“Be with your family,” I told her. “You should sleep here tonight. I know how much you’ve missed them.”
She frowned, biting her lip in indecision. “You’re sure?” she asked.
I smiled and tilted her chin up to mine. The sun had long set, and Grymia was quiet, smoke rising from chimneys and muffled talk and laughter floating out to the road from various dwellings.
I pressed a long, lingering kiss to her lips.
“I’ll have you for the rest of our lives,mariss,” I told her. Her breath hitched, and I felt how much she liked that sentiment, spreading like ink through the bond, permanent and certain. “I can be patient.”
“Kakkira vor,” she whispered, pressing another kiss to my lips, and I held her against me.
“Go,” I murmured, nudging my chin toward the door.
I waited until she scurried up the steps, throwing me an appreciative smile over her shoulder before she disappeared inside.
I tilted my head back toward the sky, feeling the contentment swell through Amaia and feeling Samryn resting within Ny’am. They were well…and so I turned down the road, heading back to my dwelling to sleep.
But…well past midnight, when the last embers in the hearth glowed dully, the front door creaked open and a chilly breeze pushed inside with it.
I was awake in a flash but then relaxed when I realized who it was.
“What are you doing here,mariss?” I murmured, my voice husky from sleep, still half held in dreams.
Amaia slipped into our bed after she closed the door and toedoff her boots. Her flesh was cold, her feet like ice, but she was only wearing a nightdress, so I wasn’t surprised.
Her hands spread over my chest, and I grunted, capturing her palms to warm them in mine. She crawled against me, cuddling close, nuzzling her face into the crook of my neck and breathing me in.
“What’s wrong?” I murmured, turning so I could hold her, my arms coiling around her.
“Nothing at all,” she whispered against my skin. “This is where I want to be at night. I belong with you.”
The sudden swell of affection and love I felt bloom was either hers or mine. Or a combination of both.
I tightened my arms around her, tucking her closer as she sighed in contentment.
“Sleep,mariss,” I murmured into her ear.
“Bossy,” she whispered back. I smiled into the darkness.
But I felt her drift off mere moments later while I held her. I knew that this was exactly how I wanted every night of my future to end too.
I would demand nothing less.
Chapter 42
AMAIA
The night that we broke Samryn’s curse, it was clear and quiet, the moonlight and stars reflecting off the glass-smooth lake, a place we’d been before.
We’d been chipping away at the curse more and more, nearly every night, after my parents had arrived in the Arsadia. Theilla’roshwould begin soon, the choosing for the acolytes, and I was convinced that we could end this tonight, before all of Grymia would make the journey to the Tharken cliffs in a few days’ time. I felt it, had thought of nothing else nearly all day, practically bounding with energy when Alaryk returned from his patrol.
The only thing that had broken me from my determination was witnessing Kyr take flight this morning. I’d known that today would come all too soon. I’d known that I would feel the chipping of sadness, deep within my breast, to watch Kyr’s uncertainty, his fear at being presented to the elder Elthika.
Another Rythback, one belonging to one of Alaryk’s own riders, had chosen to take Kyr under his wing. It had been a beautiful thing to witness, to watch them take their first flight together, Kyr clumsy but growing stronger with every passingsecond. I’d anticipated the sadness. But I didn’t anticipate the pride.
Tarkosh had reached over to squeeze my hand afterward. I’d been surprised, but she’d only inclined her head, looking at the tears dripping from my cheeks.You did well with him, Amaia,she’d said.
The first words of praise she’d said to me since I’d taken the eggs from the hatchery.
