Aurelia had wept until her throat burned and her breath came in ragged gasps.
It was the kind of crying that emptied the body and left it trembling, the kind that drew shadows under the eyes.
Through it all, Vaelric, small and solemn, had remained by her side.
His little hands, soft and clumsy, patted her back in uneven rhythm, as though he believed he could calm away her grief by sheer persistence.
"Enough, Mother," he murmured in a voice far too gentle for his seven years. "It will be all right. You'll see."
At last she quieted. The sobs subsided into silence broken only by the faint patter of rain against the high windows of Caelmont.
She drew a long, steadying breath and whispered, "All right."
Her fingers trembled as she reached up and unclasped the veil that had hidden half her face for so many years.
The silken cloth slid away, exposing her marred flesh to the firelit chamber.
She braced herself for the flinch, the wince, the pity....any of the thousand cruel reactions she had endured before.
But Vaelric only looked at her. Not with disgust. Not with sorrow. His storm-gray eyes widened with something closer to… curiosity.
He reached up, his touch hesitant at first, then more assured.
His small fingers traced the uneven ridges of the scars across her cheek, the crooked bend of her nose, the droop of her eyelid.
He studied every imperfection with the focus of a boy handling a rare treasure.
His hand lingered at the corner of her mouth. His expression tightened, and he clenched his fist.
"Damn that cursed witch," he spat, with a venom that startled her.
"She had no right. If I ever cross paths with her, I'll make her pay tenfold."
Aurelia's lips parted in shock. Such words, from a child? Yet the anger in his voice rang with sincerity.
It was not the empty fury of a boy imitating grown men...it was something deeper, sharper, as though he carried the weight of an oath already sworn.
"You should not speak so, Vaelric," Aurelia said gently, though her voice wavered. "Revenge… it only breeds more pain."
"But it's not too late," he pressed, ignoring her caution. His eyes glimmered with conviction.
"I believe we can fix this."
She shook her head, bitterness rising in her throat. "If there were a cure, a way to lift this wretched curse, my father would have found it long ago."
"Then he didn't try hard enough." Vaelric's tone was calm but unyielding.
He leaned closer, his small jaw set with eerie determination.
"Don't worry, Mother. I'll find a way. We'll return you to how you were before. I swear it."
Aurelia's heart twisted. It was impossible....she knew that better than anyone...but she could not crush the fierce light burning in her son's eyes.
So she smiled faintly, nodding, though she felt tears threatening again.
"It's just a matter of time and patience," Vaelric said with sudden brightness, as though the darkness of moments before had never touched him.
His grin returned, boyish and irresistible.
"You'll be the most beautiful woman in all five realms again, Mother."
Her breath caught. That word...Mother. She had not expected to hear it so soon, and the warmth it carried was almost too much to bear.
"Tell me everything about you," Vaelric urged eagerly. "Even when you were little. I want to know everything."
Aurelia laughed softly, shaking her head. "Everything? That would take all night."
"Good," he replied without hesitation. "We have all night."
So she began, halting at first, but gradually her voice grew steadier.
She told him of her childhood in Ashmere, of running through the meadows with her brother, of playing at swords with branches when her tutors weren't watching.
"Did you ever beat them?" Vaelric asked, leaning forward with wide eyes.
"Of course," she said with a smirk. "Though they would never admit it. I was faster."
"I bet you were fierce," he said admiringly. "Just like now."
Her heart warmed, and she tousled his dark hair.
"And what of you? Tell me of your adventures, little storm."
He puffed his chest. "I climbed the east high tower once. Father nearly had a fit when he caught me."
"You climbed the east high tower?" Aurelia gasped.
"Seven years old and already daring the sky? I heard the towers could almost reach the skies"
He grinned proudly. "I wanted to see the clouds up close. They look different when you're higher up. Alive, almost."
The two of them talked long into the night, sharing secrets and laughter, weaving the fragile threads of a bond newly forged.
Aurelia, for the first time in many years, felt less like a broken thing and more like a mother.
Elsewhere in the fortress, Valerian Stormborne walked the torchlit corridors with heavy steps.
His broad shoulders slumped with exhaustion, his golden hair unbound, his mind burdened with too many thoughts.
The solstice always drained him, but tonight had carried more than ceremonial burdens. Tonight, his life had changed in ways he had not foreseen.
He was married.
The thought struck him again with the blunt force of disbelief.
Married to Aurelia of Ashmere....a woman noble, strong, yet cursed.
But he also knew his mother would never accept a cursed bride as Stormlady of Valkoron. And yet.....it was done.That reckoning lay ahead.
He raked a hand through his long blond hair, sighing. "Damn that boy," he muttered under his breath. "Why force my hand so?"
He needed answers from Vaelric. But not tonight. Tonight the boy should rest.
He rounded a corner and spotted his three sworn companions—Kaelen, Rael, and Therion. Loitering outside his chamber door.
They straightened at once, though their faces bore the weariness of sleepless men.
"You should be in bed," Valerian said flatly. "We ride at dawn."
Kaelen shifted uncomfortably. "We tried, my lord. Sleep won't come."
"I know why," Valerian replied, a wry edge in his voice.
"What happened today?" Therion asked quietly.
Valerian arched a brow. "What happened, Therion, is that I got married."
"Don't play games with us, Val," Therion said, exasperated. "No one in that hall expected it. Not even you."
Valerian exhaled heavily. "No, not even I." He gestured toward the door. "Come inside, then. Better to speak sitting than standing like squires in the cold."
They entered the chamber, Valerian sinking onto his bed while the others found chairs and stools.
"Do you remember," Valerian began slowly, "that oath Vaelric forced from me? The one I swore in the name of Vireon, for missing his birthday?"
Rael smirked faintly. "We remember. You miss most of them."
Valerian shot him a look sharp enough to silence him. Rael swallowed the rest of his words.
"Well," Valerian continued, "today he called upon it. His price was this marriage. He demanded I wed Lady Aurelia."
The room fell into silence.
"Why?" Rael asked finally.
"I don't know," Valerian admitted. "He wouldn't say."
"It makes no sense," Rael pressed. "To bind you with Vireon's name over something so grave....and to demand the marriage happen at once."
"And with Aurelia," Kaelen added darkly. "Cursed as she is, with no remedy in sight."
Therion rubbed his chin. "It was as though he feared delay. As if every moment risked the chance it would not happen."
Valerian leaned back, his eyes shadowed. "Perhaps. But with Elyria officiating, the bond is sealed. There is no undoing it now."
The chamber fell silent again, broken only by the crackle of the fire. Each man sat with his own thoughts, uneasy with the path fate had set before them.
And in the quiet, Valerian wondered...not for the first time....just what manner of child his son truly was.