Among many other things,I thought.
But I didn’t say that aloud. I didn’t want to scare her. I was working on being patient. For her.
Her gaze went back to the painting hanging on the wall.
“I worried I’d lost my inspiration to create,” she said softly. “But this morning, a scene struck me and it felt wonderful. And nowthis…”
She gestured around the room before she resettled her gaze on me.
“Thank you, Kaldur,” she said. “I can’t quite tell you what this means to me. But I’m not worried anymore. I can’t wait to get back to my stories. So, thank you.”
She leaned forward to press a kiss to my cheek. Right over my scar, which she now knew how I’d received.
“You’re welcome,dallia.”
The door opened to the studio, Maudoric humming as she entered. When she saw us sitting in the armchair, Erina sprawledover my lap, she looked as surprised as I’d ever seen her, stuttering for a moment.
“Oh, goodness—my apologies,Kyzaire,” she said, already backing out of the room. “I should’ve?—”
I waved away her worries, especially when I saw what was in her hands. “I wanted to show her what we’ve been working on.”
Maudoric smiled hesitantly, inclining her head. “This was just delivered by a boy from the village.”
“Thank you,” I replied as I patted Erina, who stood. I followed and crossed to Maudoric, taking the ribboned box from her hands.
“Would you like breakfast brought here? Or out on the terrace?” Maudoric asked.
I looked to Erina, who said, “Here.” She beamed at the Head Keeper. “The light is beautiful in here.”
It pleased Maudoric, I realized. Erina’s happiness. “I’ll tell Saira,” Maudoric said, leaving the room swiftly, giving us privacy.
I brought the box over to the drafting table and gestured Erina over.
“Another gift?” she asked, biting her lip.
“The last one for today—I promise,” I teased gently. “Open it.”
Erina pulled at the silky black ribbon, and the box unfolded with dramatic flourish, the sides falling open. She gasped. Because inside was a familiar vase.
“I thought it was gone,” she breathed, reaching out a hand to touch it.
“Maudoric found it in the drawer. Luckily I caught her before she disposed of it,” I said. It was the vase I’d helped her clean up that day in the sitting room, the one she’d cut her hand on. The one that had been the cause of everything. She’d loved it, had wanted to repair it even though it’d been shattered.
The vase had been pieced back together and was filled with precious silver along the cracks. But otherwise the potter hadbeen able to preserve the majority of it—the dark green that she’d so loved, the delicate vines.
“It is missing a big piece though,” I informed her, turning the vase to show her the back. “It’s a large shard. I couldn’t find it. So he kept it open.”
“I have it,” she admitted.
“You do?” I asked, laughing.
“I—I took it that morning I left. I don’t know…it was a silly impulse. I just wanted to take something. To remember,” she confessed, her cheeks flushing a little bit.
“Little thief,” I murmured softly, a burst of affection in my chest.
“It wasn’t the only thing I took from House Kaalium,” she joked, her hand touching her stomach, “as it turns out.”
“No, it wasn’t,” I said, watching when her eyes strayed to the vase again. “I was going to have one made in its exact likeness for you. But then I remembered what you told me.”
