ADELINE REGINA
"Footfalls echo in the memory,
Down the passage we did not take,"
Adeline recited softly, a smile trembling on her lips as tears spilled down her cheeks.
Aldric's breath hitched.
His lips parted, voice instinctive—
"Towards the door we never opened,
Into the rose garden."
Adeline nodded, her throat tight.
"You are—"
"I am the money haggler."
Aldric blinked—then laughed.
A short chuckle, then a full-bodied one, deep and familiar.
Behind him, Keidar and Nickel stood watching.
Nickel lifted both hands in an exaggerated thumbs-up before grabbing Keidar by the neck and dragging him into the large tent like a hooked fish.
Adeline barely noticed them.
She had so much to say—so many words locked behind her ribs, pressing against her chest.
But the Aldric standing before her now… he wouldn't understand.
Not yet.
So she kept it simple.
"You look… very different."
Aldric scoffed, rolling his shoulders. "Well, I am no dashing prince, that much I'll admit—"
