Page 141 of The Arrow and the Alder

“Mama…” Josephine said, placating, as the woman took the smallest step back.

Alder saw the hurt flicker across Josephine’s face, and he took an involuntary step forward.

Which caught the mother’s attention.

She glared accusingly at Alder. “You did this! This is all your fault! You selfish?—”

“Mama…” Josephine interrupted.

But the woman wasn’t done. “Brutish boor of a man! How could you do this to her?”

If only she knew what else he’d done with her daughter…

“Mama,” Josephine tried again, grabbing her mother’s hands firmly. “Meet Alder Marcus Tiridium Vetiver of Asra Domm, ruler of the Weald Court.”

The mother gasped. Alder couldn’t tell if it was one of surprise, amazement, or disgust. Probably all three. “You’re a kith? And a…aking?”

“Andmy husband.”

Josephine’s first claim had silenced them, but her second stole every breath from the room, so no one missed the soft laughter coming from the corner.

Where a very old man sat in his chair, his eyes open wide and smiling.

Memory punched Alder through the chest. Of course, Alder had been a boy when he’d last seen the prince of Light, and Jakobián had not looked so…old. The years had not been kind to his body, but his eyes held verve and a joy that Alder had only ever witnessed in this old kith’s granddaughter.

It made Alder smile.

“You are the very last person I expected to see walk through my door, young Vetiver,” Jakobián said to Alder, though he coughed in between words.

“Jakobián. It has…been a while.”

Josephine’s eyes widened as she looked between Alder and her grandfather.

“You know each other?” Ronan asked, every bit as bewildered as the rest of them.

Jakobián pressed his hands to the armrests and tried to push himself to a stand. The mother and Linnea rushed to his side, but he waved them off with a “Bah!”

Alder’s lips curled, but his smile slowly faded as Jakobián finally stood and started dragging his old and unsteady feet toward Alder.

Then Alder begun to feel worried.

Josephine must have been worried too, because she rushed to her grandfather and held on to him as he continued toward Alder. Unlike the others, Jakobián did not pushheraway.

“Yes, I know him…” Jakobián said. “He was just a wisp of a boy last time I saw him, but I would recognize Navarra’s offspring anywhere.”

Jakobián stopped before Alder while holding on to Josephine for support. “Not such a wisp anymore, are you?” His gaze trailed over Alder’s length. “You took my Josephine, did you now?”

Alder’s gaze caught Josephine as he answered, “You make it sound as though I’ve abducted her.”

Jakobián raised a bushy white brow. “Haven’t you?”

“Grandpa,” Josephine cut in, “he did not abduct me. I…found someone that I could not live without.”

Jakobián looked at his granddaughter, then at Alder. “And it had to behim.”

Josephine looked as though she was about to say more, to defend Alder, but Jakobián smiled and winked.

Then, thoughtfully, he said, “I suppose the apple does not fall so far from the tree, after all. We have a lot to talk about, I imagine.”

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