“I know,” Jax interrupts, his handsome, narrow face tightening in a grimace. “And that beats being stuck in here. In fact, I wouldn’t come here at all if we didn’t owe Valoria a favor for letting us keep our rooms at the palace and everything.” He runs a hand through his darkcurls, suddenly looking uncomfortable. “Anyway, I don’t know why I even bother showing up when Simeon handles this place just fine on his own. I’m off to patrol.”
With that, he twists out of my grasp and storms toward the door. I’m not surprised. It’s exactly what I would do. I’d run after him right this minute if I didn’t realize that, like me, he’ll want to be alone for a while to clear his head.
The students scatter to either side, creating a path for him. Azelie nearly collides with him by the door, looking slightly winded, her cloak’s hood still drawn up.
Something else stops Jax’s hasty exit when he reaches the threshold. Over his shoulder, I catch a glimpse of blond hair in the sun. Valoria. Shifting slightly for a better view, I watch her talk to him, one of her hands resting squarely on his chest as if to hold him in place, the other on her cane. Her voice is so low, I can’t make out what she’s saying, but something in her seems to calm him. After a while, Jax’s shoulders relax.
Valoria finally steps aside, her expression pained as Jax walks past, although his stride is much less hasty and his posture less rigid than before.
“All right, everyone,” Valoria says in a purposeful voice, clapping her hands to draw all the students’ eyes her way. “Gather round. I have a favor to ask you. Karthia is in need of new defenses against any outside forces that might seek to threaten us in the future, and I want to hear your ideas...”
“There’s a lot we need to catch up on, sister dear,” Simeon says, his voice soft in my ear as he draws my gaze away from Valoria. Holding up his right hand to show off the shiny band on his ring finger, he adds, “So much changed while you were gone.”
I smile, partly at the sight of that ring and the promise it holds,but more because of the way at least one of my friends is welcoming me back without hesitation or judgment.
“When’s the wedding?” I ask, allowing Simeon to drape an arm around my shoulders and steer me through the library and out a set of glass doors that lead to a central courtyard. It’s open to the sky but sheltered on all sides by the circular building’s walls.
“The sooner the better, now that we’ll have an army to train. Think they’ll all expect invitations to the feast after our ceremony?” He winces at the thought, then brightens. “I don’t mind, I suppose, as long as they bring us really expensive gifts.”
Simeon’s attempt at humor brings a reluctant smile to my lips. “Danial told you what we discussed in the throne room last night, then?”
He nods. “He’s in the city right now, trying to drum up volunteers so we can start training. It was on his mind well before you convinced Valoria, as he keeps reminding me. But with citizens giving speeches against Valoria almost daily, I don’t know if he’ll have any luck getting people to join our cause.” He gestures to a stone bench beside a small pond.
The courtyard’s carefully tended shade trees hanging over both bench and pond make it a tempting spot to linger. “As you know, Valoria seems to think the students here can help with Karthia’s defenses, too.”
The skepticism in my voice must be obvious, because Simeon says, “You’d be surprised what some of them can do, and I bet they’ll soon surprise themselves. Like Noranna there. I can’t wait to see what she’ll invent.” He takes a seat on the bench and points to the glass doors we came through to get here.
Just on the other side of the glass, Azelie talks animatedly to a girl with tight brown curls and soft, dark eyes who must be Noranna.After a moment’s hesitation, the girl slips her metallic right arm through Azelie’s, whisking her away somewhere. Remembering the mechanical leg Valoria designed for her father, I smile, recognizing her handiwork in the girl’s arm.
That’s Valoria for you—still finding ways to help her people, even when many of them are calling for her death.
Glad to see Azelie settling in here so quickly, I sit on the bench and take a closer look at my brother in every way but by blood. Aside from the Sisters of Death, who found me as a baby, I’ve known Simeon longer than anyone, since before we could talk in complete sentences.
At first glance, he looks much the same as when I saw him last—like he doesn’t get enough sleep anymore. Who does, nowadays? But the longer I study him, the more I notice little lines on his face that definitely weren’t there before, etched by some worry or another, and wonder how many more he’ll have before his twentieth birthday.
“How do you really like it here?” I ask, still reeling from Jax’s abrupt exit.
Simeon runs a hand through his sandy blond hair. “It’s not bad. We’ve gotten ten students since Valoria reopened this place as a school, and your friend Zee makes eleven. Their studies seem to be going well so far.”
I arch a brow. “And just what is it they study? No one’s been clear on that.”
“Magic. If they already know their power, they’re supposed to delve deep into it. Push the boundaries, but also learn control,” he explains. A hint of pride for the students glimmers in his sky-blue eyes. “Valoria encourages every exploration, which is why—”
“She’s gotten so many death threats, and worse,” I finish for him. A phrase I heard in Sarral pops into my mind, and I add, “You knowwhat they say—getting a Karthian to change is harder than teaching rocks to dance.”
Simeon snorts. “Where’d you hear that?” He shakes his head. “I’mthe one who’s supposed to makeyoulaugh, remember? Or did you forget how this whole sibling thing works while you were gone?”
I reach a hand up, about to ruffle Simeon’s hair until it sticks out in all directions, when his expression turns solemn. I drop my hand as he takes a deep breath, seeming to decide something. “Can I count on you to help with the wedding planning, then? Or will you be gone before the big day? I understand if you need to leave again, of course,” he adds hastily. “But if I’d known you were hurting so much in the first place—”
“We all were. And there’s nothing you could have said or done to make me stay. I wanted to leave. I needed to,” I explain, my throat suddenly tight.
“I know. I knowyou. Which is why”—Simeon pauses, a hint of a smile touching his face—“I’m trying to say that I wouldn’t try to stop you if you needed to leave again. A little warning next time would be nice, is all. Because it hurts when you’re gone.”
“I’ll be here for your wedding, Si,” I say firmly.
“Promise me the usual way. Our way,” he says at last, with no hint of teasing.
Just like we’ve done since we could talk, we spit into our palms and shake hands. It’s disgusting, but being Simeon, he somehow makes me laugh. I think it’s the way he nearly gags as our hands slide together that I find so entertaining.
