“Where would you like to go?” Aydra asked her.
“We’ll go to the Forest, and then travel back through the mountains on our way back to Magnice. Visit these Blackhand people that I’ve so long heard stories about,” Lex said with a wink.
Aydra almost laughed. She looked down at her wrists then and noticed the redness turned to simply pink, and the rawness of the burns on her stomach now looking of yellow bruising.
“In the meantime, we need to find out what is going on. They’re hiding something from us,” Aydra said.
Lex stood from the chair then and grabbed the thickest robe from across the top of the three-pane divider. “We’ll find out. But today, we go see if Maye can make you a dress befitting of pissing your brother off again. ”
A swell of gratitude filled Aydra’s chest at her Seconds affirmations. She nodded again and forced herself to stand from the tub. “I’d like that.”
CHAPTER EIGHT
DORIAN RETURNED ON the morning of the next week, and Aydra swore he’d grown an inch more and filled out more in the time that she’d missed him. She and Nyssa met him at the gates, and Aydra watched him hug his sister, swinging her around in a circle as the joy of seeing one another exuded from both their cores.
The sight of it brought tears to Aydra’s eyes. She remembered when her own brother had been so happy to see her once, when every time she and Zoria would return from the Forest and he would hug her as Dorian had Nyssa. The smile he would meet her with, the fill of happiness in his eyes… Her heart ached for that feeling again. For the butterflies and swell of chest, for the skipping of heartbeat and jagged breaths that came with the joy of seeing someone you could not explain a love for…
Dorian sat Nyssa back on the ground and then his eyes found Aydra’s a few feet behind her. A small frown slipped on his face, and he eyed her. “What’s this? Did you actually miss me?” he mocked.
Aydra couldn’t help the smile and shake of her head. “Funnily enough, I did,” she answered. Her arms opened to him, and he hugged her tightly.
“Are you okay?” he whispered in her hair.
She pulled back and pressed her hands to his cheeks. “I’m fine,” she assured him. “But tell me, how much trouble did the Venari get you in to while on the road? Shall I have to skin him when he arrives for meetings next month?”
Dorian laughed. “No skinning needed. He stuck around until Scindo Creek and then left me to deal with the other two towns on my own. I think I’m beginning to understand your thirst for blood, my sister,” he added with a wink.
Aydra grinned and then gave his hair a fluff. “Come. I’ve had the cooks prepare your favorites for breakfast. You can tell Nyssa and I all about your journey. I’m sure she’s eager to hear how exactly you vanquished the Infi.”
Nyssa came up beside Dorian then, and he wrapped and arm around her shoulders. “Oh yes. I’m sure she wants to hear exactly how much they bleed when the roots are taking them back to Duarb.”
Nyssa’s face paled. “I’m sorry, what?”
Aydra and Dorian exchanged a knowing grin, and Dorian started walking with his sister in tow beside him. Aydra heard him telling her an exaggerated story of how the Infi was killed, and she couldn’t help the laughter exuding from her lips.
Lex joined her at her side. “Good thing he hasn’t remembered the deal he tried to make with me,” she muttered in Aydra’s ear.
“I remember it well, Second Sun,” Dorian called back to her. He turned and gave Lex a wink over his shoulder.
Aydra snorted and then covered her mouth with her hand. Lex attempted a glare at her, but it quickly turned to a smile.
“What am I going to do with you Promised children?” Lex mused with a shake of her head.
Breakfast consisted of all Dorian’s favorites, from venison sausage to the sweet danishes he had once snuck out of the kitchens at night before bedtime. They took their breakfast in the kitchen at the small intimate table as they used to when Dorian and Nyssa were younger. It was much more comfortable than the stale of the grand table where Rhaif liked to take dinner with them now.
“Will Rhaif be joining us?” Dorian asked as they sat.
Aydra exchanged a look with Lex. Truthfully, she hadn’t seen much of him since the burning. He’d avoided her on most days, taking his dinner alone in his study, leaving Aydra and Nyssa to eat at the large table by themselves.
Nyssa’s gaze met Aydra’s then, and Aydra gave a forced smile to the pair.
“You know your older,” Aydra forced, “always dramatic. He’s likely to show up as we’re finishing and insist we take our food to the big table.”
“I quite like this table,” Nyssa said. “I miss taking our meals here.”
“As do I,” Aydra agreed.
The swell of warmth Aydra felt sitting there with them as they laughed and picked at their food made her heart hurt once more. Dorian told stories of Draven and how fond he was of him now, which completely bewildered Aydra and Nyssa, for they’d not known anything else of the Venari except to be weary of them. Dorian exaggerated his tales from ridding the Infi at Nyssa’s expense, and by the time they wrapped up their eating, Aydra’s cheeks were hurting with laughter.
