Page 59 of Healed By the Grumpy Elf

"I did everything I could for Evander." I push the words through a closed-up throat. “If I could have traded places with him, I would have.”

"I know," she whispers. "I think I always did."

A tear rolls down Karanda's perfect cheek, and she closes her eyes for a long moment. When she looks at me again, she pinches her lips and nods to herself.

"I punished you because I needed someone to bear the blame," she acknowledges. "I drove you from your home, your position, your family."

"I left because staying would only make your grief worse," I admit. "Every time you saw me, you were reminded of it."

The tension between us shifts, old wounds beginning to heal in the quiet intimacy of shared pain. Silence falls again, but it's different now. All traces of hostility are gone. The setting sun casts long shadows through the car windows, painting everything in warm gold and deep purple.

After several minutes, Karanda gestures to the summons scroll still in my coat.

"I'm the one who petitioned for your reinstatement. I wanted to give back what I helped take from you. This is my way to atone."

I look at her with surprise.

"Your exile was never officially decreed," she explains. "You left voluntarily before the empress could make a ruling. I've spent the last two years working to clear your name completely."

"Why now?"

"Because it took me this long to face my own shame," she answers simply. "And because the court needs you, Lorian. Your skills as a doctor were never in question, even at the height of my anger."

I consider her words carefully. The summons was meant as atonement, not punishment. A way to restore what was lost. In another time, another life, I would have been overjoyed at this development.

But now I have Maeve.

I reach into my pocket and pull out the small wrapped package I'd intended to present to Maeve before Karanda's arrival interrupted everything. I carefully open it, revealing the Eternal White Lily, its petals glowing softly in the dimming light of sunset.

Karanda inhales sharply in recognition of what this means.

"I can't go back to Court," I say simply. "I found my True Mate."

Her eyes widen, fixing on the luminescent bloom in my palm.

"The human woman," she breathes. "She's your True Mate?"

I nod once.

"But if you don’t go, you know what will happen," Karanda warns. "Ignoring the empress’ summons is punishable by banishment. No return. No forgiveness."

"I know."

"Your family has served the court for five generations, Lorian. The position you worked your entire life to achieve. The respect of your peers. Your standing and title. You would give up everything, just to be with her?"

I look out the window toward Saltford Bay, toward Maeve. In the distance, I can just make out the glow of the town's lights beginning to sparkle against the deepening blue of early evening.

"It's the easiest decision I've ever made," I state with absolute conviction.

I open the car door, the cool evening air rushing in to replace the sandalwood-scented warmth of the vehicle's interior. The Eternal White Lily gleams in my palm, its light steady and true.

"What will you tell the empress?" I ask, pausing with one foot outside the car.

Karanda studies me for a long moment.

"The truth," she finally says. "That Lorian Reizenhart has finally found something more important than duty."

I step fully onto the roadside, the Eternal Lily clutched carefully in my hand. Karanda watches me silently, a mixture of sadness and understanding in her eyes. No more words are needed between us. We said all that matters.