Rain was pattering over the roof, the rhythm of it comfortingly familiar. The dark clouds painted the sky grey and a light mist was settling over land like a blanket.
“What did you tell him this time?”
Killi’s lips quirked. “Nothing important. Just that we madeour first harvest, and now that I’ve had to do some gardening of my own, I understand his love of it even less.” Kade rolled his eyes. “I told him you pushed me into the pond out back—”
“You tripped!”
“And that I got a leech because of it.”
“It was pretty funny,” Kade chuckled. “Did you tell him how you screamed like a baby when you saw it stuck to you?”
Killi’s eyes flashed. “Of course not.”
“Fyar would’ve thought that was hilarious.”
“He would’ve,” agreed Killi, softening. “He would’ve had a good laugh, and then run off to tell Hokda so he could laugh at me too.” His smile melted off his face. “Sorry, you probably don’t want to hear this.”
Shaking his head, Kade blew into his mug to cool the steaming drink. “I wouldn’t ask if I wasn’t interested. Fyar is, and always will be, important to you. I’ll never understand it, but I don’t fault you for it. If you want to talk about Fyar because you miss him, then I want to hear about the Fyar that you miss.”
Killi shifted under him, putting his mug down on the table next to their chair, he wrapped one arm around Kade’s waist and rested the other on Kade’s thigh. He tilted his head, thinking. “There are things I miss and things I don’t. But I wouldn’t trade our new life here for the world. Don’t you see, Kade? We’re free.”
“I’m never letting you go.”
Killi’s smile lit up the world. Then, he leaned his head back and barked a laugh. “Gods help me, I even miss Hokda sometimes.That’swhen I think I’m really losing my mind.”
“Oh. Me too. He’s so goddamnfussybut his brain…oh his brain is something else. I want to study it. Put it on display in my office.”
Killi looked horrified. “He grows on you.”
“Unfortunately.”
It was new, this easy way of speaking about their time in the palace. It had been a raw topic for both of them the first month. Not to mention Killi’s anger. He’d been furious, his rage burning him up from the inside out. He’d tried to shield Kade from the worst of it, but Kade could tell a lot of that anger had been aimed his way. Born of feelings of confusion and betrayal. Feeling—rightly—like Kade had ruined his life.
Kade didn’t blame Killi for blaming him. Or for handling it the way he did.
Kade himself had blown up when he’d first found out that Killi was sending letters to the palace—to Fyar. He’d been terrified that the king, having been given the means to find out where they were, would send hunters after them.
They’d had many, many fights that first month.
Yet, no responses ever came, and no hunters did either. So Killi kept sending his letters, one every two weeks. Updates about their new life and whatever other nonsense he decided to include—like being bitten by a leech for the first time.
And slowly, Killi’s anger faded. Faded enough that they could talk, enough for him to sit down long enough to hear Kade’s side of story without flying into a tirade.
Faded enough for them to heal.
“Do you think Fyar reads them?” Kade asked. “Your letters?”
“I don’t know,” Killi replied. “I could see him throwing them in the fire before ever opening them, but…he’s a curious creature. I don’t think he’d be able to withstand not knowing what’s inside. Not that it matters if he doesn’t. I’ll just send more.” His lips quirked up. “I believe, someday, somewhere, we’ll meet again. He hasn’t seen the last of me yet.”
Kade snorted. “What a threat.”
Grinning, Killi waggled his eyebrows. He said, “Enough about that. I’ve been thinking—”
“Oh no. That’s never good.”
“Ha ha. Listen, you.” Killi pinched Kade’s thigh, making the younger elf squirm, yelping. “I’ve been thinkingwe should build a shop. Right over there.” He pointed to a space adjacent to the cottage, currently occupied by a mess of trees and shrubbery. “So you can have privacy for your patients, and more space for your supplies. It’ll be more official that way. Healer Kade.”
Inside his chest, Kade’s heart tripped all over itself. He blinked against the sting in his eyes. “You just don’t want them inside.”
