Beyond the Starlit River

The dagger split Father's skin. Drop after drop of blood fell into the bowl.

Mother's brows drew together. For one brief second, guilt flashed in her eyes.

"Gideon, the royal physician says Adrian's body is improving. Don't worry. Once he's fully cured, I won't see him again and upset you. All right?"

Father did not even raise his head. He only shielded me firmly behind him and answered in a flat voice.

"That is enough blood for today. If Your Highness has no other business, I will take Eli back to rest."

The moment he finished, Mother caught his cold fingertips. Her voice trembled.

"So now you won't even call me Seraphina?

"Gideon, why are you so different after coming back? Are you still angry with me because of Adrian's illness?"

Mother stared into Father's eyes for a long time. Those eyes were calm, empty, and utterly unmoved. At last, she let go and nodded tiredly.

"Fine. Fine. You won't have to bleed for Adrian anymore. I will spend whatever it takes to find another remedy.

"I only thought you would understand me. I thought someone as kind as you would never stand by and watch a dying man suffer. Now I see I was wrong.

"Your heart is hard. Cruel, even. Just because you failed the royal examinations, you've started hating Adrian, who has His Majesty's favor. Gideon Frost, I am deeply disappointed in you."

The moment I heard that, I looked at Father's pale face and trembled with pain for him.

How could Mother stab him with words like that? If anyone should be blamed for Father's failure in the examination, wasn't it her?

The brilliant scholar once praised as the finest mind in the capital had been Father.

Three years ago, on the day of the royal examinations, Father had been poisoned. At that very moment, Mother had been in the next room gently reminding Adrian what to watch for in the testing hall.

Black blood had spilled from Father's lips. He endured pain that nearly tore him apart while he begged for the antidote.

The only herb that could save him was rare and priceless. Adrian had pouted and said he wanted it as a prize for a wager with his classmates, so Mother ordered that it not be sent to Father's room.

Because of that, Father was pulled back from death's door, but he never regained the ability to hold a brush.

Adrian, with Mother's connections smoothing every path, rose quickly through the court.

I clenched my teeth and was about to rush out to defend Father, but Father stopped me.

He lowered his eyes and nodded faintly.

"If that is the sort of person you believe I am, then that is what I am."

Mother was so angry she was about to sweep her sleeves and leave when Adrian suddenly spoke from the side.

"The prince consort may not know, since he has just returned. To make it easier to treat my illness, Her Highness has allowed me to move into this courtyard. I am afraid I must trouble you to rest in another one."

Adrian's eyes were full of smug provocation. Mother, however, guarded him behind her. When she looked at Father, there was wariness in her gaze, along with a hidden trace of expectation.

In the past, Father hated it most when Adrian took anything that belonged to him. Every time, he would quarrel with Adrian, sometimes even strike him.

Mother feared Father would hurt Adrian's fragile body, but she also wanted Father to fight for her as he once had.

This time, Mother was destined to be disappointed.

Father agreed without the slightest hesitation. He even untied the calming charm he had worn at his waist for five years and placed it in Adrian's hand.

"You may keep this too, Undersecretary. It is said to ward off evil and calm the mind. It may help."

The moment Mother saw the charm, her eyes reddened. She seized Father's wrist, her face full of disbelief.

"Gideon Frost! I climbed the steps to the Chapel of Wisdom on my knees for that charm the year we married. It was the love token I gave you on our wedding day. How dare you give it to someone else?"

Father looked genuinely puzzled by her reaction.