For a second, Aster isn’t sure of how to answer. “It’s… nice. It’s been nice! The queen was really welcoming when I arrived, and Seraphina – my personal maid – she’s super accommodating, and she’s helped me out a lot. I think I even managed to get closer to her in the past week!”

“Yeah? That’s good.” The side of Damien’s mouth pulls up. “And what about Prince Charming? How was meeting him?”

Like a puddle in the desert, the stream of words in Aster’s head turns to vapor. Maybe it’s because Damien’s known about her engagement ever since they were kids, but admitting about what’s happened since her first day in the palace feels harder than it should be. “It was…” She says haltingly. 

If Damien finds her hesitance strange, he doesn’t let it show. Instead he continues to look at her evenly, patient as he waits for her to continue.

Aster sighs, a single breath weighted with all the words she’s kept bottled up. “I think…” she says, voice small. “I think he hates me.” 

If Damien is shocked, it doesn’t show on his face. “Why would you think that?” He asks quietly. 

Aster’s recount of her past week starts off slowly: her meeting with Flynn in the garden, his cutting words, the chill he’d left her with. Gradually and gradually, like a dam close to bursting, her words escape her in a flood that turns into a torrent: his absence at breakfast the next day, the way he failed to show up to every other meal after, the fact that she hasn’t seen so much of a hair on his head despite walking around the palace every single day. 

Once she’s finished, only then does Aster register the way her hands are shaking. She clasps them together, hoping that Damien hasn’t noticed. 

Damien looks contemplative, gaze going unfocused again. Finally, he sighs, a hand dragging down his face.  “I didn’t think Flynn was the kind of guy to pull something like this. I’m sorry, princess.”

It’s so weird that Aster has to scoff. “Why are you apologising?”

“Well,” Damien shrugs. “I’ve spent enough time around your fiancé in the past year to think of him as a friend. Call it an apology on his behalf.”

“Are you two close?” Aster recalls the way he’d used Florian’s nickname. 

“Close…” Damien lists his head to the side. “Sorta? Unlike the rest of the palace, Flynn actually likes hanging out at the magic tower, so he’s always there half the time. Since Han hates any kind of formality, we’ve never given him special treatment whenever he comes around, so I guess that made it easier to get familiar.”

“Huh.” Aster laces her fingers together and unlaces them. Lace, unlace. Lace, unlace. “Then… what’s he like around you guys?”

“Flynn?”

Aster nods.

“He’s a total nerd.”