@TheWattys 2022 Shortlist Novel
@HistoricalFiction Top 25 of 2022 For Historical Fiction Awards
@HistoricalFiction Best of Historical Fiction 2022
This is a continuation of @TheWattys Shortlisted Novel, The Ostler's Boy.
(BOOK 2)
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Love. Duty...
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Svana looked like her mother.
She always had, but the way she held her daughter now felt like a vision. A visitation from my Eliza's ghost. From my past.
She was only rocking the infant to sleep. Only swaying, only singing lowly by the window pane; its colorful glass painting them both with different hues, but it was all too familiar. I swore that moment alone could have brought her back to life... if anything could have.
"Elías," Svana hummed, noticing me. "How long have you been lurking there?"
I took a quiet breath, collecting myself to answer. "But a moment, Your Majesty. How is the Princess this morning? Have you thought of a name?"
"No," she rolled her eyes. "Willem wants to call her Divinity."
"That's a sweet name, if any."
"Is it?" She sighed. "A horse's name. I want something more meaningful. Something... Strong. Something... Not Divinity. The name suggests she should be working at the tavern. Dancing for–"
"—What about a different entity? Something pretty, like a plant? Or a bird?"
"Like Svana?" Her brow raised. "No, thank you. I think I'll consider it a little longer." She eyed me suspiciously. "What is it? You look as though you've seen a phantom. Are you here to finally confirm these halls are indeed haunted? I've been saying that all along!"
When I didn't laugh heartily enough, Svana's eyes narrowed.
"You're not very good at brooding secretly, you know that, right? Come, tell me, what is it?"
"If you must know, I am thinking of your mother in this moment."
She shifted. Her eyes fell in the same way Eliza's always had when I said something she didn't like. Even now, a variant of color and inside another's head; they injured me. A promise they would continue to, my whole life.
"Oh?" Svana swept the frown away with a brighter look. "Good things? Or is this a sad memory?"
"I only possess good things to say about her." I moved towards the baby, grazing her forehead with my thumb. "She looks like you."
