Page 41 of Tempests & Tea Leaves
“As do we,” her father replied, gesturing to a chair opposite them. “Please, sit.”
Iris lowered herself onto the edge of the chair, her fingers twisting in her skirts. The air in the room felt thick with unspoken words.
“We’ve come to a decision,” her father continued, his voice carefully measured. “Your mother and I will be returning home. Tomorrow.”
Iris stared at them, certain she had misheard. “Returning? You mean … you’re leaving Bloomhaven?”
“Yes,” her mother said softly, reaching for her husband’s hand. “You will remain here at Starspun House with your grandparents.”
Numbness spread through Iris’s fingers, and she felt a sudden chill despite the warm afternoon sunlight streaming through the windows. Alone. With her grandparents. With the whispers and rumors and the weight of her family’s future on her shoulders. “But … the season has barely begun. I don’t understand.”
Her father cleared his throat. “We believe our presence here may be … complicating things for you. Without us around, society will be free to see you for who you truly are—not as an extension of our choices, but as Lady Iris Starspun, with all your remarkable gifts and merits.”
“And because you’re miserable here,” Iris said quietly, eyes on her mother now. “Not only because society seems to be so unwilling to accept a human wife of a fae lord, and not only because Grandmother and Grandfather have made you feel so unwelcome, but also because of Father’s history here.” Her gaze slid to her father, and she weighed her words before letting them fall from her lips. “With another human woman.”
Her parents exchanged a startled glance, and her father’s face paled slightly. “How did you?—”
“I heard it at the races today,” Iris said, her voice surprisingly steady despite the trembling in her hands. “Everyone seems to know this story except me.”
Her mother breathed deeply before her practiced smile returned. “It was a long time ago, Iris.”
“Is that why you’re leaving? Because it’s too awkward for you to be here while she and her family still reside in Bloomhaven?”
“No,” her mother said firmly. “We are leaving because your father and I assessed all options and decided this would be the best course of action for all involved.”
Iris’s gaze moved back and forth between her parents. “But mainly,” she said, her voice wavering just the slightest, “because you are unhappy?”
Her mother’s eyes closed for several moments before she refocused on Iris. “I am unhappy. This is not a secret. But if that were the only reason, I would stay. I am doing this foryou, Iris. You will have the best possible chance here without me.”
Iris felt as though the floor beneath her was dissolving. There was a hitch in her breath as she inhaled. “But Grandmother and Grandfather barely acknowledge my existence. They have made it quite clear they wish I didn’t?—”
“They will come around,” her father interrupted. “Especially now that you’ve secured a prestigious position with LadyRivenna. And without our presence, things will become less strained between the three of you. I’m sure of it.”
Iris swallowed hard against the lump forming in her throat. “Are they making you leave?” she asked, looking directly at her mother. “Grandmother and Grandfather. Did they say something?”
“No,” her mother said, reaching across to take Iris’s hand in her own. “They cannotmakeme do anything. This is a decision we arrived at together.”
Iris fought back the tears, her jaw clenched in resolve. “When?” she asked, her voice barely above a whisper.
“Tomorrow morning,” her father replied. “We’ve already begun packing.”
Tomorrow. So soon that Iris wouldn’t even have time to process the shift in her world. A part of her wanted to argue, to beg them to reconsider, but she recognized the resolve in their expressions. This decision was final.
“I see,” she said, forcing her voice to remain steady. “Is there anything I can assist with?”
Her mother’s eyes glistened with unshed tears. “That’s very thoughtful, darling, but it’s all been taken care of already. The most important thing for you is to continue with your apprenticeship and social obligations.”
“Of course.” Iris nodded, rising from her seat with careful dignity. “Though I would like to spend what time remains with you both this evening, if that’s agreeable.”
“Nothing would please us more,” her father said, his voice unusually thick with emotion.
“Then I shall see you at dinner.”
Iris waited until she was alone in her bedroom that night before allowing her tears to fall. They came silently at first, then in great, heaving sobs that she muffled against her pillow. Her parents were leaving, and she would remain behind in this house where her grandparents regarded her with thinly veiled disappointment, in this town where gossip birds spread vicious rumors about her parentage, in this society that seemed determined to remind her at every turn that she did not quite belong.
When the storm of emotion finally subsided, Iris sat up and wiped her eyes with the back of her hand. A rather undignified gesture, her grandmother would have noted, but there was no one here to witness such a lapse in propriety. The thought almost made her laugh—what did a bit of undignified tear-wiping matter in a world where her entire existence was considered improper?
She moved to the window seat, drawing her knees up to her chest as she gazed out at the part of Bloomhaven visible from her window. Starspun House stood on one of the gently elevated streets that had been claimed by the elite families generations ago, when the Starspuns still commanded both wealth and influence. From here, she could see the warm glow of faelights illuminating elegant townhouses and the occasional shop with its windows dark for the evening. If she leaned to the right, she could just glimpse the edge of the Elderfae Gardens where magical fountains sparkled in the gathering twilight.
