I want to scream yes. I could even send someone to get her here faster. But who could I even trust to send? And her father is just now off her back about coming to see me after the announcement… It would be too selfish.
Selfish.A term I am becoming accustomed to. Selfish to run. Selfish for pulling Cillian into this. Selfish for wanting my best friend…
I sit down on the edge of the bed and rub and hand down my face. “No.” I try to add some strength to the word. I almost add,I’m fine,but she is the one person who would see through it.
Cillian would see through it too.
I swallow, shoving away the invasive thought. I clear my throat, and repeat, “No,” more for myself than her. “I just needed to talk.”
“I’m here.”
I sigh out a small amount of the pressure in my chest. Sheishere and always has been. Through the good and the bad. We have had each other’s back and supported each other even when the other couldn’t find the words.
“I went to Varethiel today to meet their prince and royal council.”
“Oooo, is he—” She breaks off abruptly. “Nope, nope, nope,” she chants. “Not asking that. Go on.”
I can’t help releasing a small chuckle. The familiarity of it provides comfort, and I relax a little more into the bed.
“Yes, he is quite attractive,” I answer her unasked question. “And very” —I search for the word to describe my encounter with Aiden—“attentive.”
She lets out a slow sigh. “You’re making this very difficult to not take this conversation down the wrong path. What does that mean? Attentive?”
“I don’t know. He was almost protective in an ‘I don’t care about you’ kind of way,” I say slowly, trying to work it out in my head.
“You suck at this. Just tell me what happened.”
I give her a quick recap.
“He sounds broody and dangerous—I love it! Little Nissa who avoids all attention now has three sexy males trying to catch her eye. How very slutty of you! Tell me you’re putting at least one of them to good use.”
My mind flashes to Cillian, my magic’s reaction to him and how it took everything in my body to not take him up on his words right then and there in my study. I shake the thought away with the reminder of Isolde’s warning.
“That’s the thing… Aiden didn’t actually seem interested in me. Just very curious and oddly… protective. But that isn’t why I wisped you.”
“That isn’t an answer,” she grumbles under her breath.
I dive into every detail of my run in with the old witch and everything she said. Waiting on a response, I fidget with my dress. I stick my hand into my pocket and feel the sliver of paper still there.
The instructions that Aiden left me. The instructions that could give me the way out that I need. It could be a trap, but if I can just use it to get to Varethiel without anyone knowing, then I could use their portals to leave. It’s a risk, but the best solution so far.
You could leave now.
The voice is back in my head. I thumb the small piece of paper, and my magic goes still in my veins at the thought. While part of me feels like I need to protect Cillian from myself, there are still too many unanswered questions for me to run. I can’t leave—yet. But now I know how to get out when I can.
“I don’t even know where to start asking questions.” Ophe finally says once I’m done.
“I probably won’t know the answers anyway. Each time I find more information, it feels like the Goddess throws something else at me.”
“Could Aiden’s protectiveness have something to do with whatever the witch is talking about? Do you think he’s worried about the Vaylors hurting you if you find out something?”
It is one of the many things that has taken root in my mind since being pulled through the streets of Varethiel. Could Aiden be the good guy in all this?
“I don’t think the Vaylors plan to hurt me. They need me for Caspien’s coronation with Nova gone… But they’re hiding something. We can’t trust them.” I nod to myself. “Except Caspien, if we’re to believe the witch.”
“Do we believe the witch?” Ophe muses. “I’m not brushed up on knowledge of the witches and their level of trustworthiness.”
“Isolde insists they’re notorious for manipulating and twisting words. I’m going to check on that. But something is obviously going on, and I do feel like I’m being lied to. I’ve felt that way since the day Nova died.” I just didn’t feel likeCillianwas lying to me.
