water.”
Nana’s smile was so inviting and the water seemed to beckon him. Finally, Kaelen stood up and walked down the beach with her. The warm ebb and flow of the waves seemed to wash his worries away. Soon Adrian and Lucian joined everyone else.
“Where’s your father?” Alexandra asked suspiciously.
Lucian turned with a frown, “He had been right behind us.”
Suddenly Alexandra squealed as Lysander came up from behind her, picking her up out of the water amidst laughing from everyone else. “Hello my love,” Lysander said with a grin. “Did you miss me?”
“Lysander, you put me down this instant,” Alexandra demanded, though she was giggling.
“As you wish,” Lysander replied, dropping her back into the water. As Alexandra came back up there was a water fight that even Allegra couldn’t resist joining. The waves churned around them as they splashed.
There was much laughter and chatting as the sun-soaked group headed to the castle for supper. Nana revealed that she had decided to move in with Lavinia. “It’s not good for either of us to spend so much time alone,” she said as they were having dessert. “It’ll be better for us if we’re together.”
“When will you move in?” Moira asked.
“Oh, I have a few things to see to back at home, but within the month everything will be settled. The former king and queen will be moving into my palace, now that their son has finished his quest. If I remember correctly, he is marrying at the end of July.”
“Who is it?” Lucian asked.
“Why, Prince Kieffer of course,” she replied with a smile.
“Kieffer,” Adrian repeated. “Do you mean Kieffer and Samantha?”
“Why yes, that is his princess’ name. But how did you know?” she asked.
“Samantha is our friend’s sister,” Kaelen explained. “They’d been rather worried about her.”
“It’s amazing what a quest can teach you. Of course, I’ll have to be present for the wedding, traditions being what they are. That and the queen and I are good friends.”
“I bet we’ll get a letter from George saying he’s the ring bearer again,” said.
It wasn’t many days later when they did receive a letter from George. He talked about Kieffer finding his sister and the complete change there had been.
I never thought I’d see Samantha looking so happy. Better than that, Samantha has asked me to be groom’s assistant. No more being the ring bearer! Kieffer is an only boy like me and all his friends are still out doing their quests. He’s so different than he was at school. He told me that his quest taught him a lot about what’s really important in life. Samantha also said I could invite any of my friends that I wanted to, so you should be receiving invitations shortly.
See You Soon!
George
“Well, that should make him happy,” Lucian said, handing his letter to Kaelen and Adrian to read. “He’s not the ring bearer this time.”
“Yeah, but what’s a groom’s assistant?” Kaelen asked.
“I don’t know and I bet George doesn’t care,” Adrian replied.
The boys spent the rest of the day celebrating George’s good luck. Nana explained that the groom’s assistant basically helped take care of any minor details the groom had forgotten. “I’m sure George will make an excellent assistant from all you’ve said about him.”
Summer continued in much the same way it had begun. When the week of the visit was over, Lavinia took her family home, promising to take Allegra to school if Alexandra and Lysander could take Adrian. “It’ll make both our trips so much easier,” she explained.
“Certainly,” Alexandra said with a smile. “We’d be happy to take Adrian with us.”
Once back in Lictthane, preparations were made for Nana to move in. Nana’s favorite room was being refurbished which took Nana and Lavinia to the shops several times. One day, as they were debating over curtains, Nana asked, “Why did you hug Kaelen at the end of the school year?”
“I know what it’s like to be rejected, Mother. The quest Martin went on was a wonderful quest. He had to find me among the stars and then battle the dragon keeping me there. But his quest was also swift. His parents didn’t think his quest worthy of him because it should have taken longer. They never accepted me and when Martin made it clear he would marry me with or without their consent, they disowned him,” she recalled sadly. “They’ve never come to see the children. They never visited, never forgave. They didn’t even come to Martin’s funeral. I couldn’t let Kaelen be abandoned that way.”
“Though you do it to your own son?” Lavinia blanched and she continued, “I’ve never been fooled by your actions, dear. I didn’t say anything before because I hoped you would overcome this yourself, but it has to end; especially in light of what has happened to Kaelen.”
“You don’t seriously think I would disown my own son, do you?”
