“Our scouts have returned,” Liam informed the room. “Kakos will reach Dunmeaden tomorrow, just after dawn.”
Tension rippled through the dining hall, but Liam pressed on.
“A unit of soldiers will be guarding the palace gates. All citizens not joining the battle are strongly encouraged to seek shelter behind the palace walls. Evacuations of the city have already begun.”
Liam lifted his chin, his spine ramrod straight as he scanned their faces. “I do not need to remind you what awaits us. Do what you must to ready yourselves tonight. Let there be nothing lingering before dawn breaks.”
The room burst into a loud frenzy of anxious murmurs as Liam finished. It was followed by the harsh scraping of benches across the stone floor as soldiers and citizens alike began to filter from the room.
Aya glanced up at Will as he stood, but he placed a hand on her shoulder, keeping her in place.
“Take your time,” he murmured as he pressed a kiss to her head. “I have something I need to do. I’ll see you in the room.”
He gave Josie’s shoulder a squeeze and bid her father good night before he strolled from the hall.
“I should go, too,” Josie said as she pushed away her soup. “See if I can’t find Aidon and convince him to take a break and eat something.”
“Are you sure you want to go searching for him?” Aya asked, hiding her smile in her goblet as she took a long sip of water. “Last I saw him, he seemed rather preoccupied with Dauphine.”
Josie’s nose wrinkled as she shoved Aya’s shoulder. “Thanks for that visual.” She paused, then fixed Aya with a smirk. “I’ll just have to go find my own source of entertainment then. Good night, Callias!”
Aya watched as Josie headed straight for where Aleissande was conversing with Liam. Pa’s soft chuckle nestled in her chest like a warm ember, especially as he added, “I like your friends.”
There was something else beneath his words. She found it lingering in his eyes as she met his gaze. She wondered if he was missing Tova, too, if that constant ache of her absence worsened for him when he caught himself enjoying the company of others and forgetting, just for a small moment, that Tova was not here to do so as well.
He had, after all, known Tova since she was a child.
Pa reached across the table, his hand warm as it found hers. “Her spirit is with you,mi couera,” he murmured. She didn’t know how he still managed to know her so well, especially after years of her hiding within herself.
But Pa—gentle Pa—had always had a way of seeing beneath the surface. She’d long wondered if it came with his affinity—if being a Terra had taught him how to see the potential in things. The growth.
The beauty buried beneath the soil.
“I miss her so much that sometimes, it hurts to breathe,” Aya admitted quietly, her free hand wiping at the tears that had gathered in the corners of her eyes. “And I know it wasn’t my fault, but it still feels like it sometimes. I couldn’t…I couldn’t help her. She died right in front of me, and I couldn’t stop it.”
Pa’s thumb dragged over the back of her hand, his skin rough from his years of tending his garden. “You carry too much, Aya. You always have. It’s the curse of your big heart.” He squeezed her hand again, his own eyes bright. “You get that from your mother.”
A strangled noise caught in Aya’s throat, half laugh, half sob, as that place deep inside her ached and ached.
Gods, she missed them both.
“I thought it was my fault,” she admitted to her father. “My persuasion burst from me when we argued, and I told her to leave and…I don’t know if I forced her to do it.”
“Oh, Aya,” Pa sighed. “You cannot even fathom the depths of love a parent has for one’s child. No force in thisworld would have been able to tear her away from you if she was determined to stay.”
His smile was sad. “Your mother made the best choice she could for our family. And that choice was to get on that boat.” He stroked her hand again, a steady swipe that kept her present. “Just like your choice is to put yourself in danger for the betterment of this realm.”
A tear finally fell from Pa’s eyes, dripping traitorously down his cheek. “You truly are your mother’s daughter. And I am so proud of you—as she would be, too.”
***
Aya sighed as she stepped into the bedroom and closed the door behind her. She leaned against the wood, letting the tension seep from her muscles while she took in Will. He was hunched over the small table they’d turned into a desk, scribbling furiously across a piece of parchment.
“More formations?” she asked. Her limbs felt heavy, her movements slowed by the exhaustion that seemed woven into her very being.
“No,” Will muttered. He scanned the parchment before he tossed the quill down, exhaling as he sat back against the couch. His hair was mussed, but it didn’t stop him from dragging ink-stained fingers through it. “Final will and testament.”
Aya tensed at the mere thought. But Will smiled wryly and gave a blithe shrug. “Can’t take the merchant out of the man, I suppose.”
