Page 40 of The Silent Mountain
Cassie’s eyes widen, and she nods wildly, her locks flying around while she does so. Once Cassie dashes off, Favian returns to check on us. Frederick is about to leave the room with him when Maggie holds him back. “Don’t leave, Fred,” she says. “Whatever you want to tell the king about me, you can do so in front of me.”
Frederick and Favian both look conflicted, but I agree with Maggie. She is an adult; it’s her health and her body, and if she wants to hear the truth, she deserves to hear it.She needs to have this sense of autonomy,I tell Favian.
It’s not going to be good news,he mutters.
I know, she knows, we all know,I say.But she still deserves to hear the truth. You can’t take that choice from her. If something happened to you, would you like for me to hide the truth from you?
He takes a while to answer, then closes the door again and gestures for Frederick to sit down next to Maggie’s bed.No,he agrees.
“My body is giving in, isn’t it?” Maggie asks Frederick.
He nods. “Your nerves and muscles have weakened tremendously. But the main problem is your heart,” he admits.
“It’s always been my heart,” Maggie mutters. “The young king knows. I used to be his teacher as well.”
Favian smiles. “You were my favorite teacher. I was devastated when you became Elio’s nanny and couldn’t be mine anymore.”
She smiles. “In my heart, I always was both your nanny,” she says, her eyes turning sad again. “My heart, huh?”
“Margarete has a heart condition,” Favian tells me quietly.
“I was born with it,” she explains. “Very rare for shifters, as you know, my beautiful Warrior Princess. My father was of high rank, so the king, Favian’s father, made sure I received proper treatment. But my heart couldn’t heal, and I learned to live with it.”
The two men remain quiet, eerily so, and I wonder what it is they are not saying. I don’t need to wait long, because Maggie tells me. “The years on the run,” she pauses. “I don’t regret them. It meant everything for me to save Elio. He is like my baby, you know?”
My heart freezes when I realize what she is saying. She spent years protecting and hiding Elio together with Theodor, but it put her body and heart under more strain than it could take.
“How much longer do I have left?” she asks.
“It’s hard to say,” Frederick mutters.
“Fred,” she chuckles. “Don’t lie to your elders.”
“I’m elderly too,” he points out.
“It doesn’t matter when I’m older.”
He sighs, his eyes clouding over in sadness. “If you stay in bed, a couple of months, I’d say.”
Favian closes his eyes when he hears it, taking a deep breath, but I can feel his emotions through our bond.
“And if I don’t stay in bed?”
“Maggie,” Frederick exclaims.
“Just answer, Fred.”
“Days,” he says. “Maybe a couple of weeks. But it’s a rough prognosis, it always is.”
Maggie nods, letting his words sink in before gesturing for Favian to come closer.
“I know what you are going to say,” he says before she can even voice what’s on her mind. “But how can I agree to it?”
“A couple of months lying in bed won’t do anything for me,” she says to him. “I want to spend my last days with the people I love so much, and then leave in peace. The ceremony—the fact that we are able to hold it—that after the many years of war, we are finally at the point we can hold it again, it’s what I’ve always fought for. I want to see it with my own eyes. This is the result of everything we fought for. I’ve always wanted for you and Elio to see this future. I’m leaving anyway, Favian, please let me leave on my terms.”
I can see how conflicted he is, but eventually, he nods. “Whatever you want,” he says.
thirteen
