Melody replied, “I’d wanted to show Tio all my usual places, but being escorted by guardsmen and a castle carriage hindered my usual experience. People like to gather and gawk.”
“Mm.” My brows flashed upward, a bit of disappointment setting in. “I’m sorry.”
“Don’t be,” Melody said, donning that beautiful, bright smile.
“You didn’t offer him an invitation to afternoon tea, did you? I’ll have to insist that ismyquality time slot,” I said, partially joking.
Someone not as close to her wouldn’t have noticed the fractional falter in her next smile, one that didn’t quite reach her eyes.
“What is it?”
She looked down at the space between her and Tio’s chair, to where I assumed their hands were linked, before steadily lifting to peer at me again. “I’m afraid I won’t be at tea this afternoon.”
“Oh.” I exhaled with relief. I almost thought she was gearing up to say something—
“Because I’m leaving.”
I nearly swayed. “Leaving? Why? Where?” An aching absence already started hollowing my nerves.
Mel leaned forward, extending her hand palm up and resting it on the table between us. I grabbed it, somehow hoping if I held on, what she said would no longer remain true.
“I know it’s sudden, but…” She squeezed my hand as a small smile laced with determination settled across her beautiful lips. “I’ve decided to return to Rahana. There, I’ll practice my magic and see if I can master it. Put it to use in ways that will mean something other than parlor tricks.”
I tightened my grip. “You can’t practice here?” Desperation laced my reply, but I didn’t care. Deep down, I already knew there was nothing to be done. Something sparkled in her eyes and it let me know she’d chosen her path.
“If you need me to stay, Nora, I will,” she conceded. Her grip on my hand weakened and her pang of defeat zapped through me as alarmingly as a bolt of lightning.
My self desires caught fire and burned to ash. “No. I want you to go.” For her sake, not mine. I’d burn the world down for Melody, and I sure as hell wouldn’t be the reason her soul silently suffocated behind these royal walls. I knew the feeling of a call to action stirring beneath the skin.
A hint of pride spilled over my hesitation to see Mel reaching toward something for herself. I placed my other hand on top of ours, fighting back the warmth churning behind my eyes. “We’ll have to send you with some tea.”
She laughed. I noted the relief that washed over her from my blessing, and a jab of guilt cut into me. Had she been worried I’d say no? That I’d try to stop her? I supposed I had at first hearing it, and shame ripped through me. We would never go back to that place where I underestimated her, where I made assumptions about her capabilities in the world.
“I’ll watch over her,” Tio added, like he could see my heart splitting in two.
I dragged my gaze to his, staring at the man who now held my sister’s well-being in his hands. It was the way she looked at him with bright eyes that had my shoulders easing from their rigid pose.
“We’ll hold you to that,” Nicholas said from beside me as he returned from the kitchen, his voice deeper and filled with more menacing promise than I’d heard in a while. I should have chided his tone, but a selfish part of me supported it.
Instead, I cleared the rising lump in my throat and asked, “When do you leave?”
Melody stiffened before she replied, preparing to drop the last piece of information I’d have to digest. “After lunch.”
21
Mira
We arrived in Solei, and not a moment too soon. Our supplies had severely dwindled by the final day, and to help fight off the nausea that accompanied me daily, I needed to be snacking constantly. Dante remained in his human form to make a good first impression with the new village neighbors.
The existing citizens of this town had been informed that some of our traveling party might look a bit different, but Dante chose to air on the side of caution. Despite permission to settle in, success would be dictated by the residents ability to acclimate to us being here.
Several homes along one street had long been vacated, but nobody complained about the accumulated dirt and dust when they finally had a place to rest their tired, travel-worn bodies.
Once the children and their caregivers found roofs for the time being, Dante addressed the woman in charge of organizing our living quarters, “My wife is with child. She’s in need of private quarters, somewhere away from the noise as we settle. She’ll need to rest and have frequent meals.”
“Dante,” I scolded beneath a whisper. We were in no place to demand anything, not when establishing positive relations was vital for a successful transition.
“It’s fine,” the middle-aged woman insisted, wearing a smile that lacked any judgment from his abrasive pushiness. “I’m well aware of the trials being young and pregnant entails. Is this your first?”
