“Is it because of what we talked about?” Aevrin asked. Everyone turned to look at him, but he didn’t explain himself.
“I feel like my eyes got opened wide,” Sorven said. “Like the world’s way bigger than I thought. How can I know my place in it, if I never step foot outside of my home?”
“And Cobrid?” Sath asked angrily. “Are you dragging her to war, or are you going to abandon her?”
“I talked to Cobrid. We’rebothgoing,” Sorven said.
Sathuel Riveker angrily went back to eating without saying a word.
“You just got to give us time to sit with it,” Prisca told Sorven. “This is big news, Sorven. Of course we’re proud you want to protect your home. This family has just been through a lot already. We don’t need to lose anyone else.”
“I know,” Sorven said. “I’ve been through it too.”
“When do you go?” Mavek wanted to know, not joking anymore.
“I’ve gotta go to the Lareo fort for war trials on the fifth.”
“Well,” Gramma Prisca said, and sighed. “Good for you, Sorven, making a big choice for yourself. Guess things around here are gonna change.”
“We oughta get a ranch hand,” Aevrin suggested. “We’ve been understaffed for nearly a year already. We can’t go down another man.”
“We’ll talk about that later,” Sath growled. “And your Gramma’s right, Sorven. You know I’m proud of you. Just wish you’d choose something closer to home. And a mite less deadly.”
“Girls like soldiers,” Mavek informed Sorven, as their father shot Mavek a dirty look.
“They do? Really?” Sorven said, his stiff, stubborn demeanor perking back up to his usual cheerful self.
“Big time. You’re totally getting laid.”
Sorven blushed. Cassia couldn’t help but note he looked pleased. Aevrin shook his head with a lopsided smile.
“So we’ll have a going away party instead of a birthday celebration,” Aevrin suggested.
“Even if I do good I won’t head out right away,” Sorven explained patiently, suddenly the expert. “There’s a battalion marching from Havelyn city next month I’d probably be put with. I’m not stealing your birthday.”
“I wouldn’t mind if you did,” Aevrin muttered.
“It’s gonna take a lot of getting used to,” Sath complained.
“Then that’s what we’ll do,” Gramma Prisca told her son sternly. “Sorven is right. He’s eighteen. This is his decision, no matter what we think of it.”
“I’m not leaving,” Mavek promised their father. “Can I be the new favorite?”
Within a week, Sath had gotten at least a little over it. Things felt back to normal, except for the heavy expectancy in the air that soon Sorven would be gone, and the family would be down a member. Ash and Dariek would come home for the harvest holidays, but they might be celebrating without Sorven for a bit. Everything was going to be weird for a while, Aevrin admitted to her.
On the second of November, Cassia woke at the usual time and started to get up, until Aevrin’s arm snaked around her and pulled her back against him and his hardness.
“I have to get up,” Cassia whispered.
“But it’s my birthday,” he whispered back into her ear, hand tight over her stomach.
“I know it is,” she giggled back. “I’mnot the one who has the day off work.”
“Can we come back to bed after, then?” he asked, hand sliding suggestively between her legs and rubbing against her cloth underwear.
“I’m all yours, after,” she promised.
“So you’re just gonna leave me thinking about having you all through breakfast, then,” he teased, squeezing her and then hooking a hand between her thigh to drag her leg up.
