“The second,” Jerah said, then sighed. “The second is quite scandalous, actually. Queen Soleil had a lover, a human man, who she'd brought into the Veil and kept hidden for years. I don't know how long exactly, but a long time.”
Florian blinked. Distantly, he thought he should be surprised, but for some reason the admission felt... familiar? He couldn't place it. His voice felt faraway as he said, “I thought you said humans can't come to the Veil?”
“They can't,” Jerah agreed. “At least, they aren't supposed to be able to. But somehow she had brought him through. From my understanding, it was something of an open secret within the Summer Court. And in the first years after the Blight took over the court, the general consensus was that Soleil had tried to make him a fae, but failed, and—”
“And he died,” Florian finished. He had no idea where the words were coming from, but somehow heknew—knew exactly how the story ended. Somehow he knew it was a tragedy. Jerah's head snapped up at the admission; his eyes first wide, then narrowing in a frown.
“He did,” he replied slowly. “Florian, how did you know that?”
“I don't know,” Florian confessed, and amidst the confusion that his own words had elicited in him, his whole chest was suddenly flooded with grief. He gasped—the bone-deep sorrow making his eyes burn with tears—and across from him Jerah stood up abruptly. “W-What's happening? What's happening to me?” His voice broke as he said it, beginning to weep in earnest.
“I don't know,” Jerah said under his breath, before murmuring something Florian couldn't make out. He reached out to touch Florian's shoulder, his fingers suddenly sparkling with a soft purplish light, but he could barely focus on it. All he could think of was the ache in his heart, the tears suddenly pouring from his eyes like a broken dam. And thelongingto go back—go back where? He had never been here, much less the Summer Court. How could he so desperately miss somewhere he had never been, someone he had never known?
Heat bloomed from his shoulder where Jerah touched him. It wasn't painful, though the heat spread quickly from his shoulder through his chest like tiny searching tendrils. The warmth was soothing somehow. He focused on that, on calming his breathing, until he could stop the tears from coming and look up at Jerah clearly. Across from him, his father's brow was furrowed in confusion; although the warmth dissipated, he kept his hand on Florian's shoulder as he spoke softly once more.
“Did you see anything?” he asked, meeting Florian's eyes. “Or just feel it?”
“No, I—I only felt it,” Florian stammered, shaking his head and wiping his eyes. Now that the tears had stopped, he was only confused. “I don't know where that came from. I don't know what... When you started talking about Soleil, all of a sudden it was like... Like I missed her. But how could I miss her? Even you never knew her.”
“I don't know,” Jerah repeated, shaking his head as he finally broke the contact to sit back down. His eyes lingered on Florian in concern. “I would guess it might be related to this...prophecyabout you, your connection to her and whatever happened in the Summer Court. But I don't know. That's why I had hoped we could have you go see the witch, to see if she can tell you anything else that she couldn't tell me.”
Florian finally looked away at that. Did he really still want to go home? There was clearly something going on here: something that involved him. At first he had scoffed at the idea of a prophecy having any kind of sway over him or what he did, but now... He didn't know what any of it meant. He could only think of the longing he had just felt, smothering him like an ocean wave.
Something in his heart yearned to stay, toknow.And much as he was loath to admit it, his own curiosity was getting the better of him now. Only two days ago he had been talking with Nadia about what a shame it was that he had never been very far from Coral Shore, and now he was in an entirely new world that seemed to have been holding its breath—waiting for him to discover it.
“Could we go there?” Florian asked, barely above a whisper. He couldn't bring himself to look at Jerah as he said it. “Go talk to her, the witch?”
The question hung heavy between them in the silence that followed, as Jerah seemed to consider it.
“Not anytime soon,” he finally answered, his voice soft. “It's far, and dangerous. But I could help you, train you. Teach you to control your own magic, and Kade can show you how to fight, so we could all go there together.”
“How long would that take?” Florian asked, looking down at his feet.
“I'm not sure. I'd give it a few weeks at least, maybe a month. It would depend on how fast of a learner you are. If we were heading out to the witch, I think we could go get one of the Arrows, too. There's one not terribly far from here, in the direction we'd have to go anyway. The hag’s home is in the Blight. We couldn't get there from Earth, so you would need to know how to defend yourself.”
Florian nodded slowly. “Okay... Okay.” Though Jerah remained silent, waiting for him to continue, he could practically feel the question radiating off of him.Do you want to stay?
He hadn't thought he would. But now that he was here, and he couldfeelhis connection to this place—what would he do if he went back to Earth? Keep working at his uncle's souvenir shop until... Until what? How could he go back now?
“I want to stay,” he said quietly, feeling embarrassed even as he said it. But it was the truth now: he wanted to stay. He wanted toknow.
Jerah let out a soft sigh, a breath he must have been holding. When Florian finally looked back up at him, his expression was one of cautious joy, but mostly relief.
“I'm glad to hear you say that,” he answered, reaching out to lightly squeeze Florian's hand. “I'm... I'm happy to have the chance to spend more time with you. Maybe that's selfish of me, but I had hoped you would change your mind.”
Florian shook his head, but was unsure of what else to say. He didn't know how to explain his thoughts.
“It's not selfish,” he muttered. “You're my dad. I'm, uh, I'm glad you want to spend time with me.”
Jerah laughed at that, finally easing some of the tension between them.
“I've wanted nothing more for a long time, Florian,” he said fondly, and he stood once more. “Are you alright? Can you stand?”
Shakily, Florian got to his feet. He felt fine despite the conflict of emotions still roiling in his chest. The strange despair that had seized him was gone now, but he still felt nervous, confused, and worried about what all this meant, and what would happen next.
“I'm okay,” he said, nodding. “Did you have more you were going to tell me?”
“Maybe tomorrow. I don't want to push it in case something else surfaces,” Jerah said, sending another spike of worry through Florian's chest. He seemed to sense his uncertainty and added, “Instead, why don't I give you a bit of a magic lesson?”
“Sure,” Florian agreed with a grateful nod, following him back out of the study.
