It’s too early. I just want to bury myself in blankets and not move for several hours. But if I want to reach the Academy in time to start classes in two days’ time, that isn’t an option.

  My dad doesn’t look any more awake than I am, but he still prepares breakfast to give my grandmother and I time for last-minute packing. We eat quickly and without much conversation.

  “I’ll walk you both to the coach station,” he says when we’re done.

  “We can find our own way there, you know.”

  “Yes,” he replies evenly. “But I want to see you off. I’ll miss you both.”

  My grandmother doesn’t seem in a sentimental mood, so it’s left to me to answer “I’ll miss you too.”

  It’s freezing outside, literally. I wish I could maintain multiple warming-spells simultaneously to protect my dad and grandmother from the cold. Edward could probably do that.

  We arrive fifteen minutes before the coach is scheduled to leave. The horses are already fastened to it, stomping their hooves impatiently. I can see their breath in the icy air.

  “It’s been good to see you, Ben,” my grandmother says. “I’m glad you’re doing okay.”

  “You too. You should visit again.”

  “I will. But you have to promise to take time off work when I do.”

  My dad grimaces. “Deal.”

  “I’ll give you two a minute. I’ll save you a seat, Tallulah. My son, may your path to our next meeting be guided by the stars.”

  “And may you walk there under starlit skies,” my dad says.

  She turns and drags her case towards the coach, leaving me alone with my dad. There’s a moment of silence.

  “Take care of yourself, Tallulah,” he says. “I don’t want you going hungry or not getting enough sleep.”

  “I won’t,” I say, hoping it’s the truth. “I’ll be fine.”

  “I hope you will be.”

  “Likewise. I’ll write. More often than I did before.”

  “Thank you.”

  “I love you, Dad.” I don’t know when the last time I told him that was. But I’ve meant it for a long while.

  “I love you too,” he replies. Am I imagining his voice choking?

  There isn’t really that much more to say. We’re just stalling for time. “I should go.”

  “Yes. You should. I – I’ll still be here. Whenever you need me.”

  “Thank you. May your path to our next meeting be guided by the stars.”

  “And may you walk there under starlit skies.”

  I’m definitely not imagining it. He must be close to tears. I make myself turn away and walk unhesitatingly towards the coach.

  The first part of the journey is smooth and uneventful. My grandmother’s village is only two and a half hours from Crelt, so it’s not long before I have another parting. This one is less emotional, at least. She offers to let me visit her during the next holiday, which surprises me, because she didn’t offer that to my dad.

  Maybe she knows she won’t be able to persuade him to leave work behind altogether for that long. Or maybe it’s because he still doesn’t know about her and Sierra, and she doesn’t want to have to hide her relationship. Either way, I’m touched by her asking, and I would like to visit her.

  But who knows what my life will look like when the next school holiday comes around? Not me, that’s for certain.

  I feel very alone once she’s gone. I keep thinking of what happened on the last coach journey I took and praying that nothing will go wrong this time. I bury myself in A History of the Kings of Rasin to make the time pass faster.

  We pass through the possibly-haunted forest in the afternoon. I wonder if the shadow-creature is still lurking there. If it knows I’ve come back.

  Nothing goes wrong as we travel through the forest. It begins to grow dark, but that’s only to be expected given we are in the depths of winter. It does mean it’s a struggle to keep reading, though. Normally I’d just cast a light-spell, but once again I don’t want these strangers to know I’m a magician. I’m eventually forced to set my book aside.

  This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.

  Once we emerge from the forest, there’s a little more light. And I think we’re all relieved to be out of the woods before night truly sets in. I certainly am.

  It’s an hour or two after that before we reach the inn where we’ll be staying for the night. It seems a nice enough place; more businesslike than homely, but my room is clean and quiet, which is about all I care about by this point. And the privacy means that I can read by enchanted light.

  I go to bed early, but I sleep lightly. My room is right beside the stairs, which creak a little, so I wake every time someone walks past. And it feels far too early when the innkeeper knocks on my door to announce that breakfast will be ready in five minutes.

  But I’ll be back at the Academy today. I’ll see Edward and my other friends today.

  I’m excited, but also apprehensive. There’s so many things I need to do once I get back. Talk to Edward about the books, and try and get across how much I appreciate them but how I don’t feel I can keep them for myself. Tell Elsie everything I learnt from Amara – and stars, I hope I haven’t forgotten any details. Talk to Electra about the project, and try to make sure she won’t pull any stunts like she did with my dad.

  Talk to Robin.

  And I have half of today to do that, because classes start tomorrow. I’ve grown too used to the luxury of not having so many problems to juggle. I don’t feel ready to do that again.

  Once we’re underway again, I try to catch an hour or two more of sleep. I’m not particularly successful, but resting my eyes does help a little.

  Finally the coach shudders to a halt. I’m not in a hurry, so I let the others disembark first before I clamber down to the ground and fetch my trunk. I set it down on the ground and cast a weak levitation-spell, to make it easier to carry without drawing too much attention. Then I set off.

