Chapter 76: Seris’s Story [1]
Alden looked at her.
Seris looked back at him.
"Are you sure?" she asked. "You said you’ve never carried anyone before." She tilted her head slightly. "You’re not going to drop me?"
"Do you really think I fail at everything I try?"
She studied his face for a second. Then gave a small shrug. "...Alright."
’Huh? What’s with that reaction? She feels strange.’ He pushed the thought aside and steadied himself.
He crouched, slipped one arm under her knees and the other behind her back, and lifted her into his arms. Seris’s arms wrapped around his neck almost automatically, finding their own anchor.
"Comfortable?" he asked.
"I’m fine."
"Good."
[Concept: Flight — Equipped]
Black smoke gathered behind him and the wings burst out, spreading wide into the night air. He adjusted his grip and looked down at her.
"Ready?"
She just nodded, her lips pressed into a thin line. She didn’t say a word, letting a heavy, uneasy silence stretch between them. He noticed the silence, but he chose not to push it. Instead, he held his tongue and let it rest.
He bent his knees.
WHOOSH.
His wings drove them straight up from the balcony and into the open air above the dormitories. The academy grounds shrank beneath them fast — buildings, winding paths, the fountains and courtyard gardens pulling smaller and smaller until they were just shapes in the dark.
Seris’s silver-white hair flew back in the wind. She looked down at the estate below them, and something crossed her face.
"We’re really high..." A faint smile. "This feels strangely unreal."
Alden glanced at her. ’She’s fine. Maybe I’m overthinking it.’
"You’ve never flown before?"
"Not like this." She looked up at the stars. "It’s beautiful."
He smiled. "Told you the wings were useful."
His right wing dipped slightly.
Seris looked at him immediately. "What happened?"
"Nothing." He corrected the balance and kept them level.
The smile came back to her lips, small and knowing. "Are you struggling?"
"You’re heavier than I expected."
Thump!
Her hand hit his back, light but pointed. "Shameless. How dare you call a lady heavy."
"I’m stating facts."
"Perhaps you’re simply bad at carrying people."
He brought them lower over the central garden, slowing the wing beats until they were gliding, and touched down beside the marble fountain at the center. He set her down carefully, felt her feet take her weight, and pulled his arms back.
He straightened his coat and gave her a smug look. "Told you I’d manage."
Seris walked past him and sat on the fountain’s edge with an unimpressed expression. "Yeah, sure."
’Back to this again?’ Alden blinked. "So... what now?"
"Now...?" Her voice came out calm. Almost too calm.
He watched her.
She was looking up at the night sky with that faint polite smile on her face. The one she had ready for every situation. The one that looked exactly right and usually hid something interesting underneath it.
But tonight the smile was there and the person behind it was somewhere else.
’No... something’s definitely wrong.’
He crossed the distance between them, his boots silent against the floor, until he stopped right beside her.
"Alright," he said quietly.
She glanced up, her posture staying completely still. "What?"
"Stop hiding it." He held her gaze, refusing to let her dodge. "Drop the act."
The smile didn’t move. "I don’t know what you mean."
"Yes you do." He crossed his arms. "Most people can’t read past that face. But your actions give you away."
Her eyes shifted — barely, but they did.
"You’ve been off since we left the room," he said, sitting down on the marble edge beside her. "Did something happen?"
The silence between them stretched. He kept his eyes on her until the quiet pressure of it did what patience sometimes does, finding the crack.
"Was I being that obvious?" The smile faded. Seris’s crimson eyes moved toward him, then down to her hands in her lap.
"It’s about Augustus."
Alden relaxed slightly. "You’re thinking about him again?" He leaned back against the fountain. "He’s out of the academy. He can’t even touch you here, and he won’t be back until after graduation. You can breathe for a while."
Seris’s fingers pressed against the cold marble. "It’s not just about whether he’s here or not, Alden." Her tone sharpened slightly, aimed not at him, but at the situation itself.
She took a breath. "Even if he’s gone from this academy, he is still my official public fiancé."
Alden went quiet.
Seris looked down at her lap. "I can’t pretend he doesn’t exist."
That landed.
She was right. He had been so focused on getting Augustus out of the academy, wanting to give Seris space to breathe through her final year and keep the man from cornering or threatening her in the hallways, that he had failed to look beyond it.
Augustus was still the Crown Prince. The engagement was still real, still public, still written into whatever arrangement had connected their families in the first place. None of that had changed. It wouldn’t change because of a suspension.
Eventually they’d have to face each other again. Outside the academy’s rules. In the world where Augustus had considerably more authority than a student council president.
’I didn’t think that far.’ He scowled at himself quietly. ’I fixed the immediate thing and called it done.’
"And there’s something else," Seris said softly.
He turned to face her.
Her eyes were on her hands. Her voice was steady, because Seris was always steady even when she was not entirely, but the words carried something underneath them that made the air feel different.
"My father ordered me to endure it." She paused. "He told me to stay engaged to Augustus no matter what happens." Another pause, shorter. "Even if he mistreats me."
Alden’s eyes went hard.
"Mistreats... You?"
She didn’t answer immediately.
He turned toward her fully, his voice dropping into something serious that had no performance behind it. "What exactly do you mean by that? And what did Augustus do?"