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Chapter thirty-seven

HYACINTH

The days had passed quickly as we all prepared to leave for Ithia.

I’d spent the last two vigorously training with Nithra and it paid off.

I’d finally learned to shift into dragon sight without it being provoked by fear.

Ata had officially relocated to her home where Yenne had been coming to teach her, and from the sounds of it, she was learning quickly.

“Have you and Wren ever thought about it? I asked Pri as Ata pushed through the door, dropping an armful of pillows and blankets on the ground and mumbling something under her breath about how she couldn’t believe we had convinced her to come back into this room.

It was the only room in the castle safe from Cain, nothing but stone walls and a fireplace.

Pri smiled to herself as she set a platter of baked goods on the wooden desk in the corner. “I do not think he is the marriage type.”

I glanced at Ata, brows raised as she scoffed.

“We are talking about the same Wren right? The one who has absolutely been planning a wedding in his head since he slid out of his mother’s womb?”

“Yes, Ata.” Pri laughed. “He is a romantic through and through, but he is also very practical, and with the jobs that we have, I think it scares him. It scares me after what happened to Liam.”

I nodded, swiping the plate of pastries and ale from the desk and setting them on the blankets as I lowered myself to the ground. I conjured three glasses, pouring into them as Pri continued.

“This job has given me Wren, has given me this little family of ours.” She smiled as I extended the glass to her and pulled it from my fingers. “But it has also taken everything from me. It has already taken one family and I live in constant fear that it will take another.”

I understood that fear, it was the same one that plagued every one of my nights. Death did not care about the kindness or love in our hearts, it did not care if you held good or evil there.

“Enough of that,” Pri said, pushing the sadness from her eyes as she smiled at us. “We leave for Ithia in the morning and this is the last night we will have alone for the foreseeable future. I intend to spend it drunk with my sisters.”

“I can make that happen,” Ata said as she refilled her glass and held it out between us. The room filled with sound as we clinked our cups together, drinking to each other, to these friendships.

Pri and Ata’s laughter echoed off the stone walls and the sound of it—the joy in it—made my heart swell.

I hadn’t heard it for so long, from either of them, and I missed it.

I couldn’t help but smile, even as a bittersweet pang tugged at my chest. How long had it been since we’d been able to let our guard down, to simply revel in each other’s company without the weight of the world bearing down on us?

But even as we drank and laughed, a cold knot of fear sat in the pit of my stomach. I couldn’t shake the feeling that this moment of happiness was fleeting, that it might be one of our last.

I studied Pri and Ata’s faces in the amber firelight, trying to memorize every detail—the curve of Pri’s smile, the mischievous sparkle in Ata’s eyes as she dealt the hand of cards.

I wanted to freeze this moment in time, to live in it forever.

Because deep down, I knew that once we stepped outside this room, once we left Locdragoon in the morning, everything would change.

They had become such an integral part of me, as vital as the air in my lungs or the blood in my veins and the thought of losing them—

I shook my head, forcing myself to take a deep breath and push those thoughts aside and focus on the present. For now, we were together. For now, we could pretend that the world outside didn’t exist.

I picked up my cards, flashing a grin at Ata.

The hours passed as we played hand after hand, laughing, crying, and talking about all the things we had missed in each other’s lives over these last months that we’d pulled away from each other.

Ata’s nose scrunched, her cheeks rosy from the ale as her brows furrowed.

“Does anyone else hear music?” she asked, turning toward the door.

Pri and I quieted to listen as a soft melody flowed through the cracks of the doorway. I stood, cracking open the door as the song grew louder and the corners of my lips tilted upward.

The music rang through the dark corridors and I stepped from the room, following the sound of each note as Ata and Pri trailed behind me. Stopping just outside the ballroom doors, I peaked my head through the small opening between them to see Landers pouring over a piano.

His fingers danced across the keys, each stroke precise and deliberate. The haunting melody filled the cavernous space, echoing off the high ceilings and ornate walls. I stood transfixed, unable to look away as Landers lost himself in the music.

He was beautiful like this.

The notes swelled and crescendoed as a shiver spilled down my spine. There was something melancholy and enchanting about the tune, as if it held secrets from a long-forgotten past.

