“My parents left me in his care when I was very young,” Keira explained, a glimmer of pain lingering in the old wound. “They didn’t understand the magic, couldn’t help me control it.”
“But your guardian taught you?”
“Yes, for years he did, until I was ready to study at the Arcanum. I never completed my coursework, though.”
“Could you-” Yvette tried to summon the courage to ask, the desire burning within her. “Could you teach me?”
Keira’s brows raised, and for a fearful moment she was sure she would refuse her, curse her for asking for anything after what she’d done.
“Did no one- Of course.” Her tone was suddenly almost maternal in tone, soft and reassuring. “I can come by Grimlocke and tutor you, after the honeymoon that is.” Her eyes scanned the crowd briefly, looking for her new husband, no doubt.
Yvette paused. Would the Blades take her back with them to Grimlocke? Now that Keira was safe and they no longer needed her, likely not. Loneliness and dread came to pool uncertainly inside her, but she made herself nod anyhow.
“There you are,” Caspian’s voice found them.
Keira turned to him with a beaming smile. “Enjoy the party. We’ll meet again soon,” she promised before wrapping her arm in Caspian’s.
Yvette watched them as they returned to the party. “You know,” Keira said, turning over her shoulder. “Feel free to start working through my library. Alistair’s Arcane Practicum is a great place to start and-”
“Keira,” Caspian chided her softly.
“Right, sorry.” Her voice carried a laugh as she finally surrendered herself to the dance floor.
Yvette sat alone once more. “Thank you,” she returned quietly.
“You’re very welcome,” Florian startled her as he came to her side. He held two glasses of spiced wine, offering the second to her. “Been making friends?”
Yvette took just a small sip to be polite. The world had enough of a slant to indicate she’d reached her limit. “I understand why you two are close.”
He nodded. “Caspian’s a lucky man,” Florian said, watching them dance.
“Were you in love with her? Before I mean- When you thought that Caspian was gone?”
Florian nearly spit his wine, sending himself into a fit of coughing. “What?” he wheezed and then cleared his throat. “No, it was never like that between us. I mean, once we… spent a wonderful evening together. But it was never more than friendship for us. A man can tell when a woman is in love with someone else, even when they think that person is gone for good.”
Yvette nodded. She didn’t understand him, how he could casually admit to sleeping with a friend, how it seemed evident he’d left a trail of lovers behind him never looking back. She’d only ever been with Victor. Even the idea of being so flagrant with her affairs made her heart beat faster. She took a nervous sip of wine.
“I’ve actually been sent to talk to you,” Florian said, his tone shifting to something more casual. “Party business.”
Yvette lifted a brow.
“There’s been a vote,” he continued, “and I am here to offer you a place in the Blades of Fate.”
“To join?” Yvette puzzled. “What would I do? Keira’s so much more skilled than I am- and I’m no good in a fight-”
“I beg to disagree,” Florian opposed lightly, “and Keira has already announced to Rhea that she will no longer be an official member. I suppose she’ll be in and out, a friend always of course, but we are now without a resident mage.”
“I suppose that makes me the next best thing,” Yvette relented.
Florian turned away from the music and revelry, facing her eye to eye. “I think that Fate often works in marvelous andmysterious ways, but every now and again, you just feel it, don’t you?”
She could think of nothing to say to that. Though these last days did seem to be a particular bend in her path. Perhaps her fate was leading her somewhere new. “They really want me?” Yvette asked finally.
“It was utterly unanimous.”
“Even Knox?” She couldn’t picture him agreeing to be in the same room with her, let alone allowing her to live, and fight, alongside him.
“I can be very persuasive,” Florian said with a crooked smile. “He came around easily. It’s the obvious choice.”
