“You didn’t want to go to the forest for this turn?” Nyssa asked her.
The thought made Aydra’s stomach knot. “Not this time.”
Nyssa rolled over to her stomach then, and began to play in Aydra’s hair. “You seem… not yourself these last couple of weeks,” she said, avoiding Aydra’s gaze.
Aydra’s heart skipped. “What do you mean?”
“I mean… You were you, and then there was a few weeks when you were a lot happier, and now these last couple of weeks… I’m—I’m not sure. You seem sort of… sad.”
Aydra had thought herself well at hiding the things her core dared not show even herself. “Blame it on the pressures of the kingdom,” she sighed, giving her sister a forced smile.
A small smirk rose on Nyssa’s lips at her sister’s lie. “You know, Dorian told me a secret. He said you met someone.”
Aydra’s lips pressed together thinly. “Dorian exaggerates,” she mumbled. “Besides, it doesn’t matter. He and I had a fight. It’s over. I don’t know that he’ll ever want to speak with me again.”
“I doubt that’s true,” Nyssa argued. “It’s you.”
Aydra sighed and settled back onto the blanket they’d brought with them. Nyssa sank back down beside her, and Aydra wrapped an arm around her shoulders.
They fell asleep talking about the stars that night.
The week before the great meeting came the Belwark Trial day.
Lex had been excited about it for weeks, training with Dorian and Aydra on their downtime to keep her skills sharp. She wasn’t expected to participate, but she’d volunteered to be one of the opponents Belwarks would fight to climb in their ranks. She and Rhaif’s Second, Bard, were, after all, the fiercest fighters in the kingdom. If any lower ranked Belwark could take either, they would be put forth as contenders for the prince or princess to choose as their Seconds.
There were ten fighting for the role of Dorian’s Second that day.
Lex was already standing outside Aydra’s door when she was ready. Aydra’s hair was braided back on one side, the gold of her crown sitting in the thickness of her curls. She’d picked an outfit the day before that she felt represented her own Second well— thigh-high lace-up black boots, a fitted sheath dress that hugged her curves and landed just above the boots on her thighs, leather braces and small belts wrapped around her waist, and a garter to hold up the thick cotton stockings above her boots. Her black leather belt hung low on her hips— her sword dangling against her exposed thigh. The matching cotton arm sleeves pulled from over her hands up to the inner of her biceps. She’d found a single shoulder pad, adorned with spikes. The long black cape billowed behind her when she walked.
“Well, well,” Lex said, brows raised as she pushed off the wall, “Didn’t realize you were competing as well,” she added with a wink.
Aydra forced a smirk to the surface from inside her depleting core. “Thought I would show my support for my favorite person, let the greenhorns know who they’re truly challenging today.” She reached out, stroking her finger on the pointed winged shoulder pads Lex adorned on her shoulders. “I do love these.”
Lex smiled at her. “As do I.”
Nyssa met them on the next hall, and Lex and Aydra both stopped in their tracks upon seeing her. She was wearing knee high boots with buckles, slim navy pants, a brown corset wrapped tight around her petite waist above her hips, creating a silhouette Aydra had rarely seen on her sister. The navy shirt she wore sat off her shoulders, dark brown fur along the trim, long snug sleeves wrapped with small brown belts around her arms. Her sword dangled on her hip as Aydra’s did. Her hair was pulled halfway up, tiny braids on either side of her head. Her thick sideways bangs swept over her left eye, and she was adjusting buckle on her arm when she saw them.
Nyssa’s cheeks reddened upon catching their eyes, and she shifted the weight on her feet. “It’s too much, isn’t it?” she asked shakily.
Aydra’s eyes traveled over her sister’s attire, feeling a smile rise on her face. “Did you pick this out or Dorian?” she asked.
Nyssa fumbled with her sleeve, avoiding Aydra’s gaze. “I did.”
Aydra stepped forward. “I love it.”
Nyssa’s honey orbs lit up, and her chest swelled with a great inhale. Aydra ran her hand through Nyssa’s hair, giving it a fluff over her shoulders and taming the strays that had fallen out of her braids. She reached for Nyssa’s black and gold tiara, straightening it in her thick cinnamon hair.
“Chin up, shoulders back,” Aydra told her. “Don’t let them see you fumble or blush. Everything you do is on purpose. If you trip, you meant to. If you stumble on words, you meant to. You are their next Queen. Make them remember it.”
Nyssa swallowed hard and gave her a deliberate nod. “Right,” she managed.
“Just channel your inner Aydra,” Lex said with a wink as she came to stand beside them.
Aydra’s brows narrowed back at her. “What does that mean?”
Lex smirked down at Nyssa, and Nyssa grinned a grin Aydra hardly recognized.
Aydra’s eyes darted between them. “I leave you two alone for ten days and suddenly you’ve inside jokes,” she mocked.
