Sage in the Sea

Free Now

One Year Later

Early in the morning, I always liked to sit on the deck with my coffee, watching as the waves slowly rolled into the beach. The sun was beginning to rise over the horizon, bringing upon another day. A good, blessed day.

"Hey," a voice said, sitting on the swing next to me. I smiled up at Lysander, who held his own cup of coffee.

"Hey yourself."

"Your mom is starting to make breakfast. She kicked me out of the kitchen," he said as I nestled against his side, resting my head against his chest as he wrapped his free arm around my stomach. "I got a letter yesterday."

My coffee cup paused halfway to my lips. "Oh?"

He nodded, taking a sip of his coffee. "I think I should go see him."

I sat up straight again, turning so I could look at him. "I want to come."

"I don't think that's a good idea, Adelaide," Lysander said wearily. "He's finally coming to terms with everything. I think it's best that we ease into this."

I shook my head, looking down at the liquid in my cup, before back up at him. "He's there because of me. I've put him through so much. I'm part of the reason he's as messed up as he is."

"No," Lysander said sharply. I flinched, involuntarily moving away from him. He closed his eyes, composing himself. "I'm sorry, Adelaide." He put his hand on my knee, squeezing it lightly. "Look, you are not the reason that Piers is the way that he is. That is because of his father. Gideon messed up a lot of people during his reign of terror. All of the blame rests on him because we're all messed up in some form by what he has done to us as a whole. You are not allowed to blame yourself."

"I messed with his head, Lys," I said softly. "I was the one who used him. He no doubt knows that I was the primary mastermind behind the assassination. I didn't pull the trigger, but I was the one who planted the seed. I am the reason his father is dead."

"And you are the reason that we are all free now," Lysander said. "Octavia is doing an amazing job running the kingdom. After years of suppression and living with Gideon, she is the one who person who knows what the people of this kingdom needs. Piers was his father's puppet. For so much of his life, he was not controlling his own destiny. Now he is able to do so and that is going to take some time for him to become adjusted to."

I sighed, resting my forehead against Lysander's shoulder. "I want to help him."

"Giving him time is helping him," Lysander assured me as he set his mug down and pulled me onto his lap. "You are helping him."

I kissed him softly, the deeper, pulling him close to me. I wanted him to know that I was going to always remember all he had done for me. I wanted him to know that I appreciated him so much, that I loved him so much.

I drew away, looking down at his hand on my ever-growing stomach. Time truly does help to heal all wounds. It had taken Lysander and I many months before we decided that we wanted to bring a child into the world, even though we were not yet married. We were waiting for the kingdom to become more stable in order to plan the perfect wedding that we each should have had in the first place.

The kingdom had a long ways to go. We were both well aware of that, but with each of us now working in the Queen's court, we knew that it was heading in the correct direction. Never would we return to the terrifying world that we had lived in before. Never would we allow for our people to be suppressed. Everyone had a voice in the how the kingdom operated because we were all members of it. It did not matter if you were a man or a woman. Everyone was equal.