oleander

0.5: JAN 2020

DEDICATIONS:
Angel_Thursday thesmallprint  17kaber cmc890 spn_sams_girl yusradarr  Lisa4x
Thanks for reading and voting 😍

odette is current 29 (turning 30 in dec)

saul is 34 (turning 35 in aug)

Linphea has flourished with Odette as Queen. Under her guidance, doctors from all over the realm have come to the capital. Burned Ones have been rounded up and life expectancy after being cut by one has raised to three weeks. It was slow-coming. To have only managed to extend life expectancy by two weeks after a decade of experimenting.

But something has changed. Jorah, Argyus, and Atticus, the ever-protective uncle figures, have noticed her mood dropping. Flowers in the halls wilt when she passes instead of blooming. Her appetite has decreased and they know she barely sleeps so she doesn't have to see him. She'd stopped asking Farah about him during their calls and averts her gaze when someone mentions him.

And the men have half a mind to march into Alphea and drag him back to her kicking and screaming.

Alphea has done well. Specialists trained under Saul have graduated and gone on to do wonderful things. He hears that a few have even gone to Linphea. Most of him wonders why he hasn't made the trip himself.

Gods know Farah is fed up with his excuses. Had to come up with a new training regime for the more advanced third-years. Sky just started his first year and might need help. The horses at the cottage need tending to.

Excuse after excuse for eight years. Eight.

Farah knows he's masking how he feels. Knows he can't wait to see her at night in his dreams.

She knows that Odette is the one struggling now. Her phone calls with the girl had become few and far between, and Saul was no longer a welcome topic of conversation.

Part of her is just about ready to have Ben dose him so they can bring him to Linphea against his will.

But something they never expected will bring them together.