Chapter 96 — "Obviously Not"
"Fake fiancée."
"You announced it in front of forty people."
"As an exit strategy."
"The hair pin exists regardless."
She opened her mouth.
He looked back at the book.
She closed her mouth.
Looked at the pin in her hair.
Then at the window.
Something moved through her chest.
Small.
Warm.
Immediately filed.
Then Tax appeared on the windowsill.
Nobody had opened the window.
The window had been closed.
This was not something Tax considered relevant.
He looked at the library.
At the two chairs.
At the table between them.
At the general atmosphere.
"ehehe."
"Tax."
Seraphina said immediately.
"Yes Boss."
"What are you doing?"
"Observing."
"From my closed window."
"It was slightly open."
"It was not."
"Spiritually open."
Kael looked at the crow.
Tax looked back.
Neither spoke.
A conversation happened anyway.
Then Tax flew to the top of the bookshelf.
Settled.
Looked down at them.
"Don’t mind me."
"I absolutely mind you."
"I’m part of the furniture."
"You are not."
"I’m a decorative crow."
"Tax."
"Boss."
"Leave."
"I live here now."
"You live in the kitchen corner."
"I’m expanding."
Seraphina pointed at the door.
Tax looked at her finger.
Then at Kael.
Then at the notebook in her lap.
Then back at Seraphina.
"Exit strategy."
He said.
Very quietly.
Almost to himself.
"TAX."
"I said interesting."
"You said exit strategy."
"Those sound similar."
"They sound completely different."
"I have an accent."
"You’re a crow."
"Crows have accents."
Kael was watching this exchange.
Something in his expression that was almost amusement.
The corner of his mouth.
Just slightly.
Gone before it arrived fully.
Tax noticed.
His golden eyes moved to Kael.
Stayed there for exactly two seconds.
Then looked away.
At the books.
At nothing specific.
There was something in his expression that wasn’t amusement.
That wasn’t anything simple.
That had been there since the ceremony.
Since before the ceremony probably.
Seraphina caught it.
She always caught it.
Filed it again.
Still waiting to examine it properly.
Then she looked at Kael.
He was looking at his book again.
Actually reading this time.
She could tell because his eyes were moving.
"Kael."
"Hm."
"The letters."
He looked up.
"What letters?"
"Your mother said."
"My mother says many things."
"She said Seraphina appeared in every one."
A pause.
"I provided updates."
"About me specifically."
"About the journey."
"Every letter."
"The journey included many things."
"Kael."
He looked at his book.
"What exactly did you write?"
"Journey updates."
"About me."
"Among other things."
"What other things?"
"Journey things."
"You keep saying journey."
"Because it was a journey."
She stared at him.
He read.
The page still hadn’t moved.
"Can I read them?"
"No."
"Why."
"They’re letters."
"To your parents."
"Yes."
"About our journey."
"Yes."
"That apparently mention me constantly."
"Frequently."
"You said constantly before."
"I said frequently."
"Your mother said constantly."
"My mother exaggerates."
"She seemed very precise about it."
Kael finally looked up.
Met her eyes.
"No."
One word.
Final.
Completely certain.
She looked at him.
He looked back.
Something in the air between them.
Not tense.
Just present.
The kind of present that had weight.
Then Tax dropped something from the bookshelf.
It hit the table between them.
Both looked at it.
A small folded piece of paper.
Seraphina looked up at Tax.
Tax was looking at the ceiling.
Completely uninvolved.
"Tax."
"Mm."
"What is this."
"I found it."
"Where."
"Around."
"Around where specifically."
"Various places."
She looked at the paper.
Then at Kael.
He was looking at Tax.
With an expression that had become very still.
Very controlled.
More controlled than usual.
Which was saying something.
"Tax."
Kael said.
Quiet.
One word.
The tone of someone requesting something stop immediately.
Tax looked at him.
"Yes."
"Where did you get that."
A pause.
"I collect things."
"Tax."
"It’s a hobby."
"Tax."
"A legitimate hobby."
"That is my letter."
The library went completely still.
Seraphina looked at the paper.
Then at Kael.
Then at Tax.
Then at Kael again.
"That’s."
"Yes."
"From your letters."
"Yes."
"Tax stole a letter."
"Part of one."
Tax said helpfully.
"TAX."
"I collect interesting things."
"That’s private correspondence."
"It fell."
"It didn’t fall."
"Things fall."
"From a sealed envelope."
"Sometimes seals are loose."
Seraphina looked at the paper on the table.
