“Where are you going?” Nyssa asked.
“Find Lex. Make sure she’s okay.”
Aydra gave Dorian one more ruffle of his hair and kissed Nyssa’s temple hard before turning and practically running out of the box. She skipped down the steps towards the tunnel, hoping to catch her Second before she went too far.
Lex was leaning against the wall, clutching at her chest as she tried to regain her breath. She did a double-take upon seeing Aydra approach, and a smile spread over her face. “You were worried,” she mocked.
“I wasn’t,” Aydra argued.
“Sending your raven to screech over my head says otherwise,” Lex grinned.
Aydra nearly laughed as she reached her. The scratch on Lex’s face was gaped open, but blood did not trickle from her insides. A look of fire poured from inside the wound, black ash around it like molten rock. Aydra reached out and took the sword from Lex’s hands, pushing it into her belt. She helped her take her shoulder pads off, and then she draped them across her own forearm.
As Lex straightened and finally regained her breath, Aydra wrapped an arm around her. “Come along, my Sun. I’ll make you food myself.”
“Should we wait on Corbin?” Lex asked.
Aydra glanced at the deteriorating battle going on still in the stadium. “Dorian can make his own Second victory food. I’m making my best friend a meal.”
“So raw carrots in bone broth?”
Aydra glared at her. “No,” she argued. “Thought I would try a Venari recipe. One of Balandria’s. Maybe I won’t burn them.”
Lex snorted.
“Shut up.”
CHAPTER FORTY-FOUR
IT WAS THE next Council meeting before she heard from Draven again.
The big Council meeting.
Every race from Haerland convened in one castle.
They’d even asked that the High Elders from the Blackhand mountains join them, as well as sent invitations to the Honest people instead of her simply hoping Draven would bring him.
Her nerves were already getting the best of her, and after not hearing from Draven, she was more than concerned about him simply not wanting to be with her. She worried for the peace they’d come to share, whether he would treat her as his equal as he’d done before or if a feud would start over dinner.
Aydra wondered if perhaps he’d decided to let her go.
Her stomach was in knots as the day of his arrival came. She hugged her arms around her chest and stared out of the window on that morn, desperate to see him come in on horseback.
“You’re being ludicrous,” Lex said, lying on Aydra’s bed and popping grapes into her mouth. “Draven isn’t stupid.”
Aydra frowned back at her. “What do you mean?”
“I mean, no man ever gets to know you, enjoys your company, and then runs away from you,” Lex replied.
“They do if they’re scared,” Aydra argued.
Lex huffed amusedly and shook her head. “This is the Venari King… Your match. Your equal. Your death of moons in the Noctuans’ eyes,” she said dramatically with a roll of her eyes. “I highly doubt you could scare him.”
Aydra raised a brow at her, and Lex chuckled.
“Right, okay, maybe you could scare him a bit, but—”
The door opened, and in walked Bard, his hands pushed behind his back. Lex sat up, and Aydra frowned from the window.
