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The last meeting of the day had gone over by nearly an hour and did not end on amicable terms as the previous one had.

It’s one thing to look down on her because of her height, another thing entirely to presume her ignorant or incapable and easily intimidated. Reasons such as this one were why she preferred not to deal with commercial properties. But her father felt it necessary for her to diversify her portfolio and engage in some developmental expenditures instead of focusing on residential real estate.

Annoyed that the rest of her week was no longer free and that negotiations with the potential partners and contractors would have to resume on Friday, Phedre got into her car to give Vanessa a call to update the schedule.

However, once the phone was unlocked she noticed the icon for a missed text message. Assuming it was her assistant calling to check up on her after the meeting was supposed to have ended, she clicked on the speech bubble icon and was instead stunned into silence when a name that had been so far down on her correspondence list was surprisingly at the top.



“That damn Mauvian lied to me…” Claiming the office was vacant and the owner was gone or something similar. Although, in hindsight, it could be construed that she was neither confirming nor denying that Zinkenite was back just that he wasn’t there at that moment.

Still…

Reading his invitation sent her into a bit of an emotional spiral. So happy she wanted to cry knowing that he was back but equally as frustrated knowing that it was him at the Cafe and she said nothing to him then. The excited part of her wanted to jump right into asking questions of where he had been, how long he’d been back, or at the very least how was he… but each time she started a reply the message was immediately deleted.

A teardrop fell on the screen, then another onto her lap.

As Zinkenite he was her sovereign. Perhaps not by choice on his part but in saving her life when she had been ambushed several years ago Meridiana had decided this life debt for the second chance was owed to him. As Zac he was inarguably one of the very few she considered friends. True she’d overstepped the boundaries twice, once with the kiss before she knew him by name, and later with the gift she didn’t want to leave out on his doorstep. For all he could, or perhaps should have done, he was anything if not kind.

But then he was gone, no word or warning.

Lights off in a once often occupied office. A stilled silence settled into the space where it felt like everything suddenly stopped.

There was no notice of a fallen King. No moment of mourning or call to arms to suggest he might have been gravely injured or killed in an ambush or kidnapped. All she could assume was that this was Metalia or Laurelite’s wish and unfortunately, as Meridiana, she was not well enough acquainted with other officers to notice if there were others that were gone as long as he had been.

“At least he’s back…” she spoke softly before trying once more to construct a reply.



A housewarming gift of sorts since he'd been away from home for such a long time.

Phedre turned her car on and entered his address into the navigation.

Although Siri said she was only about 25 minutes away in current traffic, Phe decided to add about 15 minutes so she could stop by one of the small businesses to pick up a gift. Nothing big or fancy. Just a couple of tins of loose-leaf teas and rock sugar to go with it.

If they weren’t quite Zac’s taste he’d be free to take them to his office in the Dark Kingdom and offer them to other officers or Axinite if he came to visit.

To quote a British influencer, only in America do the people measure distance in time, and only in America will they take that time and try to beat it. Phedre did say she’d arrive in about 40 minutes, and granted the line at the tea shop was short and she arrived having a decent idea of what she wanted to get, but not a minute past 30 was she pulling into the driveway.

Might be able to pass it off as having good luck with green lights but Zac would probably see right through that. Whether he was in uniform or not, he was sharp and unfortunately she was bad at lying.

She reached over to the passenger’s seat and gathered both her purse and the canvas bag that had a bag of rock sugar and three 16-oz tins of loose-leaf tea; a spiced chai black tea, a fireside spice, and a lavendar chamomile. The first one she had a fairly good feeling he’d enjoy most, the next was just something new to try, and the latter- well, she rationalized that being back home after so much time away might feel strange for a while and with how hard he often worked before suddenly being pulled away from Destiny City, something to help sleep come more easily might be welcomed.

Phedre stepped out of the car, still wearing her work clothes from earlier, a white blazer and pencil skirt to match with black heels and approached the front door and rang the bell once. She could feel the butterflies in her stomach take flight as the anxious feeling grew. Her grip on the canvas bag tightened and for a moment considered feigning that she’d left something in the car; her phone, maybe her wallet, the empty coffee cup from earlier maybe. Something to hold on to because Phedre wasn’t entirely sure she’d be able to keep her hands from fidgeting once she handed him the bag.

“Maybe I-” she glanced back over her shoulder and started to turn.

A quiet click. A sweeping sound of a door opening.

