I tugged Thomas into the kitchen, Asha still on my hip, and left the two of them to continue getting acquainted. Mama was hunched over by the hearth, stirring a pot of stew. Her eyes crinkled at the sight of us, and she rushed over to wrap us both in a big hug.
She pinched Thomas’s cheek. “What a handsome young man. After what you did for Asha… how can we ever repay you?”
He cleared his throat, his face flushed. “Um…”
Her eyes darted meaningfully to me. “How about my daughter’s hand?”
“Mama!” I cried out, letting a giggling Asha slide to the floor.
“Lyranore’s getting married!” my niece sang, dancing back into the living area.
“I’m not getting married.”
Mama lifted her brows and shrugged, although the twinkle in her eye irked me. When I looked at Thom, his hidden smile only made my fists clench tighter.
“You’d be lucky to marry someone like me,” I told him. “But to make it clear, I want to focus on my studies, not my relationship.”
“But of course,” Mama said drily. “Tell me, time mage… can you finish making this stew for me?”
Laughter broke from Thomas’s chest. I glared at him.
“No, Mama,” I said.
Mama huffed. “Then what good is it?”
Thomas wiped the corners of his eyes.
“I can take things apart—”
“Oh, wonderful,” she said. “Next time I need this stew reversed into raw ingredients, I’ll let you know.” Seeing my face, she paused, coming up to me with a teasing smile that slightly thawed my chill. “I’m very proud of all you can do. Of all youwilldo, Lyrie.”
My frown softened. “Thanks, Mama.”
“Especially the honor you’ll bring us as a royal princess.”
“Mama!”
Thomas’s laughter came fuller, deeper, and I rolled my eyes as he pulled me toward him. He kissed my forehead in a way that made Mama and Asha squeal. Kelara and Caleb were nowhere to be found.
But I didn’t bother looking—I already had enough trouble standing beside me, grinning like he owned the world.
Dry fissures webbed through the dirt as I leapt over gopher holes and animal droppings in our neighborhood’s downtrodden cemetery. Weeds grew over the grave plots, many tombstones cracked and encrusted with years of muddy splatters. I picked my way through it all, slowing at the sight of a familiar name, a familiar presence that lingered in the air.
Papa.
Four years.
I’d let four years slip by without visiting him.
I sank down into the grass before his gravestone, my dress billowing around me, its silver embroidery twinkling in the heat ofthe summer sun.
“I’m going to Junira, Papa,” I told the grass-covered mound. “Just like we always dreamed.”
In my heart, I tried to imagine his response. Tried to remember his soft voice, his warm embrace, the smell of wood and smoke lingering in the air.
I swallowed hard. “I’ve been given a full scholarship for university. I’m studying magic, just like you told me I could.”
My eyes blinked more rapidly as tears obscured my vision. I glanced around, my shoulders sagging at the sight of no one else in the courtyard.
