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Chapter 8
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After He Announced His Fiancée, I Left With My Son Chapter 11
Kaelan settled at the border.He had no right to live in our home, so he rented an old house outside the settlement. Now and then, he repaired the school fence or brought the children books, and he always stopped working when Rowan passed.He no longer forced Rowan to call him Dad.But a title once lost did not return on its own simply because he had learned respect.In the first year Rowan avoided him.By the fifth year, he could greet Kaelan politely.By the twentieth year, Rowan had returned from his studies in the capital. He invited the whole village to a celebration but did not invite Kaelan. Kaelan still left a gift outside the door: the grass deer, repaired with silver vine.Rowan looked at it a long time and in the end put it away in a cupboard.He did not throw it away, nor did he go thank Kaelan.I did not interfere. Whatever was left between them was for the child to decide.My school continued to grow. The herb primers we created reached many border settlements, and more a
After He Announced His Fiancée, I Left With My Son Chapter 10
Rowan moved behind me.Kaelan's outstretched hand stopped in the air.He had probably imagined their reunion many times, but never that the child's first reaction would be to hide."Rowan, it's me.""I know." The child clutched my skirt. "Your Highness Kaelan."The color went out of Kaelan's face. "You never used to call me that.""You didn't like it before."Rowan said it quite calmly. There was no blame in it at all. He was stating a fact he had accepted long ago.Kaelan went down on one knee to meet his eyes. "I was wrong before. From now on, you can call me Dad anywhere you like."The child looked at me and then at him. "But I don't want to now."Kaelan's lips moved and no sound came out for a long time.I sent Rowan ahead to the village head's house. After he left, Kaelan remained on one knee, as if that sentence had taken the last of his strength with it."Come back with me," he said at last. "I've lost the succession. I no longer need to hide either of you. We can leave the capi
After He Announced His Fiancée, I Left With My Son Chapter 9
News from the capital reached the border in pieces.Lysandra had been planted at Kaelan's side by his political enemies from the beginning. She used the betrothal to gain his trust and passed along important lists, troop movements, and arrangements for the succession ceremony one by one.Kaelan had had many chances to notice.But every time someone questioned Lysandra, he interpreted it as an attempt to sabotage the noble alliance. When I begged him to retrieve Rowan's elixir, the first thing he thought of was not Rowan but his own throne.Ten days later the court notice went out everywhere.Kaelan was struck by a poisoned dagger while pursuing Lysandra. His life was saved, but he permanently lost the ability to father children. Together with the leaked military intelligence and his failure to judge the people around him, the injury led the Council of Elders to formally revoke his right of succession.The elves of the village stood around the notice talking. I stood outside the crowd a
After He Announced His Fiancée, I Left With My Son Chapter 8
There were no palace lights at the border.After dark, every household hung a glowstone in the window, and the entire settlement looked like stars scattered through the forest.The school was in worse repair than I had expected. The roof leaked, no two desks were the same height, and twelve children shared three primers. The village head was embarrassed when he handed me the key. "We can't pay what the capital pays.""A home and a place for Rowan at the school are enough."I had the children help me patch the roof and sand the boards, and turned my herb notes into a picture primer. Rowan colored in every leaf for me and usually ended up with paint on the end of his nose.In the first lesson I taught them to recognize their own names.A little girl asked Rowan, "What's your dad's name?"My hand stopped.Rowan finished the last stroke without looking up. "I live with my mom. My mom is the teacher. I don't have a dad, and I don't need one."There was no sadness in it. It was as if that we
After He Announced His Fiancée, I Left With My Son Chapter 7
Leaving the capital was not as hard as I had imagined.I sold most of the furniture and packed my herb notes and the child's clothes. The border school sent an old carriage, and we were to leave three days later.Rowan did not ask whether Kaelan would come.He merely placed the broken-antlered deer on the windowsill, leaving it behind.The night before we left, I went to the palace.Kaelan was in his study reviewing Council papers. For five years, I had kept his ledgers, private letters, and treaties in order. Now his desk was a mess, and he could not even find a letter from the western marches."Good timing." He did not look up. "Sort these again. And tomorrow, Lysandra is hosting several ladies. You will arrange—"The ring I had worn for five years landed on the papers with a faint click.Kaelan looked up."What is this supposed to mean?""When you gave me this ring five years ago, you said you would give me a home even without a crown." I took off the ring, leaving a faint white mar
After He Announced His Fiancée, I Left With My Son Chapter 6
There was no fire when I burned the core of my elven magic.Only pain that split me open from deep within my bones.My strength became a faint green light and flowed from my chest into Rowan's body. Color slowly returned to his cold face as my own vision blurred.Before I lost consciousness, I heard my child crying for Mom.When I woke, dawn had already broken outside.Rowan was slumped beside my bed, color restored to his face. The healer said he was out of danger, but my magic had been permanently damaged and I would never again be able to wield powerful healing magic.I did not regret it.What frightened me was that I had let my child spend four years waiting for a father like that.Kaelan did not come until the afternoon.He still wore the formal robes in which he had received the nobles' blessings, now with a gold badge on his chest symbolizing their support. Lysandra held his arm, her cheeks glowing moonlight-white in the sun."I hear the child is all right now," she said with a
