Her heart ached for Aya—for all she had endured, and all that was still to come.
Josie chewed her lip as she wandered the halls of herhome, her fingers trailing over the walls and framed paintings her parents had hung throughout.
Aidon would address the people this afternoon. Josie had listened as he practiced his speech late into the night, his leg bouncing while he sat in his desk chair.
It had felt so achingly normal that Josie had nearly cried.
“It’s strange, isn’t it?”
Josie jumped as her brother’s voice sounded from behind her. She hadn’t even heard him step into the hall. She whirled around, her reprimand dying on her lips as she took him in.
He’d insisted on bathing yesterday before they did anything else, and Josie had scrunched her nose and told him it was all the better for her, but…
“You shaved,” Josie blurted out as she scanned his face. Gods, he looked years younger. “But you kept the stubble, I see.”
Aidon grinned. “I hear it makes me more handsome.”
“Had time to spend with lovers on your grand adventure, did you?”
His grin faded into something softer, his voice quieting as he admitted, “Just the one.”
“What?” Josie exclaimed.Thatcertainly hadn’t come up in their discussion last night. Aidon winced at her volume, but she waved him off. “Who?!”
He leaned against the wall, his arms folding over his chest. “I’ll tell you mine if you tell me about yours.”
Josie felt her cheeks heat. They hadn’t gotten to that—Aleissande—either. She pursed her lips, pretending to think it over.
“Fine,” she finally said with a shrug. “Keep your secrets.”
Aidon rolled his eyes as he straightened. “As if I have any. The whole kingdom already knows all of my secrets. Or at least rumors of them.”
There was a levity to his voice, but Josie didn’t buy it for a moment, not with the tense set of his shoulders, or the wayhe sucked in a deep breath before adding, “I suppose they’ll all receive their confirmation soon enough.”
And just like that, Josie was thrust back into reality. Her thumb toyed with the ring on her middle finger, tracing over the small scratches that had gathered after years of wear. It had been her father’s, given to her on her sixteenth birthday.
Something twisted in her chest as she thought of her parents. She’d wanted to charge into the night and fetch them herself, but…Aidon needed her here. Aleissande had sent a member of the Royal Army to the location Ryker had given her. Josie doubted they’d still be here by the time her parents got back.
Aidon fidgeted before her, that frenetic energy that had long lived inside her brother making itself known as he dug the toe of his boot into the ornate rug beneath his feet.
Empty words, however kind, would not soothe him. So instead, she waited.
“No matter how today goes,” Aidon finally began, his gaze solemn as it met hers, “I want you to know how grateful I am for everything you’ve done. Everything you’vealwaysdone.”
“You already thanked me, Aidon,” Josie said softly.
He had—profusely.
But he shook his head. “Not for the years you’ve stood by me. You have always been my biggest champion, Josie. And I can never repay you for that.”
“It is not some debt to be repaid,” she insisted, her heart aching fiercely. How could he not see that? How could he not understand that she would go to the depths of the seven hells for him for no other reason than he was her brother, and she loved him?
“You don’t ask for repayment for your love and support ofme,” Josie tried to reason.
“True,” Aidon admitted. “But you haven’t—”
“There are no buts, Aidon. I love you because you aremy brother. Iknowyou, and it is because I know you that I believe in you. I know you are the king Trahir needs. It is no burden.”
Aidon rubbed at the back of his neck. “Even with the problems my affinity has brought to our door?”
