“I adore the life that I have now. I love Flick, I feel freer than I ever have, and I wouldn’t change any of it for the world.” His fingers fidgeted in his lap. “But I wish I could have told her what was happening, at least. The king was going to banish me regardless, but all those years she spent wondering where I’d gone, hating me, hating our kind, keeping you from knowing anything, could have been prevented with a single letter or conversation.” He gritted his teeth, fury emanating from him. “I will despise Naeron until the end of my days for what he did.”

Hearing the king’s real name spoken with such disdain was jarring—I barely resisted the compulsion to look over my shoulder as if he’d somehow appear from thin air. “He won’t get away with it, I swear.”

Zadok smiled at me, the expression full of appreciation, before lapsing into a reminiscent silence. He scanned the forest surrounding the farmstead, and when he spoke again, he sounded sentimental. “She was the reason I came here—to Rosewood Creek. I’d seen the name in a ledger, and the description of the rose-colored petals on the trees felt like fate. I didn’t care that it was in the Outerlands, I bought it anyway with the dream of one day bringing Rosemary through the Veil and raising a family here. A delusion. I knew the king would never allow it, but that impulsiveness just proves how mindlessly in love I was.” He laughed softly, and I stayed silent, listening intently.

“I didn’t hesitate to come here after my banishment,” he carried on, not meeting my eyes. “I was… not in a good place back then, and I wanted something, anything, to help me feel closer to her again. For a while, it didn’t help. It actually made it worse… stewing in my torment, reminded of what I had lost every time I looked up at those trees. I still have bad days, but now, instead of feeling sadness whenever I think of her, the good memories are the ones that usually prevail. Her smile, her laugh, her kindness, her warmth.

“Not a day went by that I didn’t think of her.” He finally glanced up at me, his eyes glassy. “She was a special person in my life, and she will always own a piece of my heart. I felt it when she passed, when the mating bond snapped, but by that point, I was better equipped to deal with the ache in my soul. This tree…” He gestured to the cherry tree we sat under, its blushing pink and white leaves scattered over the grassy hill. “I planted it for her, in her memory. I couldn’t do much more, though I wished I could.”