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Evelina

Evelina didn’t cry often. She often buried her emotions deep within her heart and focused on what needed to be done. It was something she had long since learned to do as a healer. A patient needed her to be strong for them. If they were scared and in pain, she needed to be their rock so they remained calm while she tended to their wounds. She would put on her healer face and focus on the task at hand.

But the night Daimon was finally strong enough to go back to his own cabin, no longer in need of a healer to watch over him, she cried for hours. All the memories of them together before the war slammed into her. She had missed him—so much that it hurt every corner of her soul. Seeing him look so much like his old self flung the floodgates wide open. She cried herself to sleep, the memory of his soft laugh ringing in her ears.

The following morning wasn’t much better. Evelina’s eyes were puffy from crying, her throat sore .

She needed to pull herself together before Daimon got here. He was due any minute for a morning check-in to ensure his wound was still healing properly.

To busy her hands and soothe her racing thoughts, she made three cups of rhodiola tea. She ladled water from the melted snow bucket and poured it into a small kettle. Gloriana had already started the fire, the rhythmic crackle of it helping ease the tension in Evelina’s shoulders.

She’d meant to move over toward the herb shelf to do something productive, but she found herself staring into the fire, unable to look away. Her mind drifted to old memories, trying to reconcile the boy she once knew with the stone-faced soldier he had become.

It wasn’t until she found herself sipping the last dregs of her tea that she realized Daimon should’ve been here by now. She grabbed a satchel filled with tinctures and bandages, her pulse fluttering faster. She pushed open a creaking shutter next to the hearth, finding the sun had risen higher than she thought.

He was late—Damion, the soldier who seemed to stick to a strict routine and value order. She pushed through the front door of the cabin, the morning air crisp on her face.

Brielle was lacing a tear in a pair of her riding leathers outside of Alpha Fleet’s cabin. She looked up at Evelina as she approached, a soft smile on her face.

“Have you seen Daimon?” Evelina adjusted the strap on her shoulder, small jars clinking with the movement.

Brielle hiked her thumb over her shoulder, gesturing to the cabin behind her. “Hasn’t come out of his room yet.”

Evelina nodded, hesitating. She needed to check his wound. He likely needed extra sleep from the amount of healing his body had been doing, but it still made her breath hitch. She had to see for herself it wasn’t something more than that.

“Come on,” Brielle said, standing and brushing dirt from her legs. “Everyone else is up. Ranick and Elias are on morning patrol. ”

Even though it had been her goal all along, Evelina still paused a little too long before the door to the cabin. She had been closer to Daimon than ever here at the camp, but still. This was…closer.

She squeezed the strap on her satchel until her knuckles turned white. He’s a patient that just needs to be checked on , Evelina chided herself. There’s nothing to be nervous about.

Brielle grunted and Evelina startled, embarrassed. She took a deep breath, then followed her into the cabin.

It was cozier than it looked from the outside, the large and imposing Alpha Fleet cabin. The common room was decorated warmly with yellows and reds. While there were certainly aspects of any war room present—maps, strategy boards, weaponry—she was surprised to see it was far more like a home. Well-worn couches, books, games.

Aster was seated on a couch beside the front door, while Willow was sprawled out with her head in his lap. His focus was solely on a piece of parchment in his hands, while Willow was talking to Keir.

Willow and Keir’s gazes swung to where Evelina had stopped in the doorway, while Aster didn’t so much as glance up from his paper.

“Daimon was supposed to meet me for a check-in,” Evelina explained, wondering if she had overstepped by coming in.

Keir’s gaze traveled to a door opposite where Evelina was standing. “I’ll wake him. He’s had enough beauty sleep.”

Evelina smiled awkwardly, wondering if she should wait for him back at her cabin. But the healer side of her was impatient to see he was fine, so she stayed rooted at the entry.

Willow popped up, earning a small grunt from Aster even as his eyes stayed on the page. She squished into Aster’s side and patted the open spot beside her. “Come, sit while you wait.”

Evelina swallowed, feeling entirely out of place. But Willow’s smile was bright, showing off her high cheekbones and a small dimple in her right cheek .

“I can wait for him back at my cabin?—”

“She’s not going to stop asking until you sit,” Brielle said with a laugh, settling herself in a wooden rocking chair stuffed beside the couch.

“She really won’t,” Aster added, earning a smack on the shoulder from Willow. At this, he finally looked away from his paper. He smirked at her and she narrowed her eyes. But a playful smile tugged at her lips as he tucked a strand of hair behind her ear.

Evelina took a small step back and the floorboards creaked, catching Willow’s attention.

“Come on, Evelina.” Willow patted the seat again. “We won’t bite.”

Aster snorted a laugh and Willow shot him a look. He held his hands up with a smile before resuming his reading.

Evelina crossed the room and sat beside Willow, placing her satchel in her lap.

“Tell us, how did you become such a brilliant healer?” Willow asked, her eyes bright with expectation.

Warmth spread across Evelina’s cheeks. “Gloriana has been teaching me for years. I owe everything I know to her.”

“Can’t beat being a princess,” Aster muttered absentmindedly.

“It can, actually,” she said pointedly, earning a surprised titter from the cabin. “Being a healer is my life’s work.”

Aster held up his hands. “Beg forgiveness, Your Highness.”

His tone was hard to read, and a spell of tension hung in the air. Willow smacked his arm.

