#i am having king and caleb thoughts in life of the apogee solstice and the mighty nein and just

[dent-de-leon]

Does Kingsley keep coming to Caleb's little monthly get togethers at the tower? Even if he sometimes feels out of place, like he isn't worthy, like the stained glass window of a familiar red coat is enough to make his heart nearly stop. All the little comforting furnishings of a warm, inviting bedroom; all the dreams of fractured memories that haunt him in the morning light.

Is there a day when Caleb's next meeting draws near, and yet a message never comes? When Kingsley waits by an old Sending Stone in an empty throne room, for a soft voice he'll never hear? Does he think perhaps the man with a perfect memory could possibly forget? That he was no longer worth the Nein's time?

Does he sit, and wait, and try to tell himself there will be another time--until an otherworldly red moon bleeds the whole sky? And all of magic is torn asunder? Does Kingsley yell for his Magician into a broken, silent Sending Stone? Does a part of him still ache with the memory of when Caleb begged him to come home, promised him he'd be Empty no longer? A lingering kiss he wishes he couldn't remember?

Is he still haunted by the terrifying memory of when he almost lost his Magician for good? A moment when his body was no longer his own, when he saw bone wings unfurl and tear into the man he called softness and light--

Would Kingsley do anything to save him if he could--