A lone laugh left Nyssa’s lips, and she sighed as she smiled fondly at Aydra. “I’m glad to see you so happy again,” she noted.
Aydra paused, allowing the grief of her actions the last month to wash through her. “I know I’ve been intense lately with the training and pushing you… Believe me, I do. But, preparing you and your brother for the possibility of what’s coming on our shores has overwhelmed my mind. I cannot stop thinking about the weapons on their ships. What the man said to me. How armed they were just to be sailing over an ocean. Dorian thinks I should bring you the next they come. To chat with them instead of beheading them on the beach.”
“Dorian said that?” Nyssa asked.
“He believes in you,” Aydra affirmed. She reached over and pushed Nyssa’s hair back off her face. “You’re going to be such a Queen, my sister. Beauty. Grace. Honor. Compassion. You and Dorian will rule in the fairness and equality this crown has been absent of for years now.”
Nyssa’s head tilted, and she eyed Aydra. “Why are you telling me this?”
A long sigh emitted from Aydra, and she took a turn looking around the room at all the faces watching them, finally landing on Rhaif’s shadowed facade as he flirted with one of the Blackhand women. His eyes met hers, and she squeezed Nyssa’s hands once more.
“It’s nothing,” she managed, meeting her sister’s gaze once more. “Now, tell me, what is it you and Dorian want to do for your birth moons coming up?”
Nyssa told her excitedly about the plans she’d been trying to put forth in the next week for their birth moons. Aydra memorized the happiness in her sister’s face. She wanted to remember this day for as long as she could, just as it was.
It was after another dance that one of the Blackhands came between she and Nyssa to ask her sister for a dance. Aydra gave her sister a wink and let her go. Her eyes wandered a bit around the room, finding Dorian dancing with one of the Scindo twins, Lex chatting with Balandria by the buffet…
But it was the sight of the three most handsome men she was sure Haerland had to offer standing in the corner together, laughter on their faces, that a smile rose on her lips, and she shook her head at them.
Draven’s gaze met hers as Hagen clapped his shoulder, doubling over at whatever joke it was Nadir had just said. She felt as though he were fucking her in the back of his mind, taking her somewhere she hadn’t been before. His hand tightened around his drink, and his other shoved into his pocket. When he winked at her, she forced a jagged inhale to her lungs, gaze darting over him deliberately as her thighs squeezed, and then she finished crossing the space between them.
“Why do I get the feeling you three together is more trouble than any town knows how to deal with?” she asked upon reaching them.
Draven’s chin rose, and he looked down at her with a sly smirk that made her heart flutter. Nadir and Hagen were still laughing, but they straightened upon her words, the pair of them shaking their heads.
“Mm… wouldn’t you like to know, Sun Queen?” Hagen bantered, swirling his drink in his hand.
“I would, actually,” she admitted.
She did a double-take then at the smile on Nadir’s face. He was looking past her shoulder. There was a softening in his eyes, his lips twisted upwards just at the corner, revealing the small dimple on his cheek…
She punched him in the stomach.
“Hey!” Nadir balked, throwing his hands in the air.
“Stop staring at her,” Aydra warned.
“What—she’s staring at me!” he argued.
“He’s not wrong,” interjected Hagen.
Aydra opened her mouth to speak, but Hagen had already taken her hand. “What—“
“Leave him alone, Sun Queen,” Hagen said as he tugged her around. “Let’s have some fun.”
Her eyes widened to Draven, and he chuckled under his breath at her as she was dragged by the Blackhand onto the dance floor. Hagen whirled her out and back into him, causing laughter to emit from her lips despite herself. She was shaking her head at him when he pulled at her hands.
“Shouldn’t you be dancing with one of the women I pointed out to you earlier?” she asked.
He met her smile. “I will. But first—” he twirled her in a circle before taking her hand again “—I needed to clear a bet with my mates.”
She fought the knowing grin threatening her lips. “What kind of bet?” she dared to ask.
“How long it would take before the Venari King came and interrupted us.”
Aydra shook her head. “I’m afraid to say you’ll be owing your men money tonight, Elder,” she said.
“Yeah? Why’s that?”