“By Eurydice, I just offended a Manor,” he said, his eyes widening. “I swear I was just teasing.”

Brielle cut in. “You’ll have to excuse us. We speak a little too casually to each other in the camp.”

Evelina’s chest squeezed. Then just as quickly the apprehension she was feeling dissipated. She huffed out a laugh. “No, don’t—I prefer it, actually. I hate the formalities. ”

A smile broke across Aster’s face.

“Being formal is boring anyway,” Willow added, waving her hand in the air. “It’s much more interesting to cause a little chaos.” She winked, her smile just as wide as Aster’s.

“Don’t think Keir or Daimon would appreciate that too much,” Evelina teased.

Aster snorted a laugh and leaned over to Willow. “I like her.”

They talked more, asking what it was like for Evelina at camp and telling stories of how they’d made it here, too. It was interesting hearing about the time when Daimon first left, when they were all just as new. Brielle wasn’t even a soldier when she was chosen, and instead had opted to be an ironsmith at the start of the war. Whenever one of them seemed a little melancholy thinking about the home they’d left behind, another would crack a joke to cheer them up. Evelina found herself grinning so hard her cheeks began to ache. She could get used to this—esteemed soldiers who would rather have fun than be too serious.

They were just about to rope Brielle into sharing when the door across the room clicked open and Keir stepped out.

“I’d rather wake a sleeping wyvern than him,” Keir grumbled. He shook his head and walked out of the cabin.

A sleepy-eyed, messy-haired, and shirtless Daimon stepped out of his room. He still had a bandage covering the wound, which likely wasn’t needed anymore. His trousers were slung low on his hips, showing off the rigid lines of his abdomen and the deep V that bracketed his lower stomach, tapering off and disappearing beneath his waistline.

Evelina’s mouth went dry as he stepped further into the room. He scratched his head and blinked a few times, as if not quite awake enough to focus on anything yet.

She hadn’t seen him so…normal since being here. His features were softer, more boyish.

“Why do I need to be here again, Keir?” He groaned and ran a hand over his face .

Then he saw her.

“Evelina?” His voice was husky, rough from sleep.

Evelina nodded, her entire body sparking to life. Her gaze drifted back down to his chest, to the old scars that marred his skin.

“Evelina?” he repeated slowly as he took a small step toward her.

Her gaze flew up to his. The corners of his mouth were tugging upward. She realized she still hadn’t answered him.

“I just need to check over your wound before you go out on a ride,” she squeaked.

“Where do you want me?”

Her entire body flushed. She didn’t know how to talk to him, let alone be teased by him. And based on the gleam in his eye, he was teasing her.

She cleared her throat and said, “Standing will be easiest so I can remove the bandage.”

As soon as Evelina stood, Willow stretched back out on the couch and Aster abandoned his reading to run his hands through Willow’s hair. Brielle swiped the parchment from Aster’s free hand and leaned back in her chair to look it over.

There was something about being among this tight-knit group that made Evelina want to stop being so closed off around them—to get to know them more. While her stomach had been twisted with nerves a few minutes ago, it was beginning to relax bit by bit.

She walked over to Daimon, keeping her eyes on his.

“I’ll just need to remove the bandage and then I can have a look, okay?” she whispered. She didn’t know why her voice came out so quiet, but what she did know was that she could feel the heat radiating from his bare chest.

He nodded and watched her as she got to work. They didn’t speak as she took the cloth off, and still nothing was said as she looked over the wound. She rifled through her satchel until she found the numbing salve she was looking for .

“This will help with any lingering pain.” The moment her fingers touched his skin, she felt a rush of heat splash across her face again. Beneath the mostly healed wound, she could feel the hardness of his stomach, the warmth of his skin. She swallowed and focused on her task.

“Thank you,” he whispered. Her gaze flicked up to his, and his midnight eyes brightened to a lighter shade of blue.

Aster, Willow, and Brielle talked behind them, their laughter filling the room.

“You have a good group of soldiers surrounding you.” Evelina kept her voice low, as if sharing a secret.

“My family,” he said softly, his attention drifting to the Riders behind them. “Years of training together, living under the same roof, and losing soldiers you’ve called friends for a decade will do that.”

Evelina nodded, her gaze falling back to Daimon’s abdomen to work on rubbing the numbing salve in. “You’ve built a good life here.”

Her words didn’t have any bite to them; they were soft—almost sad. He really had built a good life here, albeit a life without her. Her eyes stung as tears gathered, blurring her vision. She kept her gaze fixed on his wound, but she could’ve sworn she felt the ghost of his fingertips graze her cheek.

She finished the last of the salve quickly and handed him the jar when she was finished.

“Eve—”

“Apply once a day—preferably in the morning.”

Her eyes finally met his and she found his cheeks tinted pink too. Something was beginning to settle between them—an understanding. Here, she could be the fleet’s healer and he could be the soldier who needed her.

But she didn’t want to be anything more than the Daimon and Eve they used to be—children who had died the day the war began. Seeing the life he’d lived here gave her relief as much as it gave her pain .

He was able to be happy without her, she realized. So why hadn’t she been able to do the same?

“Have a safe flight,” she said breathlessly, stepping away. She rushed past the Riders without a word, even as they called out.

Daimon had a life here without her—hadn’t suffered the way she had. It only proved to her how one-sided her feelings had always been.

Resolved, she swallowed her emotions for him down for what she hoped was the final time.