He looks at it for a minute, then lays his in hers.
“Sevryn,” I call as they turn away. “I didn’t know.”
He doesn’t look back at me, but his shoulders deflate.
He knows I don’t mean what we just discussed.
Thayla clears her throat, stepping out from the centered position we’ve had her in.
“I’m going to go get my pajamas on and lie down in my spot. You all are going to come lie down with me and tell me the rest of the story.”
She doesn’t give us the time to agree or argue as she makes her way into the carriage.
“Bossy-ass, little thing,” Riven scoffs and I peer over at him.
“She is, but she’s our bossy thing,” I say, exhaling sharply even as they all gawk at me in surprise. “Let’s get this over with.”
“Who’s going to tell her?” He follows up immediately, not doing a good job of hiding his nerves.
“I—”
“I got it, Kyzen.”
He whips his head to me and the tremors in his hands stop.
I don’t make it a big thing. I just make my way through the door, thinking about what and how I’m going to say everything I want to say.
I’m not telling it all tonight. There’s a time and place for her to have private conversations with each of us.
I won’t be bearing my soul in front of my brothers.
The living room is empty, aside from V, who’s nestled on the bookshelves in the blanket Thayla put up there for him. He gives a little hoot as we walk by, as though that’s his way of giving us encouragement.
Thayla’s already in her spot, like she said she’d be, when I push open our door. It’s not that surprising, though. Now that I’ve slept in the same bed as her for four nights, I’ve quickly learned she isn’t changing her pajamas for us.
A T-shirt and underwear, and that’s it.
I don’t think she cares how tempting of a look it is.
She just wants to be comfortable.
The bathroom light is still on, providing enough of a glow for us to see, and I make my way over to my bag.
I feel her eyes on me and her soul caresses mine as I tug my shirt over my head. My soul responds without my command, drawing a grunt from my lips as I slide my pants off.
As quickly as I fucking can, I replace them with a sleep pair.
My inhale is sharp, matching hers as the four of us step up to the bed. Based on the reddening of her face, though, I’m positive our deep breaths are for two different reasons.
Maybe.
I climb in first until there isn’t an inch of space between us and the bathroom light goes out as soon as Kyzen gets himself situated on the other side of Riven.
Slowly, I lace my fingers through hers as the five of us stare up at the stars in silence. Her encouraging squeeze presses me on.
“Despite it seeming like the simple thing for us or anyone really, to do would’ve been to just starshoot out of the Abandon, that wasn’t an option. Our father had used the Veil on his side to bind our ability to starshoot out of the Abandon, just like how there’s a binding around the Godsdawn that doesn’t let us leave now. Not only that, he kept a very close eye on our power usage. Every time we used them, he knew. Sometimes he’d ask what for, sometimes not. So we knew we’d be leaving the Abandon on foot, and we couldn’t use our powers.
“Amick spent years working out a plan. That plan only deviated once and that was to include Sevryn. We’d been raised in the same kind of hell together, and he wanted out just as bad as we did. He talked about running away all the time. We decided together, the four of us, we’d take him with us. The day we first told him what we were planning, he nearly cried. He said nothing would stop him from coming with us. Amick would write him letters and starshoot them under his pillow to keep him updated when our roles grew more intense and we didn’t have as much time to spend with him alone.