I realized it then, as the familiar chords rang through the room.

He was playing the song of Nimbria.

Landers lifted his head, his gaze meeting mine through the crack in the doors as a soft smile swept over his mouth.

I pushed the doors open and stepped inside, Ata and Pri following close behind as Landers continued playing.

The ballroom was dimly lit, the only illumination coming from the moonlight streaming through the tall windows.

As I approached the piano I wasn’t sure what came over me, if it was the drink in my system or the emotion the song had awoken, but the words came spilling from my lips before I could stop them, intertwining with every note Landers played.

I sat beside him, our shoulders brushing as Pri leaned against the piano and began to sing with me, her voice blending seamlessly with mine.

My eyes tore from Landers’s hands to her, smiling softly as the corners of her eyes glistened.

Ata slowly backed toward the windows, resting on its ledge and leaning her head back against the glass as she listened.

The doors creaked open and I glanced up to see Andrues and Wren slipping inside, smiles strewn across their faces. Andrues sauntered over to Ata and I watched as he sat beside her, pulling her body closer to his in such an intimate, loving way.

Wren’s lips pressed against Pri’s temple, his arms wrapping around her as they began to slowly sway back and forth to the hum of the music. My eyes fell closed, letting the sound consume me as tears began to stream down my cheeks.

It was as if the very essence of Nimbria had come alive in this room, its spirit given voice through every note played, every word sung.

It was the song of our home .

The home that we were fighting so desperately to keep whole.

Nothing else existed but the melody and the six of us.

Only six of us were left, and I knew in my bones that before this was over—more despair would fall on our doorstep.

As suddenly as it had begun, the song came to a close, the final notes lingering in the air like a prayer.

Silence fell over the ballroom, broken only by the soft sound of our collective breathing.

I looked around at the faces of my family, seeing in their eyes the same emotions that swirled in mine.

In that same moment, I felt a whisper flow down the fastening, not words but warmth— love .

My heart swelled against my chest.

This. These people— they were my home .

Dukovich sauntered into the castle courtyard, whistling into the snowy morning as he tossed an apple into the air. I groaned at the sound as I lifted my coffee to my lips.

“For the love of all the Gods, could you not make that fucking sound?” Ata snapped as he stepped beside her, throwing an arm around her shoulders. She shrugged away from him scoffing as she dug her fingers into her temples.

Dukovich ran his eyes over Pri and me, smirking to himself as he began whistling again even louder than before.

It was way too early for this.

Shadows shot from me, encasing him in a bubble and blocking out every sound he made. I could feel his fits beading against them, but I ignored it.

Ata smirked at me as Pri chuckled to herself.

I took another sip of my coffee, pulling my coat tighter around my body as Wren, Andrues, Landers, and Asrai poured through the dining hall doors into the courtyard.

From yards away I could already see the knowing smile creep onto Landers’s lips as he strode toward us.

“Do I want to know?” he asked, pressing his lips to my temple. I shook my head, pulling my shadows back as I poured the last of my coffee into my mouth.

“That was a bit unnecessary,” Dukovich grumbled as he straightened his tunic.

“Was it though?” Pri asked as her eyes narrowed on him.

“Why do the three of you look like crapulous teenagers?” Asrai asked, her shrill tone exacerbating the pounding behind my eyes.

Dukovich leaned closer to Ata, sniffing her. “Are you still drunk, love?”

Wren snickered at the comment as Pri slapped the back of her hand to his chest.

“Are we ready?” I asked, looking up at Landers.

He nodded. “Gimara will meet us when we arrive and show us where we will be staying for the time being. Take the day to settle in, this evening we will meet to discuss the events that will unfold over the next few days.” Landers paused, his gaze falling on Ata.

“We are guests in Edvhir, there will be no bloodshed, violence, or fights.”

“Don’t worry my King, I’ll behave.” Ata deadpanned, tilting her head to the side as she smirked at him.

I smiled to myself as my eyes flickered to Dukovich and Andrues both eying her from where they stood, slowly inching closer to her side.

I shook my head at the three of them.

That was sure to end in disaster.