The Healer's Crown

Chapter Four

Thank you so much for reading so far! Please let me know your thoughts in the comments <3
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There was a long tense silence between them as Caelum leaned into her touch for a moment. He cleared his throat and then quickly retreated out of the room. Seraphina's face contorted with confusion, not expecting a man like Caelum to ever run away. Elena returned to the room promptly, smiling.

"So..." She wiggled her eyebrows, "Good or bad?"

"I think I need to take a walk," Seraphina answered.

"That bad, huh?" Elena responded. She unlaced the backing of her dressing, causing the heavy fabric to drop to the floor, pooling at her feet. Seraphina stepped out of it before throwing the dress she came to the palace in on. The fabric is familiar against her skin. She steps out of the royal dressing room, and the guards at the doorway instantly start following her out without a word. Their footsteps keep up in time with hers. She suddenly stops in her tracks, and the clanging sound of armor stops as well. She turns out towards the rolling hills of the royal garden, the sweet smell of flowers filling her nose. For a fleeting moment, Seraphina felt peace. The nature reminding her of home.

Moonlight shimmered through the trees as she walked through apple trees, the flowers blooming as they prepared to fruit. Off in the distance, Seraphina hears the high-pitched cry. Desperate to find the sound, she jogs through the orchard, ignoring the sound of the guards telling her to slow down. The cry grew closer and more desperate.

Underneath an old rotten tree stump was a small field mouse that was gravely injured. Seraphina grabbed the small creature, cradling her in her hands. The mouse shivered, a gaping wound on its stomach. Seraphina knelt down to her knees, a faint gold glow emitting from her hands. Over time, the skin began to heal, and the twisted leg slowly began to straighten. The mouse slowly stood in her hands, confused. The mouses small black eyes locked onto Seraphina's face as if to say thank you. Slowly, she had set it back into the stump, it scurrying into the cover.

Caelum, who is a short distance away, watches with fascination. His hardened expression softened as he observed her soft touch. After the mouse had left, she continued to kneel on the ground, her hands resting on her lap.

"I've seen Aurelia's healers heal the gravest injuries in battle, but here you are... stopping for the smallest of creatures," he said quietly. Seraphina did not turn to him. The sound of his footsteps is becoming familiar.

"Every life is precious, no matter how small. That is what Aurelia taught us," she said, half defiantly.

"I wonder if you'll still think that when you're queen," even though Caelum is partly smiling, there is tension in his voice.

"Just because you have let your empathy and mercy be taken from you does not mean I will," her expression hardened. Caelum steps closer.

"I didn't have a choice. This kingdom -"

"There's always a choice, Caelum," Seraphina cut him off. There was a period of silence as Caelum turned away from her, running his hand through his hair in aggravation, "but you choose to use your powers to force others."

"This curse is killing me, Seraphina," his voice was sharp with anger, "I don't have the luxury of a choice."

Seraphina's expression softens for a moment from seeing the weight of what he's carrying. However, her resolve remains.

"I know you're scared... but you still have choices, Caelum. You could have come to me differently. You didn't have to threaten my village," Seraphina's words cause Caelum's jaw to tighten.

"And what if I hadn't? Would you have agreed to marry me?"

"Maybe, maybe not," Seraphina's voice was soft but unwavering as she took a step closer to him. Caelum stares at her, his anger slowly fading as the weight of his choices sat on his shoulders. He exhaled slowly, and he's silent for a moment, searching for a response.

"I can't afford to be wrong, I have to live for the kingdom of Virelda," his voice quieter but more bitter, "if I don't succeed, my father's death will be for nothing."

"But if you lose yourself in the process, what's the point?"

Their eyes meet, and the intensity between them is palpable. Caelum's expression shifts as if her words had struck him deeply. He looks at her, really looks at her, and realizes she's right. He has been making choices - out of fear and desperation - but choices all the same.

"I don't know how to be anything else," he whispered. Seraphina's gaze softened with understanding, finally seeing a glimpse into Caelum. Not the violent king who has greatly expanded Virelda in his reign, but the real Caelum. The scared little boy who hadn't finished mourning his father when he had to become king.

"Maybe, that's where we start," Seraphina said softly.

A long silence stretches between them, the weight of the conversation lingering. Caelum doesn't respond, but there shift in the dynamic between them. The soft rustling of the leaves and the soft glow of moonlight provided an almost intimate atmosphere between them.

"My father..." Caelum pauses again, conflicted, "I think he died of the same curse." Seraphina gaze is inquisitive, as if telling him to continue.

"I thought I was cursed from a kingdom I conquered. A lone sorcerer angry that they lost their home. But it's something deeper than that. At least, I think. I remember when my father started to get sick, it was nothing at the time, but he seemed... terrified. As if he knew there was something more sinister behind it," Caelum continued, "It started so slowly. He was just tired, maybe a bit more irritable. Then, slowly, his body started to wither away. He was so emaciated when he died. His hair was so thin, and his skin was purple."

"How old were you?" She asked him.

"I was 10, I was old enough to understand that my father was fading, but not old enough to understand the implications of his death," he paused, his voice growing quiet.

"He was a good man," Seraphina said, resting her hand on his shoulder.

"It was just my father who suffered of the curse. It was his father, too, and from what I've read, countless generations before," Seraphina's eyes widened.

"I'm sorry, Caelum," Seraphina feels genuine empathy for the man that is forcing her to marry him, finally understanding his desperation.

"I can't let my line die like this," his voice rough, "I can't let it end this way."

Seraphina heart tightens at the vulnerability of his words, a fraction of the walls he built around himself crashing down.

"You won't end up like them," Seraphina says, "we're going to break this curse together."

Caelum opens his eyes and looks at her with gratitude. For the first time in a long time, he feels the faintest glimmer of hope. Not just for his kingdom and his own survival, but for something more than just a forced marriage with Seraphina.

"Thank you, Caelum quietly says.

Their eyes lock, and suddenly, everything else disappears. The weight of the curse fades into the background as they share a quiet, intimate moment of understanding. Though the tension between them remains, it is softened by something new - a fragile connection.