Phedre turned and in the doorway saw Zac standing, breathless yet a delighted expression alighting his features as he stepped back and aside. And for a second… it felt like the world paused.“I-,” Phe’s head turned ever so slightly but her gaze remained on him. “No-I um…I thought I might have left something in my car.”

She felt her heartbeat flutter, trip over itself, and then slam against her chest in a rather harsh reminder to at the very least breathe. Her plan to try and be no less than normal was no doubt dashed by the surprised look on her face or the way her lips parted yet no words fell from them.

Breathe she reminded herself. It took a moment more but the anxiety and nervousness she felt were washed away with a deep sigh of relief. “That was you… At the cafe earlier. You were there weren’t you?” Somehow seeing him standing there mostly unchanged, hair perhaps a little longer but it was hard to tell from where she stood, it felt like these last two-plus years hadn’t happened or perhaps time just compressed it enough so that it felt like no more than a couple weeks.

“I’m sorry-” She broke eye contact a moment to tuck her hair behind an ear before offering him an apologetic smile. “What a way to make a moment feel awkward.” A nervous laugh escaped her as she stepped over the threshold. “I come bearing gifts.” Phedre offered him the canvas bag she’d been holding onto to; a weight that felt far more heavy than it should if only because she was genuinely resisting the urge to hug him.

When his words fell to silence and arms opened in welcome to her, she hesitated, held back by the fear that she’d be unable to keep her emotions in check. Not more than a few hours ago did she concede to the idea that the person she had seen at the cafe was a mere figment of her imagination pieced together by wishful thinking.

But here he stood, an arm's length away where the distance between them was measured not just in a few inches but in days, weeks, and years of absence. Her heart ached and without a conscious thought, Phedre stepped towards him, wrapping her arms around Zac in a hug that conveyed all the words she could not find, of all the missed moments and silent wishes of simply knowing that he was at least safe wherever it was he’d been sent.

If he’d been concerned whether or not she’d moved on to other friendships or alliances, let this small gesture be a silent acknowledgment of the worry his absence had left her with and the warmth of reconnection. “I’ve missed you,” Phedre’s voice was soft-spoken yet still cracked under the weight of those three words.

She held on a moment longer, allowing herself to fully embrace the reality of Zac’s presence.

Susceptible to the whims and wishes of selfish desires as any normal person would be, Phedre was not ready to let go quite yet but knew that standing in the doorway as they were was not an option either. Still, she nodded, taking a deep, shaky breath in an attempt to compose herself before reluctantly unwinding her arms from around Zac’s waist.

Her gaze remained downcast, bangs partially covering her misty eyes as she knelt to remove her shoes and place them by the wall with her purse set atop them. The strands of hair that had fallen forward were tucked behind her ears again and in that same motion, she wiped away the unshed tears with the heel of her palm to be discrete about it.

When she stood again, Phedre looked up at him with a sincere smile, the one she had meant to greet him with when he first opened the door rather than the surprised look he had received. “I am really happy you’re back,” Truly she meant every word. “Hopefully this isn’t just a short-term return, is it?” she asked as she stepped further into the hallway.

It had been a long while since she’d last been invited over but there were a few noticeable changes to the furniture; and it looked like his cats, or at least one of them, were still around if only because she caught a brief glimpse of a tail disappear around a corner. Not white like Abby’s, but Phedre was sure to ask about the Mauvian later.

Zac’s words elicited a sharp twinge of guilt within Phedre.

Over the last several years her loyalty had shifted and wavered. What was once owed to Metalia or Laurelite had fallen upon another and in the time apart she’d dared to follow a thread of curiosity, dipped her toes in the water and found herself flirting with the idea of purification but in the end lacked motivation or reason to follow through with anything more than ask questions. An admission she sooner take to her grave if only because at the end of the day her loyalty remained here with him rather than the Negaverse as a whole or their collective goals.

“I have no doubt your methods were effective in cauterizing the infection before it could spread deeper.” A more than capable Sovereign for the given task. “But,” she paused for dramatics “You’re back now and if you’ve spoken with Axenite at all I’m positive he would have encouraged you to take time to relax.” He’d been anything if not compassionate after Dravite’s promotion and she felt certain that his concern would extend to Zinkenite as well. “Am I right?”

Her expression softened as she reached up, her fingers barely brushing stray strands of his hair to the side. He looked not quite tired but exhausted or drained; perhaps from moving furniture or making updates to his home, or from long travel and time differences. She wasn't sure but perhaps sitting down would be best for now.