“I find it admirable, too.” Kaine smiled. “You’re living your life freely. You had no problems at all telling me as soon as we met. But I never would have told you if you hadn’t said something first.” He looked away. “You’re a lot more honest than me.”
Ysabel cleared her throat. “Love, don’t be hard on yourself. You haven’t had the luxury of being honest because you lived a fair bit of your life surrounded by people who wouldn’t let you. In the early days, a large portion of your army wouldn’t have followed you over something as stupid as what was inside your pants. Even now, a lot of your followers would find it hard to accept. When you’re surrounded by hostile neighboring kingdoms, you don’t have the luxury of not caring about a potential internal rebellion.”
Ari nodded. “That’s very true. I’m lucky in many ways. I was born noble. I was born to a pair of very understanding parents, who let me dress and act however I pleased growing up, and who had the power to stop anyone who mocked me or looked down on me. My life would have been very different if I hadn’t been born lucky, and I know it. I would never look down on you for facing different choices than I did.”
Kaine sniffled. “That means a lot to me.” He brushed a tear from his eye. Ysabel put a hand on top of his and squeezed. He immediately flung his arms around her and hugged her.
“It goes without saying, but everything you tell me in this room, I will keep in strict confidence,” Ari said.
“Right, I should have asked you to keep it secret before I opened my mouth.” Kaine shrugged. “I’ve never much cared about the opinions of people I don’t care about, but I’m too busy rebuilding Conolliato deal with even more fights. If people found out that it’s possible to steal my powers by overcoming my will, they’d know I could be replaced, then—”
Ysabel clamped a hand over Kaine’s mouth. “Stop talking.”
“Everything in this room is a secret,” he protested, muffled.
“That doesn’t mean you can blurt out anything!” She put the former dark lord into a headlock.
The price of Kaine’s gift related to overcoming his will? This was highly confidential information. No wonder my sister had turned red from fury. I would do everything in my power to forget about this just in case I ever met a mind reader.
Politely pretending he hadn’t heard an international secret, Ari asked, “Is it my turn to ask you a question, Bora?”
I flushed under his stare. “Oh! Sure!”
“Do you prefer me as Ari or Araceli?”
I nearly said that I liked both equally. But something in Ari’s wistful gaze told me that this question was very important to him. I shouldn’t take it lightly or toss off a kind but insincere answer. So I took a moment to think deeply.
And the conclusion I came to was that I liked both equally. “Honestly, I can’t imagine you without both sides to yourself. They’re both you. I like how you switch between them. I can’t possibly pick one I like more than the other, because you’re always still you.”
“Oh,” Ari breathed. Very slowly, he reached across the table to cup my chin. It felt like we were the only two people in the room.
Except, of course, we weren’t. Kaine slammed his hands down on the table, rattling the dishes. “Oops, I forgot! I was supposed to threaten you because Bora likes you. You seem like a great guy, so it’s probably not necessary, but don’t ever hurt her on purpose. If you hit her, you’re dead. Good talk.” He grinned contentedly and reached for a drumstick.
If my face got any hotter, I’d be able to fry an egg on it. “Yzzy …” I growled.
Ysabel chuckled. “Don’t look at me. It was entirely his idea. I couldn’t talk him out of it if I tried, though I admit I didn’t. My babysister deserves a few proper older-sibling threats. Ari, you should be more afraid of me than you are of Kaine. He’d only kill you. I’d make yousufferandrotbefore you died.”
“You’re embarrassing me,” I groaned, hiding my face in my hands. I didn’t dare look at Ari. I might die. One more word from my sister and I was about to scream so loud, my pronouns would be ban/shee.
Ari frowned. “You’re wrong. Bora likes someone else, not me.”
I did? I ventured to peek between my fingers. Ari’s downcast eyes looked sad. Sweet Sun God. I hadn’t thought he would ever … toward me … I mean, I’d wondered when he’d asked, but I had told myself not to get my hopes up.
Head in her hand, Ysabel smirked. “I won’t upset my little sis by sticking my nose in further. But as one last free piece of advice: Look at her face.”
Ari turned his neck. Our eyes met. He turned so red that his freckles vanished.
While we were both sputtering, Ysabel said cheerfully, “You should serve yourself before Kaine eats everything.”
The rest of dinner passed in a less dramatic way. Kaine and Ari exchanged stories. I filled Ysabel in on what had been happening at home, telling her that Benoni hadn’t dealt with any bullying lately and had made a few friends. I was avoiding talking directly to Ari, and I knew it. My heart couldn’t stop hammering.
Ysabel raised a hand to touch her forehead. “No dessert for me tonight. Please enjoy yourselves without me.”
Kaine was on his feet in a heartbeat. “You’re not feeling well?”
“Just a headache,” she mumbled. “My back hurts, too. No more than the usual pregnancy symptoms. I’m fine.”
Kaine put an arm around her shoulders. “I’ll take you back to our room. Then I’ll give you a massage.”
