Not together. Not technically.
They’d been in different classes, and every interaction they’d had had been clouded by their bickering. Unfortunately, it was impossible to talk about the Academy without talking about Gavril for Aimilia and Faustina for Nikias.
“I remember once, I think it was my last year there, leading up to the graduation tournament, I was going to the library, and I saw you. I don’t even think you saw me. You came running down the Hall from the opposite direction, your chiton stained pink and your skin as well. It was one of the few times I saw you without Gavril. I don’t think you even saw me. Especially since you didn’t pause to try to rile me up. I always meant to find out what happened, but I never did.”
Aimilia’s cheeks flushed the same pink that her chiton had been stained that day. She snorted a soft laugh. “Oh, there’s a good reason you didn’t find out about this one. I made sure of it. You would have been absolutely insufferable if you had. Do you remember it wasn’t too long later that we were at a banquet for a wedding, and we got into it when I told you the bride was secretly in love with you?”
Now that encounter Nikias would never forget. Although, at the time, he hadn’t realized just how significant it would be. “I recall.”
“Well, I’d gotten that story from her younger sister in the library. When the bride found out that I knew—she didn’t take to it kindly. She had her fiancé’s brother, who was in my class, lay a trap for me. Nothing too serious, just to threaten me enough to keep my mouth shut. It was just a bit of dye, but enough that it wouldn’t come out and was going to clash horribly with me up until the wedding. Unfortunately for them, I was clever enough to get it all off the next day, so it failed spectacularly. But I certainly didn’t want you to ever find out about it.” Aimilia rolled her eyes. “You were absolutely insufferable, and you would have been twice so knowing the kind of trouble my gossiping had gotten me into.”
“I was rather hard on you, wasn’t I?” Nikias’ words came out in a soft murmur.
Aimilia shrugged. “Well, I did set out to make your life miserable from the moment I first saw you. I can hardly be mad at you for taking any opportunity you could to return the favor.”
“Still, I wish I could go back and tell my younger self not to be so hard on you.”
If Nikias could go back, he would have told his younger self so many things. Whether he would have listened was another story. Could he have saved himself?
Aimilia only shook her head. “I wouldn’t. Every time you tried to get under my skin, it only made me want to do better to prove you wrong. There was nothing that motivated me more to not only earn my commander’s cloak but to place first, because if Ididn’tplace first, I was never going to hear the end of it from you.”
Nikias hadn’t realized he’d had that much of an effect on her. He also didn’t really know whether that was a good or bad thing.
Aimilia rolled her shoulders and said, “But I understand the sentiment. If I could go back…” Her gaze fell to the scar on Nikias’ left wrist. Her voice softened. “I don’t know. Maybe I shouldn’t have been so hard on you. If I’d known everything you were going to lose…”
Nikias shook his head. “I wouldn’t concern yourself with that. We all would have made different choices, given the benefit of hindsight. And trust me, I’d make different choices if I could, but I have to live with the ones I made. I do wish I hadn’t been so hard on you. You didn’t deserve that.”
“How could you not have been hard on me? By the time we met, you had Faustina and you knew what it meant for me to start attending the family banquets. You wanted the best for Gavril. When you had the best in Faustina, how could anyone else compare?”
Nikias hated every time her name left Aimilia’s mouth. He didn’t want to dwell on the past. He certainly didn’t want Aimilia to be thinking about her. Nikias certainly didn’t, not if he could help it.
“Contrary to what you and everyone else might think, I don’t think Faustina was perfect. Those comparisons aren’t fair to you. I’m sorry I ever made them. Even if I wasn’t your biggest supporter at the time, I should have respected you enough not to compare you to her, or ever imply Faustina was superior to you. It was wrong of me. You don’t know how much I deeply regret it.”
Aimilia tilted her head. “Nikias, let’s be honest. Whether it’s fair or not doesn’t stop it from happening. You can say now all you want about how you don’t think Faustina is perfect, but I know what I saw. I had the privilege of watching you love her, and I do mean privilege. It was a beautiful thing, and I think what’s most devastating is the fact that everything that followed after has marred that for you and everyone else. I meant it whenI told you I admired the way you loved her. I don’t think I’ll ever see anything like it again.”
Nikias shook his head. “You only say that because you were on the outside looking in.”
If Aimilia knew…
“I’m not saying it was perfect. But don’t think you can fool me now. I’m sorry things turned out the way they did. I wish that story had had a happy ending instead of the one you got.”
“I don’t think that was ever in the cards.”
Aimilia was looking at him too closely. He’d said too much. Even though he hadn’t said nearly as much as he wanted to. The words had been threatening to spill out of his mouth.
”Nikias—”
He turned to her and said, “Did I ever tell you about the time I used an illusion to distract Gavril’s nanny and the two of us managed to hide for half a day before they found us?”
Aimilia blinked, and then she leaned forward. “I don’t think Gavril ever told me that one.”
Nikias shook his head. “He might not remember it. He was only four.”
As Nikias told the story, Aimilia’s light laugh filled the air. Not as vibrant as he hoped, but it was something at least.
It meant she was no longer thinking about her grandfather, and she wasn’t looking too closely at Nikias or Faustina’s ghost. The less Faustina’s name filled the air, the better. He was halfway through the story when they came out of the forest edge, riding by a rocky craig.
A rumble hit the air. It was a noise that had haunted Nikias since the first time he’d heard it. From the way Aimilia’s expression fell, she recognized it too. Nikias immediately started veering his horse to the left, calling out, “It’s the stone mages! It’s an ambush!”
