Chapter 25
NIKIAS
Nikias couldn’t even look at Aimilia without a painful heat crawling over his skin and his stomach turning. On their second day of travel, as they paused at midday to water the horses, Gavril caught his eye. Nikias didn’t have to say a word to his brother to know that Aimilia had told him.
The shallower cuts had faded, but he was still hiding his black eye and the bruising on his neck.
Couldn’t she keep her mouth shut? Why did she think Gavril needed to know about Nikias’ latest failure?
None of this was supposed to happen.
It was bad enough Aimilia knew—not just knew,saw.
Bile rose up his throat at the reminder she’d been present to witness the whole awful, pathetic scene.
That alone was torment enough. But added to the fact that she now knew the only way Gavril and Marcella returned to Areator was if he married…
Day after day he’d been wracking his brain, trying to find a way to scrape the pieces of his plan back together, but they weren’t pieces anymore. It was all dust.
To make his worst nightmare complete, in less than a week, he would have to work with Hypatia.
Maybe if he was lucky they’d find a ditch on the way he could crawl into and die.
That was probably the best solution.
They were a week and a half into the journey when Aimilia finally cornered him.
He’d reworked the night watch rotation to ensure no chance of contact with Aimilia, Gavril, or Marcella, but as he sat on the edge of camp in the middle of the night footsteps caused him to turn his head to see her approaching even though she’d already been on watch the day before and was off tonight.
“You shouldn’t have chosen a pattern. Patterns can be predicted,” Aimilia said as she reached him, taking a seat on the ground beside him.
He just looked out into the night, grip on his legs tightening.
“Go back to sleep.”
He should have been doing random assignments.
“I won’t stay long, but I thought you could use a little company.”
What was she up to?
He’d been skillfully avoiding her because he could see the fire in her eyes, insisting they talk about something that should never be discussed.
Did she just want to lower his guard?
“Do you remember my father’s funeral?” Aimilia didn’t look at him; she just stared out at the trees and darkness. The moonlight struck her cheekbones, making her fair skin shine in the darkness. Even though he couldn’t stand to look at her, he also couldn’t look away.
“No.”
“I wasn’t sure if you were there or not. I know the royal family doesn’t go to all of them. I was six, so you would have been ten. Or you did and you just don’t remember it.”
Nikias swallowed the words,“I would have remembered you.”
Aimilia continued, “My mother couldn’t even get out of bed. My grandfather, I don’t even remember what it was, if it was your family he was occupied with or another important Runai. But beside the casket, I was there with Cyprian. I didn’t really understand it all, but I was crying. My father wasn’t moving, and I just felt it in the air. I was the only one crying and I kept asking these nonsensical questions until Cyprian grabbed me and told me to be quiet. I couldn’t stop. Finally he had one of our other cousins drag me kicking and screaming back to the house. I didn’t even get to see them close the casket.”
Nikias finally turned his head to see her wipe at her eye before the tear could escape and take a shuddering breath.
His voice was barely louder than the sounds of the forest. “You were a child.”
