Arina smiles slightly and a thousand things glimmer behind her eyes at once. Things I can’t read from up at the counter in the kitchen. She takes his hand. Her scarred, tan skin in contrast to the flawless white of his.
“Technically we passed in the halls once two years ago when I was in the academy,” she says. He shifts, looking somewhat guilty, and Arina laughs. “I didn’t want you to notice me then. It’s nice to meet you officially, Kaelis.” No formality before his name, no tension in it. She releases his hand and shuffles her deck once more. “Now, let’s see what the cards have to say about you.”
Out of respect for her reading, I turn away.
After that, Kaelis lands himself in an intense debate with Twino over some latest book published on arcane theory. Then he makes his way back to the table, but this time he sits next to me as I’ve taken up a perch beside my sister. He’s looking far more comfortable than he was when he entered.
When I pass him a mug of Jura’s mulled wine, I’m surprised he doesn’t fall out of his chair. The man is practically drunk on its aroma.
“It really is the most splendid thing,” he murmurs into the wine after his first sip.
“Told you so.” I nudge him under the table.
“I’ll take that as high praise coming from you.” Ren preens a bit and continues to stir the pot.
As we eat, the knots in Kaelis’s back that had pulled his shoulders to his ears when he first arrived continue to untie. He’s more engaged when another round of card games is started. He laughs and talksfreely, smiling in a way I’ve only ever seen him do with me, and the sight warms my heart.
The longest night of the year is at its apex, the moon in its splendor. Fire crackles warmly in the hearth, and everyone nestles back into separate spots. Sorza is now on the balcony, admiring the stars. Kaelis and I still sit at the table. Ren and Twino have cuddled up next to the fire. Thal and Arina are opposite, and I do not miss how close they’re sitting.
Tension cords along my spine, trying to pull it taut. I force my shoulders to stay at ease.
It’s natural something might have developed, after all they did for her…Thal has been at her side for months, bringing her back from the edge. And they’re wonderful, inside and out, as bright and brilliant as the card they embody.
Kaelis leans forward on the table, the faintest hint of a rosy flush on his cheeks from a little too much wine, his movements far more relaxed. He catches my eye and gives a knowing smile. I narrow my eyes slightly in reply. Kaelis only grins more widely and slowly stands. Without a word or so much as a glance back, we slip out into the hall.
“I’ve never seen that protective big sister side come out,” he murmurs as he leads me up the stairs by the hand to one of the guest rooms Twino and Ren made for us to stay in. For one night, it feels as if the crew is back—different, but back as it should be. I know it’s an illusion, but it’s one that makes my heart warm.
“I’m sure I don’t know what you mean.” With my other hand, I’m gripping the railing to keep myself from swaying too much. Jura always used an orange liquor to enrich her mulled wine, and it is delightful and dangerously strong…Ren continued the tradition.
“It’s not so bad if she were to fall for them; they’re a good one,” he says.
Somehow, Kaelis’s reassurances do make a difference. Still…“I know. But I’m afraid that the feelings she has—whatever they may be—are only because they were the one to bring her back from thebrink. That they’re inflated for that reason. I don’t want either of them to get hurt.” My stomach knots with that fear.
“Maybe it is real, maybe it’s not. It’s up to them to find out.” Kaelis glances over his shoulder, and I can almost hear him whispering,Like us.
Is this love destiny? Or our desire?
Does it even matter?
No…Not when he brings me out onto an upper terrace—secluded from the rest—that looks out upon the river and sky. That feels as though he handcrafted this place, this moment, just for us.
The night air is a brisk embrace as I step toward the railing and rest my elbows upon it. I breathe in the night and stars as Kaelis comes to stand next to me. For a moment, we’re the only ones here. The only ones in the whole world.
“I told you they’d accept you.”
He hums uncertainly. “Ren is clearly still unsure.”
“Ren just wants to know that the world he and Twino have carved out for themselves isn’t at risk. But give him time—give them all time, and they’ll come around,” I say. But there might not be much more time. The world will be remade soon, after all, and Twino and Ren…they might not even know me after it happens. They won’t have memories of the world being remade, but surely they will have some memory of me. It’s worrying and confusing, but not enough to hold me back from what must be done.
He’s silent for a long stretch, gripping the railing tighter before relaxing his fingers. I look from his briefly white knuckles to his face, the night air cooling the flush the wine left on his cheeks.
“You’re not that worried about it, are you?” I rest a hand lightly on his forearm, shifting to face him, my hip against the railing of the balcony.
“No.” He startles back to the present. “No, I think overall this went far better than expected.” Kaelis shifts to face me as well, the river forgotten.
“See,I told you.”
He laughs; it’s low and soft, like the rumble of distant thunder. “I should trust you implicitly.”
