Page 72 of Shadows and Flames (Twin Blades #2)
My cousin’s hair was growing out, like mine, and the curls formed a yellow fringe that sprung from the scarf she had tied around the rest of it.
She glanced sideways at me. “I know how to make decisions for myself, Leen. I can help, learn again from the priestesses, and reconnect with my coven here in Nethras. I’ll inquire about a place to live more permanently, but for now, Cera has offered for me to stay with her. ”
“Oh.” I cracked my knuckles and stuffed my hands in the pockets of my leather trousers. “Well, I’m glad this is where we ended up, then.”
Tana buckled and situated her packs on the edge of the small bed she’d remade this morning. Or had she not slept at all? Bags hung under her eyes, but she smelled freshly bathed, and she moved with a professional alertness.
I moved from foot to foot, not knowing what to say next, so I tried at a bit of humor. “And Fenix?”
She pouted her bottom lip, a gesture she typically made when she was confused, and it was then that I finally got her to fully look at me. “What about him?”
I swept my gaze and senses around the room, as if he was somehow hiding in the corner or under the bed when he was most likely sleeping the day away. With his infatuation with Tana, though, one could never be sure. “You know he’s besotted with you, right?”
She froze, slumped, then completely straightened. Her emerald eyes cast side to side while she thought, opening and closing her mouth several times.
“Erm, I suppose you didn’t know.”
Blood rushed to her cheeks, deepening the brown color there to a bright rust. “I don’t—he’s not?—”
I raised both hands. “All I’m arguing is that he wanted nothing to do with us, but after you saved his life, he followed us to another realm and back and is committed to stay in Nethras when there is absolutely no need.
He volunteered to be a blood source from someone who I’m certain he still hates, at least a little bit, because it made your healing easier.
Cera is here now and has summoned any nearby Rhaean priestess who can assist in Tom’s recovery, so there’s truly no need for his help.
Fenix could go on his merry way, and yet, he’s dug in his heels.
You really don’t see the way he looks at you?
” Like she was the one who’d dug her hands in virgin soil and created the world.
Tana huffed, busying herself with straightening pillows and situating her packs again instead of addressing the obviousness of what Fenix felt for her.
I decided to let the subject lie. “Ah, so, I better get going.” I winced at the clumsy attempt at farewell.
A deep wrinkle remained between the light, arched brows on Tana’s face, but she pulled me into a quick, heavy embrace.
I wanted to linger, to hold her to me, but she stepped back before I could even fully hug her to me.
Before I turned, I blinked back tears, met her hard stare.
“I love you, Tana. Thank you, for everything.” I couldn’t leave without saying that, at least.
Something sorrowful filled the air, like weeping rain, but she closed her eyes and shook her head, as if clearing the coming storm. “I love you, too, Leenie. Be safe.”
The ringing of what hadn’t been said screamed in my ears, but I was grateful for this mutual declaration. That through it all, even with the way I’d leaned on her to the point of taking advantage, she still loved me.
I left the room when Tana rejected my offer of help with her packs. The Rhaestran guards would be here any moment to help move her things, she said, and I honored her wishes, going to Tomás’s room and announcing myself to him and Elián with a knock of knuckle on wood.
“Oh, fantastic, your co-conspirator,” I heard through the door. When I pushed it open, Tomás was dressed and sitting in the wheelchair, arms crossed in outrage.
Elián dragged his hand over his face, pulling at his cheeks and rolling his eyes at the same time. “For the last time. You are in no condition to come to the Well.”
“And what if the boy is in trouble? Danger? She can’t even set foot on the grounds, you dolt!”
El said nothing to that, tensing of the muscles in his neck revealing an agreement with that concern. There was some truth to Cera’s snide critique of my conviction to accompany Elián, but I liked to think of it as confidence.
“I made a vow, and I intend to do everything I can to keep it. I love him,” I pointed to Elián, “and The Shadows are important to him. Let alone the fact that Cal intends to do nothing but be an absolute terror at the expense of everyone involved. I’m going.”
Tomás gave me a flat look and huffed as he leaned further in his seat. “What a beautiful proclamation of love.” He winced, rubbing at his chest, and I saw the way Elián tensed. “This is bullshit. Balderdash .”
Instead of deigning his brother’s ranting with a response, El grasped the handles of Tomás’s chair and began steering him toward the door. At least the male had the good sense to not plant his heels into the floor.
Elián sent me a weak smile, and I returned it, communicating reassurance I wasn’t qualified to give.
I followed them both into the corridor, just as Cera came stomping around the corner.
Well, she glided while her guards stepped heavily behind her.
Like when she’d pulled the sickness from Elián’s brother, she was dressed in a mixture of gold and typical priestesswear.
This time, she overlayed her cream-colored ensemble with a purple shawl around her shoulders.
“These two rooms for now, please,” she directed to the guards who were a mixture of Lylithan, human, and elven, judging by their scents and the characteristic features I could see.
They wore identical armor, but the one who was taller than the rest, taller than even Elián, went for Tana’s room.
The human went for Tomás’s things, and the remaining guards stood at Cera’s back.
“We’ll have to return for the Vyrkos.” She rolled her eyes, even when Tana emerged with that blush still fierce.
“Have you heard anything else?”
Cera grimaced but kept her answer accordingly vague, for fear of nosy lodging house patrons. “Yes, and it’s…not encouraging. More silence from your siblings,” she nodded toward El and Tomás, “and tales of negotiations we weren’t yet privy to.”
Ice crackled over my spine. “Negotiations.”
The guards emerged from the now vacant rooms, carrying my cousin’s and Tomás’s things. Cera chewed at her lip. “We’re unsure of with whom aside from the separate conversations with Quen. But there’s been allusion to more.”
“For what?” Tana asked quietly yet loud enough for us to hear.
“‘Bolstering the Lylithan stronghold’,” Cera quoted, and my stomach dropped. Knowing how he governed Krisla, there was no doubt what such efforts would entail.
War.
“We must go,” Elián said, and I nodded resolutely.
First to the Shadow Well. And as our procession left the lodging house on Fair and Fortune, I suspected that my peace with Elián, in his Banfas apartment while we made a life together, was retreating further and further away like a receding wave.