, and I would do the same and more for her. “Of course!” I replied.
Lilia’s smile was like a flower in full bloom. Light from the window glanced off her hair. The windowsill’s thin shadow grazed my shoulder, and I felt like a knight being sworn in. “Thank you. I’ll leave the lemon water here. Give Bern some once she’s up.”
“And you?”
“I’ll be heading back to my room before I overstay my welcome,” she said, kissing Bern on the forehead. “I’m so glad you’re okay,” she whispered quietly before exiting the room.
I scooped up a handful of Bern’s straight, blue hair. Its softness, the way it sifted through my fingers was so different from mine that my heart started to race.
“Stupid Lilia,” Bern muttered, her voice muffled by the blanket. I couldn’t hold back a giggle.