“I think they know who to expect this many minutes past the hour by now,” she uttered. She raised a brow at the staring faces around her, and every member quickly rose to their feet—all except one.
“Sister!” her brother, Rhaif, announced upon rising from his own chair. She could see the annoyance written in his dark eyes as he crossed the room towards her, his dark burnet cloak billowing behind him, the noise of his shoes echoing off the floor. He’d pushed his navy black hair back to one side, allowing his curly bangs the liberty to fall over his left hazel eye, the golden crown on his head standing out against the dark of his hair. One look over him and she knew she was not the only one who had gone swimming that morning. His natural golden skin glistened in the firelight.
“My dear sister—” he clasped her face tightly in his hands and brought her towards him, kissing her cheek in a manner than made her cringe “—what are you wearing?” he suddenly hissed in her ear. “I left you—”
“Did you have fun on the beach today, brother?” she mused, ignoring him as she acknowledged a few of the Nobles in the room with smiles and small fluttering waves of her fingers. “Your skin is positively glowing.”
He wrenched her arm down from her insistent waving and glared over her, his gaze daring to tear through her to her core. “Youembarrassus before our people,” he whispered.
Her nostrils flared as she finally met his gaze. “Why? Because I choose to embrace who I am instead of hiding it?”
“And you—” he turned his attention to Lex as though Aydra had not spoken “—you encourage it!”
“You mean do I encourage my Queen not to shove her desires down into her core and instead wear it as she should be allowed to? Yes. I do encourage it,” Lex replied, her stature towering over the king’s.
One of the men at the table cleared their throat, and Rhaif turned back around and gave the Council member a smile. “Ah. Back to where we were, of course.” He linked his arm around Aydra’s shoulder and squeezed it as he led her to the table. “Sister, join us,” he said as he pulled out the chair beside him.
She took her seat, and without meaning to, met the eyes of the one person who had not stood up upon her arrival. The man sitting directly across from her at the other end of the twenty person table.
Venari King and Alpha, Draven Greenwood.
King of Noctuans, born beneath the cursed fated tree: Duarb Fatum Infinari.
Ruler of the southern realms.
Her enemy King.
The man whom the Chronicles say’s giver had once tried to ensnare Aydra’s own giver, Arbina Promregis Amaris, into a slave relationship. The man who’s only reason for even being at that table and invited to their kingdom was because of a deal struck between previous kings, King Stephan of the Promised and the Venari King Bailnor a hundred years earlier. A deal that said the Venari King would never have to kneel before the Promised throne so long as he kept to his own realm and swore to protect the south while the Promised kept to their own in the northwest.
Their races’ trust in one another had never recovered even after such a deal was struck, and the enemy hatred between them stirred at the surface of the room during every meeting.
Draven stared mockingly at her beneath the black and ivory boned crown sitting over his thick shoulder-length walnut and light brown streaked hair. He leaned back in his chair, his leg thrown lazily up over the side of the arms of the chair as though he were lounging in his own home. His hooded sage eyes were cold as they stared back at her, as though he were perturbed by the fact that she’d been late and thus extended the time in which it would take to get this meeting over with.
Aydra zoned out as her brother began discussing the crops coming in from the Village of Dreams. Her gaze darted around the room, until finally landing on the young prince and princess standing at the back of the room. She gave her sister a wink and a small smile, to which the princess chuckled under her breath.
“—of the precautions you’re taking for the next Dead Moons,” she heard her brother say.
Her attention averted to Draven as he moved his leg off the side of the chair and leaned forward, the snug black cotton tunic and leather vest he wore tightening around his rippled muscles. He cracked his neck and his gaze flickered around the faces in the room.
“Precautions?” he repeated in his low, raspy voice, a sharp brow raising on his forehead.
“You remember what happened during the last,” Rhaif continued. “Half the Village’s sheep were taken.”
“Then perhaps you’d better instruct your hunting parties to back down on how many deer they take in the next month,” Draven smarted as his long hair fell over his shoulders.
“You’ll learn to control the whereabouts of these creatures, Venari,” Rhaif growled.
Aydra snorted.
The entire room stared at her.
She huffed amusedly and shook her head, staring at her brother. “You cannot be serious,” she laughed. “Venari control where the Noctuans hunt? They are wild animals, not pets.”
“I cannot believe I am saying this, but…” the annoyed twinge in Draven’s taut jaw was apparent “—your sister is right,” he finally managed. “They are wild animals. To contain them to the forest, you would have to ask the Nitesh place one more curse on their heads.”
“She is due to arrive at one of our near meetings,” Rhaif said. “Perhaps we will.”
Draven’s nostrils flared. “The only reason they leave the Forest to begin with is if they cannot find food,” he said slowly. “They would not risk going so far from the darkness and chance being caught out in sunlight if their hunts were plentiful. Halt your parties from going inside the Forest until after this cycle. Give the forest a chance to be inviting to them again.”