  I’m only walking for about a minute before I hit the queue of people waiting to enter the City of Ryk. That’s the downside of staying in the coach for longer, being so far back in that queue, since everyone else from the coach also wants to go into the City.

  I fish my papers out of the bag and then wait, staring into space and shuffling forward a few steps every so often. And also shivering, because the problem with the levitation-spell is that it means I can’t also cast a warming-spell. I’ve been spoilt by magic insulating me from the worst of the cold, and before long I’m longing to get to anywhere that’s warm.

  Maybe I should stop off at a café along the way. There’s no reason why not, other than wanting to get to the Academy as soon as I can. And even though that’s what I should do… part of me is reluctant.

  Finally, I reach the front of the queue and thank the stars that the guard who looks at my papers and sees my name is sufficiently professional to not remark on it. And then I’m in Ryk. I’m back.

  And Edward is there. He was sitting a little to the side of the road, leaning back against the City’s wall, but he sees me too and scrambles to his feet. “Good,” he says. “You’re still alive. Want a hand with your trunk?”

  I’m cold enough that I don’t protest, just dismissing my levitation-spell and casting a warming-spell immediately. The relief is wonderful. “I didn’t expect to see you here.”

  He shrugs. “Didn’t have any other plans for my morning.”

  I don’t believe him.

  “When did I tell you what happened to me just before we first met, incidentally?”

  Oh. Of course he wants to check that I’m still me and not someone else impersonating me. It takes me a second to realise that he’s referring obliquely to his Fall. “After the incident with A – the fortune-teller. You took me back to your house.” I nearly said Amara’s name. Careless.

  “Good.” He begins walking back towards the City centre, and I fall into step besides him.

  “On which note… did you have to tell my dad I said I’d marry you for your library?”

  He laughs. “It seemed appropriate, considering what I sent you.”

  “Yeah,” I say. “It was. Thank you for that. Really. It’s… it’s the best present anyone has ever got me.”

  He smiles. It’s so rare to see a genuine, unguarded smile from him that I blink. And I feel a little bad about what I say next, but it has to be done: “We should talk about it, though.”

  “I’m guessing this isn’t a conversation about only historical matters?” His smile fades.

  “You guess correctly. But we don’t have to do that now. In fact we definitely shouldn’t.”

  “Of course. Can I ask why you were interested in enchanted light here, then?”

  “Yes.” I keep my silence for just long enough for him to laugh.

  “I’ve taught you too well, haven’t I? Fine. Why were you interested in enchanted light?”

  “A gift for my grandmother.”

  “…on your dad’s side, I hope?”

  “Yeah. My other grandmother is dead anyway.”

  “Oh. I’m sorry. I didn’t mean – “

  “It’s okay. But yeah. I did not see my mother over the holidays.”

  “Good,” he says, almost savagely. I guess his one encounter with my mother didn’t exactly endear either to the other.

  “Anyway,” I say, hastily changing the subject, “your notes and the books you sent were really helpful. I would never have managed it without them. My grandmother says thanks, too.”

  “She knew you…”

  “I think we passed the point of it being possible to keep our friendship secret a long time ago.”

  He laughs again. I’d forgotten how much I like the sound of his laugh. “Fair enough. Was she… okay with…”

  “Me being associated with your family? I think so. She definitely found it strange. But she didn’t say anything that anti-Blackthorn in my hearing, at least.”

  I answer his questions about my grandmother for the next couple of minutes. I have to be a little evasive when it comes to Sierra, and I’m reluctant to. Part of me just wants to say see, she has a lover of the same sex. It can work.

  But she isn't that open about it, which means it’s not something I should be telling Edward. And besides, the circumstances are somewhat different when you’re heir to one of the country’s largest fortunes.

  Eventually he runs out of questions. “How were your Holy Days, then?” I ask.

  He shrugs. “Unremarkable. I made good progress on my magical studies. Elspeth made me cinnamon bites.”

  “I’m jealous,” I laugh. “Did you save me any?”

  “You know that would be impossible.”

  “…I suppose so. But I do want more at some point.”

  “If you’d stayed with me, you could have had more. I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have said that. Pretend I didn’t?”

  “Deal.” It’s nothing I didn’t suspect anyway, that he was lonely and he missed me and he wished I’d been there. “On the condition I do get more cinnamon bites someday.”

  “I suppose that can be arranged.” He sighs dramatically.

  “Are the others back yet?”

  He shrugs. “Don’t know. Technically I’m not, I slept at home last night. I’ve only been to the Academy to move my things over.”

  I’m a little jealous that he has a fifteen-minute walk to the Academy rather than a multi-day coach ride. But that’s the least of the perks of being a Blackthorn. “They let you do that?”

  “I have a private room. I can keep my things in my room over the holidays, and that extends to being able to go back and forth with them.”

  It surprises me sometimes that he’s never let me into his room. But I can understand why. Having a space that’s only yours is a precious luxury.