Dorian’s face was pale. Draven’s eyes narrowed down at the young prince upon parting from him.
“What’s wrong?” Draven asked.
Dorian did a double-take just as he saw someone over Draven’s shoulder, and Draven turned to find Rhaif coming towards them, his purple cloak billowing out behind him.
“Tell you later,” Dorian mumbled as he pushed open the door.
Draven fell in behind him and took his seat at the quiet table. Dorian joined Nyssa at the back of the room, where he said something to her and her eyes widened. The air was thick with an energy that made him weary. The Council spoke in hushed tones around him. The doors opened once more. Rhaif came striding in, the rest of the table standing for him, and Draven felt his eyes narrow as he saw Rhaif’s face more clearly.
His nose seemed slightly off center, but there was no bruise. His bottom lip was red as though it had recently been healed of a deep scratch. There were red markings on his cheeks and forehead.
Rhaif snapped his finger and pointed at the chair Aydra usually sat at. A Belwark came forward and took the chair. Draven felt his fists clench.
“Will the Queen not be joining us?” Ash asked.
“Ah—” Rhaif took his seat and clasped his hands together atop the table. “My sister is feeling a bit under the weather today. She sends her regards. Not to worry, though. She’ll be at the meeting with the Nitesh at the end of the week.”
Draven’s eyes flickered to Dorian’s at the back of the room, and Dorian shook his head.
“I do thank you all for coming days earlier for her. We have much to discuss before she arrives. I’d like to make sure we are all on the same page.” Rhaif leaned forward and clasped his hands above the table.
“We have also requested for the Elders of the Blackhand Mountains to join us, and I have received word that the leaders of the Honest army, as well as Lovi Piathos, will also be arriving.” His gaze flickered to Draven, and Draven watched his jaw tighten just slightly as he shifted in his seat. “This meeting… It will be a celebration of our uniting lands. Every race of Haerland in one room. This is what we have planned for.”
For much of the meeting, Draven sat there in a haze, his mind unable to concentrate on anything. He tapped his middle finger on the table the entire time, itching to get away from the fake laughs emitting from Rhaif’s lips.
When Rhaif finally stood from his seat and announced they would retire for dinner, Draven started to leave the room without a glance back at the staring Council.
An arm grabbed him as he reached the door, and he nearly ran into it at the strength in which the person held him back.
Lex’s green eyes tore through him.
He paused and straightened in front of her. “Where is she?”
“She’s okay,” Lex promised. “Do not go bursting in as though you are there to save her.”
Draven’s jaw clenched, and he took a deep breath. His hand ran through his hair and he took the crown off his head. “Right,” he finally breathed. “Why was she not here?” he asked.
Lex’s eyes darted to Rhaif, and her weight shifted as she turned back to him. “That is not my place to say.”
“Hilexi…”
“Using my full name will get you no further to the truth of it,” she assured him. “Evacuate the urgency from your core. She needs her equal. Not her savior.”
CHAPTER FORTY-FIVE
AYDRA WATCHED THE sun go down from beneath the poisoned waters of the tub. For a long while, she wondered what lie Rhaif had made up about her not being there. She wondered what Lex had told Draven, and whether he’d cared that she wasn’t there.
It had been Dorian who had helped her raven bring the water up to her tub after the fight that morning. The look on his face made Aydra’s heart weep every time she met his eyes.
“You shouldn’t see me like this,” she told him. “I am fine. Go to the meeting.”
“You shouldn’tbelike this,” he argued. “I don’t understand—”
“No, you don’t,” Aydra insisted. She met his stark blue eyes, and she reached out for his hand. “Promise me you’ll always support your sister. No matter if she ever does anything stupid or anything the Council may deem ‘out of turn’. Promise me you’ll always stand at her side.”
He wrapped his hand around hers and reached out to wipe the burn on her cheek with his thumb. “I promise.”
She made Dorian leave her soon after, and she surrendered her body to the pin-needle healing of her mother’s waters.
