Suddenly he cared—suddenly, he wanted to say something.
“I needed…air.” Elric’s gaze felt like it still had a hold on me even as I slipped away.
“Did Lord Elric say something to upset you?”
“No,” I lied.
He sat beside me on the bench. My breathing slowed to match his, and his hand slid over mine.
“I’m sorry about earlier,” he said, his shoulders rounded. “Pyrran has a way of unraveling me. And the blight…it’s haunting me in every waking hour of the day. The pulse of Lythira is slowing.” My lungs caught a sharp inhale. “It’s dying. And I can’t save it.”
I had to touch the trees, where it existed, to feel it. But here he was telling me he felt it always.
“You feel it? All the time?”
“Every breath I take, every waking moment—I feel it.”
I saw the pain behind his eyes and wanted to reach for him—to take his hand in mine, but I couldn’t.
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
“You don’t carry it like I do.”
“How do you know what I carry? You’re not the only one that carries this burden.” I pulled back from him. “It doesn’t hover over me, like it does you, but I hear when the land cries, when it falls silent.”
“That’s not what I meant.” He shook his head.
“Earlier, you were trying to deal with all this weighing on you? When I walked into your study…I thought?—”
“I don’t just care about your magic.” A loose strand of hair hung over my eyes, but I couldn’t break the hold his gaze had on me. He brushed it away. “I care about you…immensely.”
My breath stilled in his grasp. “Lioran…” I almost told him everything, but instead I swallowed hard, tucking the truth deep inside of me. It would linger under the surface, unspoken.
He leaned in closer to me. “There’s something I need to tell you. Something I should have told you earlier.”
“You won’t mind if I steal my brother, Princess.” Pyrraninterrupted Lioran—I needed to know what he needed to say. “It seems my visit was appropriately timed,” Pyrran continued.
Lioran sprung up, he hovered in front of me—like a shield between me and Pyrran.
“It is amusing, really. She’s even dressed like she’s yours—the green, the regal gown,” Pyrran scoffed as his hands settled on his hips.
Juniper said he requested I wear it. It wasn’t like what Cora wore. Did he think this was what I wanted?
Pyrran took a step forward and a menacing smirk crept across his face as he assessed me. My thoughts had betrayed me, again—the truth written all over my face. Delight flickered in Pyrran’s eyes as if he were savoring this moment.
I rose to stand beside Lioran.
“That’s enough, Pyrran.” He growled as he spoke. “Don’t drag her into this. Your qualms are with me.”
“You and the Princess of Bailoc…” His laughter boomed. “It’s too good to keep to myself.”
“I can assure you, none of this is what you think.” My voice held steady. I didn’t know if there was truth in my words.
“How intriguing.” He glanced down, towering over me. “Lioran, a word alone.”
My nails bit at my palm. He would use whatever he thought this was against him—against me.
“Oh, Aelira…Save a dance for me later. My brother can’t be the one having fun with you tonight.” Pyrran’s voice trailed behind me, and I froze for a moment.