“I know you wouldn’t, my dear, but what I know is unimportant. It’s what Adrian thinks.”
“Adrian knows I’d never disown him.”
“Does he, Lavinia? You must not have seen his face as Kaelen’s parents left him there. But I did. I saw fear, a fear he wouldn’t have if you showed him you loved him.”
“I do love him. It’s just so hard because he is so like his father. It’s like having Martin there and yet knowing he isn’t.”
“Martin is dead, Lavinia,” Nana chided gently. “You have to let him go.”
Tears filled Lavinia’s eyes. “I can’t. He’s the only one who loved me. He risked everything and gave up so much for me.”
“Then honor him by loving his son.”
“But it hurts, Mother,” Lavinia admitted.
Nana patted Lavinia’s hand. “Even the most beautiful rose has thorns, my dear. Adrian needs to know that you love him. He needs to know that if something happens to him, you won’t leave him to fix it himself. He needs you, Lavinia.”
“How do I undo what I’ve done?” Lavinia asked.
“One step at a time, dear,” Nana replied.
Lavinia nodded quietly. “This will take time.”
“I know, love, that’s why I’m here,” Nana said. “Now, I really think these yellow draperies are just the thing to bring some light into that room, don’t you think?”
Laughing, Lavinia agreed and they continued their shopping. When they arrived back at the castle, Lavinia asked to see Adrian alone for a moment in her art studio. As he walked in, Lavinia remembered the way Martin looked. Adrian had the same build and soon would be the same height. His face was baby smooth, just as his father’s had always been; Martin had rarely needed to shave. There were the dimples, hiding now because Adrian wasn’t smiling. Lavinia felt as though someone had stabbed her. For a long time Adrian just stood there and Lavinia stared at him.
“Mother? Did you want to see me?” Adrian asked after a while.
“I, I was just thinking.” She stammered over the words, trying to get them out. “I was thinking, Adrian, that I think, I think it’s time for you to move back into your old room. The tower, it’s so drafty and, well, I just think that you should move back, that’s all.” A trace of a smile lit his face.
“Really?” he asked, hardly daring to believe what he was hearing.
“Yes, Adrian,” she replied. “I think that you and Moira are mature enough to be in the same wing of the castle now.”
The smile faded. “Oh, okay. Should I start moving my things?”
“Yes, I’ll have Jameson move your furniture. But anything smaller you can start moving.” He simply nodded and started out of the room. Lavinia took a deep breath before calling to him, “Adrian?” He turned and faced her. She smiled, though it was shaded with sadness. “I love you.”
He smiled in return. “I love you too, Mother.”
As he walked down the hall, Nana stepped into the studio and hugged her weeping daughter. “Well done, my dear. Well done.”
When July was almost over, the family went to Rendorl
in for the wedding. The invitations had said that the wedding would be held in the bride’s home province and a week later would be the coronation ceremony in Haldersee, where Kieffer had grown up. When they arrived they soon met with Lysander and Alexandra, who had brought with them their children and Kaelen. On seeing Moira, Lucian smiled. “It’s good to see you again so soon. That dress is lovely by the way, did you make it?”
Moira smiled, “Yes I did, I was thinking of adding to it, but…”
“It’s lovely,” he interrupted, handing Moira a long stemmed, pale lavender rose.
“Lucian,” she gasped, “where on earth? I didn’t think roses grew in lavender.”
“They do in Maltisten where there’s a king who thinks roses are everything. This is one of the hybrids he’s been working on. When we finally got a bush to flower and it was what we wanted, he let me name it,” he added.
“Oh and what name did you give it?”
“Moira’s Star.”
She flushed. “You do remember that you were supposed to not be trying, right?”
“Must have slipped my mind,” he teased. “But I seem to remember someone saying that her favorite color was lavender and that she really liked the first rose I gave her.”
“I have no idea what you could be talking about,” she replied innocently. Lucian thought she’d never looked more beautiful as she smiled radiantly.
Their conversation was interrupted by the innkeeper trying to shove Kaelen out the door, “I’ll not have animals in my establishment. Shoo!”
“Hold on,” Lysander said. “Kaelen is my guest and I’ll not have