One Day More - a Sartorias-deles fanfic

Chapter 34

It was getting exceedingly harder for Alaraec to focus on his duties as heir to the throne. There was never a lack of lessons or diplomatic engagements.  Vidanric dismissed him from the last one, as Raec was so distracted that he almost poured wine down a countess's dress. It wasn't his fault, he reasoned. She looked so much like Iris that the woman could have been her sister, even though he knew it to be impossible. Then his mind roamed to her parents—who had still not been found—and reality faded away. Was Iris well? What was she doing? Did she miss him as he missed her? He felt like a large chunk of his heart had been violently ripped from his chest, and he was dying without it. Was that love? If not, he didn't want to know what it was like, because this was the most painful sensation he had ever experienced. He wasn't sleeping out of stress and worry. Stress, because Raec needed to find Cassiopeia and Cetus Theren, and not only for Iris's sake. They had conspired to assassinate Vidanric and Meliara and had to be brought to justice.

Assuming they could be located. Raec was starting to lose hope in that, even though he wished otherwise. They were too talented. Too crafty. They had managed to hide in Remalna for twenty-plus years, despite being exiled. They'd even managed to conceal the birth of a child. There was nothing they would not do, which infuriated Alaraec further. Using Iris like some sort of tool, to be tossed like garbage after she broke beyond repair. After she served her purpose.

Iris had definitely broken. Shattered like glass against a marble floor. But she was not irreparable, and she had a bigger purpose than deceiving him. Being an actor under her parents' direction to manipulate him. Iris might consider herself blackened by her actions, but Raec wanted to show her that life could be better. That it wasn't the end of their story, but the beginning—if only he could find her, too. She'd gone, only leaving her letter behind. But he had questions, and the letter could not answer them.

He walked through the house in which Iris had lived in Remalna-city, looking for any trace of anything worthwhile. His father's men had already searched both floors, but Raec could not help but think he should see something. Anything. He knew Iris—or at least, he thought he did. When he ascended the stairs, Raec did not enter Iris's room. Instead, he stood in the doorway, studying the modest furnishings.

It looked like Iris could come back within the next hour. The bed sheets were rumpled, though that could have been from his father's men. A half-spent candle sat on the table next to the bed, beside a book that Iris had halfway finished, based off the slip of paper marking her place. Raec recognized the title and picked up the novel, thumbing through the pages to the end. Skimming the epilogue, his gut twisted. This was the same book Iris had been reading the day her parents poisoned her. Raec had stood close—far closer than was proper—but he could not get enough of her warmth. The light scent of her perfume. Her smile. The smoothness of her skin against his hands.

But why would she pick up this one? He'd spoiled the ending for her. Finding her bookmark, he flipped back to it, the hardback novel creaking as its spine stretched. Before even revealing the folded paper completely, Raec could tell it was one of his early letters. At the last fold, Raec frowned. A smaller piece was inside it, scribbled with Iris's handwriting, though far messier than her typical penmanship. There was no date, no indication when she wrote the note. As he read, he kept looking up to the ceiling to keep himself calm.

Raec,

If you're reading this, something must have happened to me. I don't know what, and I don't even know why I'm writing this. There's no guarantee you'll be the one to find it, but I think you will. I doubt anyone else would think anything of this book because no one else would care or know its significance. You said you like to read the endings. I said I'd rather be surprised, even if I ended up disappointed.