I tell her about being escorted away from Vendyl, then being attacked by these guys, the Unbound. Deliberately leaving out the part about her mum and sister being kidnapped, once I tell her, she will hate me.So, I skip it. Telling her how the Unbound took me in, the trials, and my cousin Iza. This is the one she is most shocked about and angry. I have to calm her down, explaining howIza never knew what Nik did to me or what he would do, that I forgave her, and she should too. Andi huffs, and I can’t help but laugh.
Exhausted, we all stumble in the ivy-covered cave door. Caelan waits for us outside his hut.
I whisper to Andi, “Caelan is the boss here, he decides if you stay or not.” She looks at me with fear in her eyes. “Don’t worry. He’s not as scary as he looks.”
Caelan looks over us all. “Good to see you back, and in one piece, or mostly.” He notes the poorly wrapped bandages. Hiseyes linger on Andi before scanning over the others. “You’ve brought back some guests? Well, let’s not leave you out in the cold, come inside.”
Myles, Andi, and the two elves head through the door with members of the Unbound, leaving Caelan, Ronan, and me.
“Andrina?” Caelan smirks.
I nod. “That’s Andi.”
Ronan steps forward. “She saved us out there, I know I would be dead if she hadn’t… intervened when she did, a lot of us would be.”
Caelan rubs his beard, his eyes focus on the door.
“She’s okay. I haven’t told her about her family yet. I don’t know how to. What am I supposed to say?”
Caelan closes his eyes, nodding. “We’ll figure it out.” He grips my shoulder and turns away from us into the hut.
Ronan watches me. He opens his mouth to say something, but I interrupt him, “You seemed quite distracted out there? Something caught your attention?”
Ronan smirks and shrugs, heading through the door following Caelan. I walk into the chief’s hut, food spread out on the table like usual, everyone helping themselves. Andi sits on a chair beside Caelan in a quiet conversation, her eyes find me, and she gives me a small smile. Once everyone settles, Caelan clears his throat.
“Alright. Before we start, I know you’re all eager to hear about Aron. He’s fine, he’ll be out of action for a while, but he will be okay.” He looks at Izaac, who tries to hide the tears in his eyes.
I can’t even imagine the worry he has dealt with—unbearable.
Caelan waits for everyone to quieten down. One elf sits at Andi’s side while the shy one sits beside Myles, slunk into her seat, probably wishing she could just vanish.
Caelan turns to Andi. “I’ll let this lot introduce themselves.” He gestures to the crowd.
There’s a lull in folk stepping forward, I nod to Arel to be the first; if he goes, the rest will follow. He steps forward, glancing back at me before bowing before Andi.
“My name is Arel, it’s nice to meet you, we’ve heard almost nothing from our little cub here.” He smirks back at me, and Andi lifts her eyes to mine, mouthing ‘little cub.’
I grit my teeth; there’s no chance of me living that down now.
One by one, they follow suit. “I’m Kaleb,” he says. His face is stern, but Andi smirks at him.
“I hope your nose is healing well?” Andi stifles her laugh.
“You have some punch on you.” By the gasps in the room, ‘that’s how you got it’, ‘you liar,’ he wasn’t entirely truthful when he said the guards gave it.
Next is Izaac, he can’t even look her in the eye. I laugh under my breath, remembering it was Kaleb and Izaac out looking for Ronan’s pendant.
Iza steps forward. “I heard Wyatt tell you about me, I’m his cousin, and I do feel guilty about what happened. Thank you and your family for looking after him when I couldn’t.” Andi’s gaze drifts to me, and I offer her a one-sided smile.
Andi then nods to Iza. “It’s nice to meet you, Iza. I’ll catch you up on all the embarrassing thingslittle cubhas done over the years.” Iza grins like a feral cat, and Andi’s eyes flick to me and laughs, while the others poke my arm, saying, ‘you’re in trouble now.’
Ronan is the last one to introduce himself, remembering when folk were doing the same to me, he barely said two words and hid in the shadows. He gazes at me, cocks his eyebrow, and steps forward. Kneeling before Andi, taking her by surprise, he lifts her hand and kisses it. Myles stiffens in his chair but doesn’t do anything to object. Arel and Kaleb hold me back.
“My name is Ronan. It’s a pleasure to meet you. I wanted to say thank you for saving my life out there. I owe you. Anythingyou need.” Andi stares at him, her lips parted like she is trying to think of what to say, her hand slipping out of his as he stands and backs away from her. I glare at him with my arms folded tightly over my chest, watching him as he steps back to the rest of us, his eyes never leaving Andi.
I expected a fight from Myles. Maybe he was hurt in the battle, or maybe he knows Andi’s heart, that she could never fall for such flirtations. Caelan rises from his chair, reaching for the pitcher and goblets, pouring each of the guests a drink.
“Now that formal introductions are out of the way… from our end, why don’t you tell us a little about yourselves. How did you come to find us?”
