Page 115 of Reign of Light
“I did.”
“Light always finds a way,” I say, and Edmond’s smile widens.
“I am delighted to see my lesson stuck. It was a rather useful metaphor, for more than just providing you with the knowledge of how to get home.”
“But how did you know we would need to know that?” Weston asks. “How did you know the dust would run out?”
“One can never be unprepared for all possibilities. Without being able to speak of Dawnlin more than telling the well-known myth, I had to ensure that in the event you could not return, time would give you the way home. I had to come to terms with the fact that I might not be able to see you if the worst did happen. And so it did. But as I said, it was a useful lesson in more than one way.”
“But we can talk about it now. Why? Why couldn’t I say its name when I tried days ago, but now, there’s nothing stopping us?” Weston asks.
“I assume it is because I am the Guardian, and you two already know about the island, have been there, and are not blind to the secrets. I would assume if someone who knows nothing of the island were to walk in, you would be bound to secrecy once more.”
“I have a question,” I ask, falling back so easily into my learned patterns with my tutor.
“Your Majesty, please.” Edmond bows his head slightly, urging me to continue.
I search his face, trying to read the man who knows so well how to hide his true intentions, but I don’t want him to hide behind anything right now. I want to know the truth. “You sent me to bring him home.”
Weston’s gaze pins his father to the chair, and I know he wants to hear the answer as well.
“I sent you to help your mother,” Edmond says. “I would be insincere if I said that I didn’t have hope that with you there, he might also find a way home. If a way home was not possible after he had been gone for so long, then at least he would no longer be alone.”
“But why me?”
Edmond clasps his hands in his lap, the same way he does whenever he gives me a lengthy explanation.
“You two share quite a few similarities that, based on your familiarity with each other, you have already noticed. Fiercely loyal. Stubborn. Intelligent. But I held onto hope that your tender heart would give him a reason to show the one he keeps hidden away under his rough exterior.”
Weston grunts in response, and Edmond shoots me a look as if to say, ‘See?’
My nose burns and my eyes well with tears, but Weston shakes his head and huffs a laugh.
“You’ve always been a meddling son of a bitch, Pop.”
“Weston!” I shove his shoulder, and he finally sits back, relaxing into the cushions and pressing his side against mine once more.
“Don’t punish him for his honesty, Your Majesty. He knows me well. I did indeed hope you two would at least develop a friendship with your shared goals and similar history.”
“You knew I wouldn’t age,” Weston says, a statement, not a question.
“I did. That is one of the things Horace explained. The land is timeless.”
Silence falls between us as the heaviness of the conversation settles in the room. Now that we know Edmond is the Guardian, that he’s been bound to secrecy of his knowledge and has influenced our actions up until this point, there’s only one more thing to discuss.
And no one wants to be the one to bring it up.
Weston finally breaks the silence, and I feel a pang in my chest at his words.
“So I finally come home, and I’m just supposed to say goodbye to you too? Again?” His voice is thick and laced with pain I know he’s trying to hide. He’s lost his oldest friend, his crew, and now his father, all within a few days. Some goodbyes we expected, but others have been unexpected and difficult to accept.
“Unfortunately, yes.” Edmond’s jaw tenses, and it hits me like a bolt of lightning. I see so much of Weston in him, things I didn’t realize before, but there is no doubt at all, despite their differences in appearance, that Weston is Edmond’s son.
“Although,” Edmond continues, “I do expect things will be quite different now. While I may not reside at the castle, I believe we will see each other again, however frequently both your and my responsibilities allow.”
Sadness wraps around me, and I let my shoulders sag under the weight. It isn’t just Weston losing him; it’s me too. Edmond was the only remaining family either of us had, and now we only have each other. I lean back, trying to keep him from seeing my reaction to Edmond’s news. Weston always takes on the emotional burden of those he cares about, and I don’t want to cause him more pain, even though we both are losing everything. Together.
“Besides.” Edmond presses his hands into his knees and pushes to stand. “It is high time you started your own lives. It will bring me great happiness to continue to watch you both do so, however you choose.”