Kael was looking at it too.
His expression had done something she had never quite seen before.
Not embarrassed.
Something adjacent to it.
Something that looked like a person who had written things privately and was now sitting three feet away from the person those things were about.
She looked at the paper.
"Can I."
"No."
Immediate.
She looked at him.
He looked at the paper.
Then at her.
"No."
She looked at it.
Small piece.
Folded once.
Sitting there.
On the table between them.
Between them specifically.
Like it had chosen the location.
"Kael."
"Seraphina."
"I won’t read it if you don’t want me to."
A pause.
"Obviously."
Another pause.
Something moved through his expression.
Quick.
"Obviously."
He said.
His version of it.
Quieter.
He reached forward.
Picked up the paper.
Put it in his pocket.
Tax watched this happen.
Then looked at Seraphina.
Then at Kael’s pocket.
Then back at Seraphina.
"ehehe."
Very quietly.
Just for himself.
Kael looked at him.
Tax immediately found the ceiling extremely interesting.
Seraphina looked at her notebook.
At her name on the first page.
At the ribbon on her wrist.
At the hair pin she could feel in her hair even though she couldn’t see it.
At all the things sitting in her chest that she was still not examining.
Then she looked at Kael.
He was looking at the window.
Not at her.
His hand in his pocket.
On the letter.
Or the piece of it.
The piece Tax had stolen from something private.
Something he had written about her.
She didn’t ask again.
She had said she wouldn’t.
But something in knowing it existed.
In knowing he had written things.
In knowing his favorite color was dark blue and her dress had been dark blue and he had matched a hair pin to it in ten minutes.
Something in all of that.
It sat differently than it had yesterday.
She looked at the notebook.
Wrote one more word under her name.
Obviously.
Then closed it.
Kael glanced at her.
She was looking at the window.
Her hand moving to the ribbon on her wrist again.
Touching it.
Without noticing.
The way she always did it.
He looked back at his book.
The page still hadn’t moved.
Tax watched them both from the bookshelf.
His golden eyes are quiet.
Carrying the weight of things he knew.
Things he was waiting to say.
Things that had a right moment.
That wasn’t today.
But it was getting closer.
Outside the library.
Down the corridor.
Daren walked past the door.
Stopped.
Looked through the gap.
At Seraphina in one chair.
Kael in the other.
The table between them.
The complete silence.
The very specific kind of silence.
He looked at it for three seconds.
Then walked away.
Found Rowan in the sitting room.
Sat down.
"Rowan."
"Hm."
"They’re in the library."
Rowan looked at his notes.
"Together."
"Yes."
"Reading."
"Apparently."
A pause.
"In complete silence."
"Yes."
Rowan looked up.
Something in his expression.
Small.
Genuine.
"Good."
He said.
Then looked back at his notes.
Daren stared at him.
"That’s all you have to say."
"Yes."
"Good."
"Yes."
"Just good."
"It is good."
Daren looked at the corridor.
Then at Rowan.
Then at the corridor again.
"I really want to read those letters."
Rowan did not respond.
Which was its own kind of response.
Daren leaned back.
Looked at the ceiling.
The library stayed quiet after Tax left.
Seraphina looked at her notebook.
At the word she’d written.
Obviously.
Then at the ribbon on her wrist.
Then at nothing specific.
Kael was still across from her.
Still reading.
Or appearing to read.
The page hadn’t moved in several minutes.
She looked at him.
He didn’t look up.
"Kael."
"Hm."
"We should go back."
He looked up.
"To the academy."
A pause.
"When."
"Soon."
He looked at his book.
Then closed it.
Set it down.
"Okay."
One word.
She stared at him.
"That’s it."
"Yes."
"Just okay."
"What else?"
"I don’t know."
"Then okay covers it."
She looked at him for a moment.
Then at the window.
Then at the notebook.
She stood.
He stood.
Neither said anything immediately.
The library remained exactly as it had been.
Quiet.
Old.
Unhelpful.
Then Seraphina pointed at the door.
"I’m going to tell everyone."
"Okay."
"You’re very agreeable today."
"I’m always agreeable."
She stared at him.
"You once told Daren no fourteen times in a row."
"He asked fourteen separate questions."
"About the same thing."
"Different angles."
"Kael."
"Seraphina."
She looked at him.
He looked back.
The corner of his mouth.
Just slightly.
Gone before it arrived.
She turned toward the door.
Walked out.
He followed.
She found Lysette first.
Not in the sitting room.
Not in the south garden.
In the entrance hall.