“Well, if that isn’t aromanticnotion.” Jayme gave her a sidelong look, one Vi ignored. The last thing she wanted to do was give Jayme any suspicions about Taavin.
“She certainly seems lost in romance,” Andru said from their side, nodding at Ellene and Darrus as he sipped from his mug.
“That’s the truth. This whole place could burn down and I don’t think she’d see anyone but him.”
Jayme snorted in amusement. “Us, maybe? She might try to save us from the fire.”
“Maybe.” Vi stressed the word to the point they broke into laughter. She turned to Andru. Something about the time that had passed bringing them closer, the cool day clearing her head, or the warm cider sitting in her belly, had made her comfortable enough to dare asking a personal question. “Has a lady caught your eye back home, Andru?”
He sputtered and coughed, cider going everywhere at the question. Vi and Jayme fought laughter at his expense as he set his mug aside, trying to wipe it off the front of his shirt.
“Me? A lady? No…” he mumbled, glancing at them, then back to his shirt. Vi tilted her head slightly, trying to see his face. There was something there… something she couldn’t quite put her finger on.
“But—”
“My father is adamant that I make a good match.” He grew still, maybe preternaturally so. Vi had lost count of the times Andru’s demeanor brought to mind helpless prey caught in the crosshairs of a predator. She couldn’t hear the words that echoed in his mind, but she could see his eyes were no longer fixated on the present. He’d said his father was an ass, so Vi could only imagine howthatconversation went.
She reached out a hand, resting it lightly on his. Andru stiffened at the touch, and they made eye contact. She held it for a long moment.
“I’m sure I’ll be the same,” Vi whispered softly. “I’ll have a good match made for me, too.” A match she’d have little say in.
“Your parents certainly defied those expectations,” Jayme mumbled. Vi opened her mouth to reply, but it was Andru who beat her to the words.
“Prince Romulin has said that’s precisely why they—Vi especially—are expected to make smart matches. A commoner rising to marry the Crown Prince as Empress Vhalla did is not something we can come to expect often.”
“And here I thought they’d set a precedent.” Jayme took a sip of her cider.
“They had unusual circumstances leading to their being crowned.” Vi sighed softly. There had been the assassination of her grandfather, the uprising of the Mad King, the final war of the Crystal Caverns before the caverns went dormant—.
The Crystal Caverns going dormant. Vi sat straighter. Taavin had said the barriers on Raspian and his followers had been broken about eighteen years ago, which corresponded with the end of the Mad King’s rule and his use of the power from the caverns. Could that have been the barrier?
Vi fought the urge to race back to her room and summon him, instead taking another lingering sip of her drink.
“Romulin says much the same,” Andru said, ignorant to Vi’s thoughts. “He thinks Vi will be married to a prince of the East and he a princess of the West.”
“Don’t you mean,PrinceRomulin?” Jayme leaned forward slightly. “You’re always going on about what the prince does and doesn’t say. Are you sure you report to the Senate and not to him?”
Andru turned scarlet. “I-I am merely fortunate enough to know his highness and think he is very wise.”
“I agree with you, Andru,” Vi said over the top of her mug. Jayme had connected something she’d overlooked. Something Vi was now incredibly curious about. But much like her other revelation about the caverns, this was neither the time nor place. “He gives me excellent counsel, and I am looking forward to getting such wisdom in person when I go home.” Along with knowing him better in every other way.
“Home…” Jayme repeated thoughtfully. “Vi, may I ask you something?”
“You know you can ask me anything.”
“Do you really want to go south?” Vi frowned, turning to face her friend. Jayme took a sip, clearly mulling over her words with the cider. “You did say I could ask anything.”
“It’s fine you asked.” Vi didn’t want Jayme to feel like she couldn’t be honest. “I’m merely wondering where that question comes from… Have I done something to make it seem like I don’t appreciate the South?”
She glanced over at Andru. Even if he’d become her ally… did she have to worry about matters like this being repeated to his father? Jayme clearly didn’t think so, as she continued the line of questioning.
“Nothing of the sort. But if I’m honest, you haven’t done anything to make me think you have a deep love for it, either. You’ve lived here your whole life, you know this as home… do you really want to leave it?”
“I expected this sort of questioning from Southerners, but not from you.” Vi had been bracing herself for it, preparing herself, but she hadn’t thought it’d come so soon.
“A good thing to expect,” Andru murmured.
“I’m just curious, princess,” Jayme insisted. “I didn’t mean any offense.”
