Sedgewick's eyesight must be poorer than he thought. Because he couldn't really be staring at Feyla leaning precariously over the side of the bridge, waving his forgotten coat like a flag while shouting something about his hair.

What is he doing?! Feyla thought, oblivious to the odd looks people were shooting her. There was only one set of eyes she was focused on. Unfortunately, the man they belonged to was blinking at her like an idiot. She waved his coat around one more time, but Sedgewick continued to just sit there and let that pole boater row him away from her. Feyla huffed with frustration and kicked her sandals off. Honestly, that man. She came all this way and he can't even snap to his senses enough to acknowledge her? Feyla snatched her sandals up in her hand and climbed onto the solid stone railing of the arched bridge.

Sedgewick remained frozen. The man rowing said something to him but he didn't hear a word of it. Feyla had climbed up on the railing and started shouting at him again but he didn't hear much of that either. She looked positively crazed—mad even—brilliantly, beautifully mad. Like a drawing of a nymph from the Wildwood. The image of her standing there waving his coat while the wind whipped her hair around as she shouted something over the water became seared into his brain so hard that he was certain he'd be able to picture it even if he was on his death bed. So, he wasn't blind then. He was simply hallucinating—OH GATES, WHAT WAS SHE DOING?

Finally, thought Feyla, stopping herself as Sedgewick jumped to his feet. The boat he was on rocked and the man rowing it shouted at him to sit back down. Sedgewick didn't seem to hear him.

"Get back over here, you idiot!" Feyla shouted. Maybe she wouldn't have to do it after all.

Sedgewick went back to blinking at her, his jaw slack.

Never mind then, she thought irritability. Feyla knotted Sedgewick's coat around her waist and dove into the water.

Sedgewick had sighed with relief when Feyla had stopped herself short of jumping only to lurch forward when she launched herself off the railing seconds later.

"Siddown, you!" barked the rower.

"She just jumped in the water!" Sedgewick shouted, more to himself than to the man.

"And you'll be joining her if you don't. Sit. Down!"

Join her? he thought hazily. Feyla remained out of sight and that statement suddenly became a very good idea. Sedgewick braced himself to jump in after her when Feyla's head popped up beside the boat.

She sucked in a breath and swung the arm holding her shoes over the side of the boat. "If you make me pull myself onto this boat, I swear I'll maim you."

"I'm going to maim you both!"

Sedgewick finally snapped to his senses. He tugged Feyla onto the boat, nearly giving the rower a heart attack again. Feyla plunked herself down and rang the water out of her dripping hair. She looked shyly over at him as if searching for reassurance.

The boat bumped against the walkway. "Get off and take your crazy girlfriend with you!" thundered the man.

Sedgewick and Feyla exchanged a glance. He helped her out of the boat and paid the man while she murmured various soothing apologies. The man rowed away, muttering about crazy tourists and their foreigner boyfriends. The small walkway the two of them had been kicked off at was currently empty. They were all alone.

Feyla gazed at him before she swallowed and started slipping her wet sandals on her wetter feet. "I— I don't want to hear it, Sedgewick, do you understand?" She sniffled and wiped her nose. "You couldn't just expect me to abandon you and let that creep hunt you down so don't even start with how it's too dangerous and I shouldn't have come."

"It's too dangerous and you shouldn't have come."

Feyla pursed her lips and spread her feet apart. "Now you listen here—"

Sedgewick snatched her into an embrace, practically smothering her against his shoulder. Thoughts swam through his mind but none of them managed to make it to his mouth. Yes, yes, I'll listen. I'll listen to you list my flaws and failures forwards and backward. Gates, I'll even listen to you monologue about the disadvantages of the death penalty for the thousandth time or sing that annoying song from that one play. Anything. Please don't leave. He wanted to say all of that. She deserved to hear it. But in the end, he just held her tighter. Words were never his strong suit.

Feyla froze. The water dripping off her filled the silence for several seconds. Finally, she slung her arms around his neck and started sobbing. "You jerk!" she cried, squeezing him tighter. "If you keep giving me heart attacks, I'm going to age enough that people will think we were born in the same century!"

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry..." Sedgewick said over and over again. They stood there for several moments. Feyla shivered and he finally loosened his hold. "I'd offer you my coat but you already have it and I doubt it would help much in its current state."

Feyla laughed between fading sobs. She wiped her wet face while avoiding his unrelenting stare. "I look awful."

"Lying is unbecoming," he murmured. Clarity began returning as the shock of Feyla's arrival faded. They looked too suspicious and Feyla was shivering. "Come along, my inn is just a short walk from here. Although, I suppose we could swim if you wanted to."

She laughed again, more genuinely this time. "I think I'll leave the swimming to the other tourists."

