Page 68

The sound that came out of Taly was somewhere between a groan and whimper—a grimper. It was a sound of pure pain.

Sarina took her face in her hands. “Indulge us, sweetheart. We need to make up for lost time. And this is the first boy you’ve brought home. Granted, he lives here, but you’re not so much brother and sister as to make it improper. Unless that’s part of the appeal? You tell me.”

Skye was howling with laughter so loudly, Taly half expected him to suffocate. If he didn’t, she vowed to speed the process along once she got free of the inquisition.

Yet despite the mounting desire to commit murder, another feeling was slowly overtaking her. Not completely unfamiliar, but certainly something she hadn’t felt in a long time. Like a warmth wrapping around her soul.

Only family knew exactly where to poke. And she’d missed it more than she could ever admit—the sting of beingknown.

She was home—finally. For better or worse, she would not abandon it again.

A thorough inspection of her torso found the source of that strange needling pain: two incisions, one on either side of her rib cage. The bruising around them was slow to fade.

After Ivain and Sarina finished making her wish she had the ability to spontaneously combust, they finally told her what happened. She had Earthlung—apparently, it was something she’d had as a child. Another little surprise, like her magic, that her body had sprung on her at the most inopportune moment.

Taly searched her memory, but everything from before the fire was a blank void broken occasionally by a vague feeling or half-remembered thought. She’d stopped expecting thosememories to come back, though she couldn’t help but wonder if there was anything else lingering in that forgotten space of her life, waiting to be unearthed.

Skye had already told everyone a little about what happened. As they sat down to dinner—a veritable homecoming feast of roast lamb, smoked root vegetables steeped in fragrant spices, golden rice, even sugarberry tarte—it was up to Taly to fill in the gaps.

And that’s what she did. She told them her story. And it was easier than she’d thought it would be to face them.

They picked up old jokes like they’d seen each other only yesterday and effortlessly fell back into unfinished conversations, going off on tangents that ended nowhere near where they began. Sitting around the table, talking and sharing stories of her adventures, Taly didn’t feel the chasm of lost time between them. Love spanned the gap.

They joined the staff in the kitchen for dessert, where each member insisted on giving her a hug. There were notably fewer of them, and Taly realized with a guilty pang that Ivain must’ve sent some away—either not wanting to involve them or not trusting them enough to keep her secret.

With the siege, work would be scarce, but she knew he wouldn’t have turned them out with nothing. It softened the blow—if only slightly.

And that wasn’t the only change made on her behalf.

After dinner, Ivain walked her through each upgrade and protection. Wards lined the doors, sealing against forced entry. A hidden passage ran beneath the library. The very air shimmered with layered concealments dense enough to shield her, but more than that—to let her cast freely.

He hadn’t just built a fortress. He’d built a place where she didn’t have to hide.

And soon, he said, she wouldn’t be confined to these walls. She would be able to gooutside.

Gratitude sat heavy in her chest—an old ache, familiar but no easier to bear. They had given her everything, asked for nothing. She would never be able to repay it, not in full. They could’ve so easily confined her to the basement levels, forced her into hiding. It’s what she’d expected. What she’d been mentally bracing herself for.

And yet, they hadn’t.

Someday, she would find a way to repay them. Maybe not in words. Maybe not in full. But she would try.

Outside, the evening air was calm and cool, a welcome change from the stuffy warmth of the house. In a rare moment of solitude, Taly made her way down to the stables. There was still one more reunion to put behind her.

The moment she stepped inside, Byron went wild, nearly breaking out of his stall trying to get to her. He cried so fiercely the grooms came running, thinking one of the horses must surely be dying.

She calmed him as best she could, murmuring into his mane as she slipped into the stall, letting him nuzzle and paw until the worst of it passed. Then she got to work. She cleaned his stall and gave him a good brush down, telling him an abbreviated version of where she’d been. Horses didn’t care for the details. And it was all probably more activity than she should’ve attempted, considering Skye found her in the tack room afterward, mid-wheeze as she took a pull off her airbalm.

His eyes immediately zeroed in on her. “Seriously?” His voice was tight, disbelief clear in every word. “Tell me you’re not actually out here mucking stalls.”

“I’m not mucking stalls,” Taly said, tucking the airbalm into her pocket. “I was just spending some quality time with Byron.”

The little stallion nickered from his stall. Not a gelding anymore—Ivain had removed the enchantments that kept his horns from growing in.[ii] It would give him a stronger chance of survival if shades found their way into the city.

“Did that quality time involve a shovel?” Skye asked.

Taly shrugged and pushed past him. “And if it did?”

“Taly.”