It was hours after that she found herself staring out of the window at the shining moons, her black silk robe wrapped around her healing body. Her core felt emptier than it had in a long time. As though a part of her had been ripped from her insides.
The door opened and closed just as she wiped the tears from her face. Aydra barely turned from the window, expecting it to be Lex coming back with news from the meeting.
“I didn’t think you’d be here so soon,” she said as she stared out at the ocean. “What happened? Did my brother not go on and on about the sheep this time?”
“Oh, he did,” said the voice not of Lex’s. “Wouldn’t shut up about the quality of the wool not being great enough for the coming winter.”
Her heart skipped at the sound of his voice. She turned, finding Draven holding one of the trinkets on the table by the door, turning it over in his hand with squinted eyes. Her chest began to heave, and she felt an ache for him that made a smile rise on her lips.
“It’s not like you people really need heavy wool around here,” he continued absentmindedly. “Your winters are no more horrid than—” he did a double-take at her, and she realized she was smiling.
“What?” he asked.
A jagged breath left her and she shook her head. “Nothing, it’s just…” she swallowed hard and felt her breath skip, her eyes glisten. “You’re standing there talking about wool as though… “ she bit her lips together, and his brows narrowed just slightly. “As though the last we saw each other, I wasn’t… we weren’t…”
“Fighting?” he finished for her. His weight shifted and he sat the trinket back down. “Aydra, if you think you can scare me away by sharing with me the darkest parts of your core, then you’re going to have to do a lot better than being fearful of a boring life.”
“Like what?”
He shoved his hands in his pockets and gave her a full once over. “Like telling me you feel nothing between us… or perhaps that you rape children for fun in the streets, that might do it.”
She allowed the ludacris smile to rise to her face and she shook her head. “You’re ridiculous.”
The grin that made her knees weak spread over his features, and he started to step towards her. “So you do feel something.”
A warmth filled her at the sight of his beautiful face, and she reminded herself to hold it together as he reached her. His hand pushed a hair back behind her ear, and she felt his smile against her lips before he kissed her. The shiver ran down her spine with the heat of his embrace. She gripped his shirt in her hands to steady herself.
He pulled back after a moment, biting his lip as he stared down at her. “I’m sorry about the last I was here,” he whispered. “I had no right to get angry with you.”
“You did,” she assured him. “I didn’t realize the true pain of the Infi. And I’m sorry I said those things about your giver.”
A darkened shadow flickered in his features, and he swallowed hard. “Aydra, I love you. And I want you to share with me those parts of yourself you think I cannot handle. I—”
She hugged her arms around him to cease his rambling, burying her face in his chest just below his neck, and surrendered to his embrace. For the first time in weeks, her body relaxed, and peace filled her insides.
“I was worried about you,” he whispered. “When I didn’t see you at the meeting… I thought… No one would tell me what had happened… What did happen?”
“I haven’t felt well for a few days,” she lied. “Didn’t much feel like putting on the facade today.”
He eyed her a moment, gaze narrowing. “Liar,” he accused.
She sighed and shook her head. “It’s nothing. Just a fight with my brother.”
His brows raised. “Should I be concerned about these fights? I heard what you said to him the last he was in my realm… Aydra, if he’s—”
“It’s fine,” she affirmed, squeezing his hands. “He just… he’s changed so much over the last few years. Becoming someone I hardly recognize. Angry. Scared. Thinking someone will betray him at any moment. Becoming more like the kings of our past…” She stopped herself and drew a deep breath before she revealed too much. “I love my brother. But it hurts so much to see him morphing into someone he swore not to be.”
He paused to consider her a moment, but he didn’t push it. “He doesn’t deserve your grief.”
“I know,” she whispered.
He pressed his lips to her palm and held her hand against his cheek. “And so the dying moons said to the sun…”
“Set me free,” she breathed. She leaned her forehead against his and sighed again. “I have to tell you something.”
He pulled back, eyes glancing towards the dying sun out the window. “Do you think you can hold that thought for an hour or so?” he asked.
She huffed amusedly under her breath and shook her head. “I can, but why?”
