Evelina walked up to the table. He could feel her eyes on him, but he fixed his gaze on the wood in front of him.
“I’d like to join the meeting tonight,” she whispered.
Blessed Divine, even her voice sounded like she was crying. He gripped the table to stop himself from reaching for her. He didn’t know how to act around her at the camp, let alone in front of the entire council.
The air was tense. No one had expected Evelina to be here tonight, not after just learning about her mother’s illness a few hours ago.
Keir cleared his throat and continued. “It’ll stretch us thin on the coastline toward the palace, which could leave us weak,” he said. “But, if we shift Beta Fleet Five to cover the empty waters, it may be enough to make it work. We could use as much extra patrol on the border as possible.”
The rest of the council stood around the strategy table, studying the board as Keir and Senna moved pieces around.
“We can move additional Undine to the weak points as well.” Seretha, the Undine council head, reached forward, pushing a wooden block carved into a wave to where Keir had stationed the beta fleet. “And here. It will lessen what we have in Syreni, but if there are fleets watching the seas from above, the loss shouldn’t be too heavy.”
Carwyn nodded, pleased with the idea. “You’ve more than proven your capabilities as a leader,” she said to Senna. “We can only hope every move we make brings us closer to victory. We’ll meet tomorrow to continue. I’d like to go see my mother, see if she has any council to provide.”
Daimon rose, keeping his attention onanythingbut Evelina. If he looked at her, he didn’t know what he would do. Would he grab her hand and take her away from the palaceso she could breathe? More likely, he would say the wrong thing and make even more of a mess after their last conversation… So instead, he avoided her gaze.
Evelina stayed behind to speak with Senna, and Daimon slipped out of the room before he made a fool of himself. His head was a disaster, stuck between his instinct and his mind. He wanted to hold her and comfort her as badly as he needed to breathe—but to truly protect her, he knew he had to keep his distance.
He left the strategy room feeling exhausted. The walk through the palace was eerily quiet, his footsteps echoing through the warmly lit corridor.
A second pair of quick, light footsteps sounded from behind him. His breathing quickened as he recognized the gait.
“Daimon.” Her voice sounded as tired as he felt.
He slowly turned around and clenched his jaw. “I’m sorry about your mother,” he whispered, but he kept his eyes on his hands as he said it. For a moment, he thought he could feel her heart still.
She let out a shaky breath and said, “Me too.”
He pressed his fingernails into his palm until it hurt, desperate to focus on something other than her broken voice. He wanted to hug her, to tell her everything was going to be okay.
Daimon took a step toward her. “If there’s anything I can do?—”
“You could be honest for once,” she said sharply, taking him by surprise. “Why are you avoiding me?”
His gaze lifted to hers. There was a fire behind her eyes he hadn’t seen in a long time, an anger he’d been long expecting but had never arrived. Now it was clear to see. She was hurting. He knew there was a reason for it, and he also knew he couldn’t fix it—or give her the answers she wanted. He would only cause her more pain.
He shook his head and started to leave.
“I’m trying to understand.” Her voice stilled him. “How the same man who gave me a dream last night is the one who can’t look me in the eye today.”
He paused, half-turned as he said, “Maybe you’re starting to see me for who I really am—who I’ve always been.”
Thirty-Five
Evelina
Evelina tossed and turned,thinking about her conversation with Daimon, aboutwhyin goddesses’ name he went from glimpses of the boy she knew to the cold-faced commander again. Once she finally fell asleep, her dreams were plagued with images of her mother dying, over and over again.
She needed to calm her nerves. Mixing tonics and grinding herbs usually helped soothe the worries that ran rampant in her mind.
She pushed open the wood door to the infirmary, the hinges squeaking as the door swung open.
“Up so early?” one of the healers asked as she entered.
“Lots to do,” she muttered. Evelina noted the way the healer was just finishing up from the night before. She recognized her as someone she’d worked with a few times at one of the refugee camps. “Late night, Alaina?”
Alaina smiled, her hair ashen and eyes soft. “The Aegis never cease to amaze me,” she said with a sigh. “Training accident last night. One of the trainees took a firebolt straight to the chest.”
