Page 119 of The Silent Mountain
thirty-eight
Peace
*FAVIAN*
SeeingthatSineisstill with Alana and Elio is becoming tired again, I decide to have another difficult talk.
“Your Highness,” Stefan calls after me as I walk to Erin’s place. She and Cassie are still residing with Frederick, but I am planning to give them their own proper home with all the space they need.
“Stefan.” I wait for him to catch up before proceeding with my walk. “Have you heard from Cassie?”
“Just briefly. She is exhausted, but overall, well.”
“The hair?”
“It was a side-effect of her destroying the spell,” Stefan explains. “It’s just hair, though, she won’t lose any of her life force.” He pauses to regard me. “Why are you not resting, Your Highness. You’ve had no break in a long while.”
A day ago, his words would have annoyed me, but now I take them as what they are: genuine worry for me. “How can I rest when my mate is still not awake?” I ask.
He sighs. “But you are not at your mate’s side right now.”
“Her mother kicked me out,” I explain. “She told me to get some rest. She was scary enough for me to retreat.”
“But not scary enough to make you truly rest,” Stefan berates.
I can barely hold back my amusement at his open display of displeasure. “I have something I need to do before I can truly allow myself to rest.”
“And what’s that?”
“Visit Ludwig,” I say.
At that, Stefan visibly swallows. “Ludwig,” he says quietly. “He survived.”
“Yes.”
“Poor man.”
I consider Stefan, realizing he understands and feels the same way I do. “I am not sure how he will get over this,” I say.
“I doubt he ever will,” Stefan admits. “We can just watch out for him and hope he will find another purpose in his life again. He already did it once, after the war.”
“Yes, but now he has to do it a third time. How often can a person break before it’s too much?”
“You had to start anew more than once,” Stefan points out.
“That’s true, but I have Elio and Alana, and I have you and Theodor. Four people who are my family, and who made it out of this situation alive. Ludwig lost everything.”
“I can’t quite believe you count me as family,” Stefan points out.
“Don’t act surprised now,” I say. “Being humble doesn’t suit you.”
Stefan snorts before shaking his head. “I thought you hated me.”
“You know that’s not true,” I admonish. “I didn’t fully trust you, and you have a tendency to get on my nerves, but I never hated you.”
“That’s not quite the answer I expected,” Stefan says. “Is that supposed to put my mind at ease?”
“I trust you now,” I say. “And you only occasionally annoy me. Doesthathelp?”