"You can come in without getting slapped now," Feyla called from behind the closed door. They'd stopped and bought a pre-made dress for her to change into. Sedgewick stepped into the room and locked the door behind him. Feyla sat perched on the arm of the cheap, plain room's only chair, tugging her fingers through her damp hair. He took a seat on the bed and proceeded to stare at her in silence.

Per tradition, Feyla felt obligated to fill it. "I got your letter."

"Oh." It was a small word but felt unbearably heavy in Sedgewick's mouth. He'd written that letter under the belief that he'd never see her again. Gates, he'd half suspected that she would throw it away without even opening it. A cold sort of dread spread over him. She knew now. She knew everything and it would be so easy for her to rip whatever was left of him into painful shreds. Best brace himself. He could hardly expect her to do otherwise.

Feyla's hands slowed and she stared at the floor in uncharacteristic silence.

"Is—" Sedgewick wiped his sweaty hands on his knees. "Is there anything else you're wanting to say?"

"Actually, I was waiting for you to start trying to retract it."

The cold dread heated up into a righteous indignation as he stood from the bed. "A retraction? After everything I wrote, you think I would—"

"Yes, Sedgewick Alverdyne." Feyla cut in, flinging her wet hair over her shoulder as she jumped up. "That is exactly the kind of trick you'd pull."

"Oh, thank you, Miss Everbloom. Your faith in me is so inspiring. I do wonder why I'm not overflowing with romantic platitudes."

Feyla's darker skin flushed red. "Well, it would be a real nice change after decades of acting like you didn't care at all."

"Forgive me for being realistic! Do you have any idea how many logical reasons—"

"Don't you act like you're being logical about this. This has nothing to do with logic. This has to do with you being too scared to give us a chance!"

"Do you want me to say it? Is that what you're after? Because I'll say it; I'm done denying it."

"Go ahead then," Feyla challenged, her voice cracking and her arms crossed.

Sedgewick stepped closer. Feyla sucked in a breath as mere inches separated them. He itched to take her hand in his own but restrained himself. She truly did have the loveliest eyes. Why was he always putting pain in them? "I do love you, Feyla. There was never any avoiding that."

"Then why are you always pushing me away?" Feyla asked as she started tearing up.

Gates, why did she have to ask things like that? "The ending. It always ends the same."

"I'm not going to hurt you," Feyla said, practically begging him to believe her.

Sedgewick stared at her long and hard. Not that he needed to. Her face was as familiar as his own. "Perhaps not. Or at least not purposefully. But you're young. Beautiful. Intelligent. You'll want to leave me eventually. Everyone does. I'm not letting you throw your life away for that. And I... I don't want to watch you reject me. Go back to the capital."

Feyla's mouth fell open.  She shook her head in disbelief. "You're sending me away because you don't want me to leave you?

"Go back to the capital, Feyla," Sedgewick ordered sternly, careful to keep his face blank. Couldn't she just go? They would both be better off. He had nothing to offer her, nothing to give her a reason to stay when she decided to leave.

"Little too late for that."

The dread returned, this time for a different reason. "Feyla, please tell me that Tyrinn sent you here to seduce me instead of you running off after doing something illegal."

Feyla bit her lip and stayed silent.

Sedgewick's voice turned dangerously calm. "How high are the odds that he'll try to kill you?"

"I... might have left the city after being instructed not to. And ignored the order to turn over any letters I got," said Feyla, twisting a strand of her hair.

Sedgewick relaxed. That wasn't too bad.

"And I also might have broken into Tyrinn's house, splashed rubbing alcohol in his eyes, knocked a couple bookshelves on him, and made some scary-looking Guardsmen think he was trying to assault me."

The floor wobbled and the room spun. Sedgewick would have fallen over had not a burst of anger held him upright. "WHAT THE GATES DID YOU DO THAT FOR?! Do you still have some sort of death wish?!"

"Sedgewick." Feyla grabbed his shirt in the place his still-wet coat would have hung. "I got his spell notes."

Clouds parted. Birds sang. A light appeared at the end of the tunnel. The carrot once again dangled in front of him. All his doubts and fears vanished, washed away by a heady drunkenness know as hope. Sedgewick had a chance to fix this. And once he did, once he had his magic and his position back, maybe Feyla and him... Huh. Feyla and him...

Sedgewick blinked out of a daze and adjusted his glasses. "I— I really am desperately in love with you."

"I know," Feyla answered smugly.

"You never cease to astound me. I could kiss you."

Feyla bit her lip again. "Maybe you should."

"That being said, you must never put yourself at risk like that again." And before she could protest, Sedgewick grabbed her by the shoulders and took her suggestion. Feyla let out a squeak of surprise before going silent as her eyes drifted closed. She tasted a bit more like canal water this time and the angle wasn't quite perfect but it was still Feyla and that was enough. Sedgewick pulled away a minute later, which was half a minute longer than he had intended. He ran a hand through his hair while Feyla placed a hand on her chest, her lips still parted. "Right then," he choked out. "Let's go fix this mess."