“Lots of practice. I lost count of how many I helped Nana deliver before you liberated me and put me in command of Southwatch.”
“You’re welcome.”
Ahnna smiled, stroking Delia’s dark hair. “She’s perfect. I’ve thought about her a lot since she was born. Wondered what she might be like. Feared for her when I learned how bad things were. Katarina…she…” His sister gave a sharp shake of her head. “Never mind.”
It was easy for him to imagine the sort of threats that Amarid’s queen might have voiced. What sort of threats Edwardhadvoiced. “What happened to you, Ahnna? It feels like a lifetime since you fled Verwyrd, but all you and James told us was about Alexandra and Katarina’s schemes.”
His sister was quiet, but he didn’t miss how the pulse in her throat beat faster as though she was reliving a nightmare. “I don’t want to talk about most of it.” Then she gave him a half smile, meeting his gaze. “Katarina put us in the Furnace, which was where we were for much of it.”
Aren’s stomach hollowed, because he’d spent time in Riomar and knew all about the horrors of the infamous prison. The idea that it hadn’t been the worst thing his twin had endured to get back to Ithicana made him feel sick. “How did you manage to escape?”
“The cells are crusted with decades worth of piss. Using that, a bit of trickery, and a lot of luck, I made a bomb.”
“A piss bomb…” A laugh tore from his lips, because of course Ahnna had figured that out. She’d always been the cleverer one, especially with making bombs. But then a thought occurred to him. “Katarina has to assume that you and James came here.”
“She’ll certainly assume we tried.” Ahnna looked up as morethunder boomed overhead. “But the Tempest Seas sink many ships, and the vessel we were in was not fit for storms.”
“Any Ithicanian worth her salt can ride a raft with a handkerchief for a sail through the worst of storms, and you’re Ithicanian to your core.”
Ahnna’s slight smile fell away, and her bottom lip trembled until she bit down on it. It struck Aren that his twin was hanging on to composure by a thread.
What happened to her?Fury filled him that she’d had to endure all of this. Fury at Alexandra, Katarina, and everyone else who’d harmed Ahnna, but also at himself. He’d been harsh with her when they’d spoken in Verwyrd, putting her in a terrible position and showing not an ounce of empathy for what she’d felt.
Ahnna slowly looked up at him, her hazel eyes liquid with tears. “Thank you for letting me come home.”
Aren’s eyes burned, and he scrubbed a hand across them to push away tears that she’d feared he might turn on her. “Always.” He slung an arm around her shoulders, and his sister leaned against his shoulder.
There were so many things Aren wanted to say, but he couldn’t articulate them even to himself. The clearest feeling was the profound sense of relief he felt having his twin at his back again, because with Ahnna here, it felt like Ithicana might have a fighting chance of survival. Yet all he said was, “It’s good to have you here.”
“It’s good to be home.” She picked up a handful of torn paper and tossed it in the air, Delia smiling as it floated to the floor. “You and James can stand on the bridge top and see who can piss the farthest if you must, but it’s important to me that you try to get along with him.”
“He hasn’t tried very hard to get along with me inanyof the instances I’ve been in his presence.” Aren picked up his drink and swallowed a large mouthful. “I’ve never met a man so willing to pick a fight.”
“James would do anything for me.” She twirled a lock of Delia’s dark hair around her finger, his daughter drifting in the direction of sleep. “Even stand up to you.”
Something in his sister’s tone suggested that her words meant more than they seemed to on the surface, and Aren immediately felt defensive. “What’s that supposed to mean? People stand up to me all the time.”
“Not for me, they don’t.”
“Lara—”
“She’s different, so don’t even try using her as an example.” Ahnna’s body had gone rigid. “This has nothing to do with her, so don’t go down that path.”
Aren had no idea what Ahnna was talking about, and seeming to sense that, she huffed out a breath of frustration and said, “No one has ever taken my side over yours.”
Despite knowing that it was the wrong thing to do, Aren scoffed. “This is childish. Can we have one moment when you aren’t picking a fight about some imagined grievance? Don’t we have bigger issues?”
“Don’t trivialize me!” she snarled, but then winced and soothed Delia before drawing in a deep breath. “I have been your shadow my entire life, Aren. I have had your back, done what needed doing, and held Ithicana together when you could not. I never begrudged my role. Never wanted more, because you were my brother. The heir to Ithicana and then my king, and I felt pride in my loyalty to you. But from a young age, I knew that you mattered more toeveryone.I came first forno one.”
Aren’s lips parted to say that she’d come first for him, but then stopped, remembering the moment when that had dramatically changed. When Ahnna had confronted him about bringing Lara to Maridrina and then accidentally knocked Lara off the bridge. How instead of being reasonable, he’d lashed out and told Ahnna he didn’t want to see her face again. How he’d refused to have anything to dowith her until military matters demanded that he must, and then immediately done his best to continue avoiding her. All because his sister had questioned his actions with Lara.
Even if Lara had been wholly innocent, Ahnna, as the commander of Southwatch, had been in the right to call him out, and yet no one other than Lara herself had said a word in Ahnna’s defense. No one. Not. Once.
Not even Jor.
Not even Nana.
“People treated me like I wasn’t a person but an extension of you,” she whispered, stroking the now-sleeping Delia’s hair. “Which meant anything anyone ever did or said to me was done with a mind for how you might respond. No one wanted to upset you. No one wanted to make you angry. Everyone wanted to make you happy. So everyone kept a buffer of distance with me, and if that buffer was crossed in a way you might take issue with, it didn’t matter how I felt. All they’d ever do is beg me not to tell you.”
