“I like it,” she said. “It’s exciting, don’t you think?”
Davik clearly didn’t and I almost smiled at the bewildered expression on his face. There was something about him…something light and unburdened. The Davik I knew now was severe, sometimes cold, and very often angry. And still, I was drawn to him.
“Do you think you’ll find a bride soon?” Devina asked her brother, cocking her head to the side. “Maybe Jeva?”
Davik leveled her a warning look. “Why Jeva?”
“Everyone knows you’ve been tupping her in the forest. EvenLommaknows.”
Davik groaned, biting out a low curse under his breath.
“I’ve been noticing Jarun lately myself,” Devina told Davik. “He is so handsome and I think he might like me. Maybe he has ambitions of being a merchant. MaybehelikesDothik.”
Davik was annoyed. Even I could see he was protective of his sister and he growled, “Jarun is a damned fool and I forbid you from even looking at him.”
His tone reminded me so much of the Davik I knew now that I almost smiled. I drew closer, looking down at the two young Dakkari.
Devina snorted. “You’re not Father, you know.”
“I’m older than you are,” Davik countered. “And Father is away.”
“I like Jarun,” Devina said, doubling down. “And he’s terrible with a sword, so I don’t think he’s destined to be adarukkar, which bodes well for our future.”
Davik growled, annoyed again.
“And I like Jeva for you.”
“I don’t care if you like Jeva for me,” Davik said. “We are done talking about this.”
There was a long stretch of silence between the two siblings and the breeze rustled through the valley below, billowing silver mist from the waterfalls.
“I worry about you, Davik,” Devina said softly, reaching out to take her brother’s hand. “I worry that we will be separated soon. Because you know that you want to remain in the horde and I know that I do not. And so I worry about who will take care of you when I am not there.”
“And who will take care of you,” Davik started quietly, “whenIam not there?”
“We have been together our entire lives,” Devina said, turning her gaze back out to the valley. For a moment, I couldn’t breathe as I watched her sad expression. She looked solostfor a brief second. “I do not know how to live without you. But I think we always knew that one day, we would be separated. I’ve always had this feeling that it would happen and it scares me. I just want to make certain that someone will be there to take care of you.”
Davik was frowning. His tone was gruff when he said, “We will not be separated, Devina. You know that if the outpost is what you truly want…then I would live there too. But I beg you, do not chooseDothik. I…I do not think I could bear living there. At least in the outposts, we are still in the wild lands.”
Devina smiled, but it was sad. And I realized that Davik had misinterpreted her words entirely. She wastryingto tell him something and what she was trying to tell him made a cold shiver race down my spine in icy realization.
Had she always known her fate?
“Jeva would be good for you, brother,” she repeated, nodding as if she’d decided something. “You need someone patient, someone kind, someone forgiving. Because you have a nasty temper.Lommais always saying you need to be…well, more likeme.”
Devina pealed into soft laughter at Davik’s disgruntled look. He stood, looking up at the sky.
“Come on,” he said. “We should be back by now. We leave soon andLommawill need help packing the chests.”
Devina nodded and I watched as his sister stood…and then I watched them disappear, walking back towards the glow of golden light in the distance, where I assumed their horde lay.
When I tried to follow them, I found my feet were unmoving. I was stuck, frozen in place, and my breath hitched as panic began to swell in my breast.
That was when I realized I wasn’t alone.
Next to me, a figure appeared and I almost cried out with my surprise.
Shock raced through me, my breaths coming out fast when I realized it wasDevina. But not the Devina that had just left the clearing with her brother. This Devina was slightly older, though just barely, and she stared after the two figures in the distance with a longing expression on her beautiful face before turning to me.
