"Don't look at them if it causes you pain." He sighed. "Here, I worked a little magic with the drink. It should be sweeter now." He passed the bottle to Nymiria, watching her with a smirk as she lifted the bottle to her lips and took an uneasy sip.
While the fire was still there, lingering amongst the sweetness of the drink, it went down much smoother than the last sip of absinthe she'd taken. Nymiria liked the warmth it brought her aching heart and with a sigh, she turned the bottle up to her lips again and took a longer swallow.
Trio let out a boisterous laugh, snatching the bottle out of her hands and narrowing his eyes at her. "Easy, now. It's still just as potent as before. Aziel would murder me if I returned you to him unconscious."
Nymiria frowned at the sound of his name, muttering curses at him under her breath before looking at Trio. "I don't understand him. I don't see why it would matter what I do, but he's so very overprotective and for what? Just so he can string me along on his missions?"
"I'm afraid it is all much more complex than that, princess." Trio huffed, passing her the bottle again. "You mean something to him—to all of us. But, to him, it is something…"
"Deeper?" She snorted. "Of course. I'm quite aware that he wants to fuck me—"
"It's not that, but I can't say much else. As much as I would love to, I have been sworn to secrecy."
How convenient.
The closer she got to getting answers about all of this, something always stopped her. She had a feeling about why Aziel was going to such lengths to have her here. She'd felt it the day they passed through the choking vines. And though she'd tried to deny it, there was no other way to explain what she felt when they parted for her—like they recognized somethinginside of her.
She was just afraid of what it entailed should she come to terms with what really lurked in the depths of her power.
"I don't understand why he doesn't just come here and escape the hell back in Yaar." She grumbled. "His own father wants him dead and it seems as if the only people that truly care for him in that palace are Desi and Oran. Maybe Philter, a little, but he also tried to kill him once. Why does he stay?"
Trio pursed his lips, eyes trailing off to the horizon. "Why do you think he keeps going back?" He hummed. "My love, Aziel was supposed to be here by now. He was supposed to come to Eadyn two months ago, but he never did.”
"Eadyn? What's that?"
He waved his hand across the line of hills in front of them. "This is Eadyn. They renamed it—the king and his son."
Nymiria looked around at all of the beautiful things that surrounded them. From the pink blossoming trees to the the shimmering waters that ran through the field. She couldn’t understand his delay—what would have made someone abandon something so beautiful in exchange for the hell they lived in over the border.
“What changed his mind?” She asked.
Trio stared at her for a moment, watching as she wove her fingers through the dark green grass. “You did.” He said.
“Me?” Her head snapped back in his direction, brows drawn together. She could’ve laughed. She could’ve cried. She could’ve done a lot of things. Instead, she just shook her head and looked away. “There is nothing significant enough about me to make anyone want to stay there.”
Trio only hummed beside her. “Desiree would disagree. Aziel would, too.” He laughed, but Nymiria couldn’t find it in her to join in.
She’d been too blinded by her own self-pity to realize that there was still someone who cared. Someone who cared enough to stay in Yaar, put themselves at risk of Dorid’s torment… and they did it for her.She owed Desiree one hell ofan apology and probably a thousand dragon berry tarts. She also owed it to her to not be so damned selfish.
And Aziel…
Well, she wasn’t quite sure what she owed him.
“Can you tell me a secret about him? Something that no one knows.”
“Who?”
Nymiria shot him a bland look, rolling her eyes. “Aziel. Tell me something about him that would shock me. Something he likes or does. If he sleeps with a stuffy or a special blanket—something along those lines.”
“Oh,” Trio drawled. He reclined onto the grassy knoll, eyes solely focused on the stars. “You’re really trying to get me killed.”
“I won’t tell him that you told me.”
He let out a sigh, glancing at her once before peering up at the stars again. Nymiria took the bottle of absinthe away from him, figuring that she could just get this one bit of information out of him andthendeny him of drinking more. She turned it up to her lips, taking one small sip.
“Alright.” He grumbled. “A secret for a secret, then. You’ll have to tell me something, too.”
She nodded. “I agree to those terms.”
