Page 184 of Winter Gods & Serpents

The journey had mostly gone quietly, except the casual chatter between the soldier, Mal and Cai, the rest had gone completely quiet. Winter was finally viciously taking over Isjord, had it not been for the main passage roads it would have taken us days to arrive Arynth.

“Snow, it is so very nice to have you back,” Albius greeted while we arrived at his outskirt mansion.

I dropped from Memphis to give the old man a hug who laughed jollily. “Thank you for expecting us in such short notice.”

He offered me a warm eye sparkling smile. “Consider this your home, you are welcome at any time.”

He greeted my entourage and directed us towards his house where we had stayed the other times I had visited. The house was massive but decorated very simply in muted whites and beiges, there was not a woman’s touch in the house. Albius’s wife had died years ago from sickness. Surprisingly, I remembered her. She was very much like him in many senses.

After setting our belongings to our assigned rooms, I headed with the lord for a walk. He made a promise to show me the city and I did not hesitate to accept. We walked and spoke for hours regarding our pasts, he had told me a plentiful of his wonderful stories which were like sweets to my ears. Finally when I noticed a slight limp to his leg, noting he had grown tired, and I pleaded him to head for rest which he accepted after I promised to continue our conversations at another moment.

I roamed around the city admiring its warmth and peace. Nia appeared before me and I knew it was the time to either put what had happened behind us or forever hold our, well, my grudge.

“You do not want this as much as I don’t Snow, and it is not like you can ignore me forever. I want you to know I have never been more apologetic about what I did, for suggesting what I had that day, it was very insensitive—”

“You know very well that was not why I reacted the way I did Nia, and it was most certainly not that,” I said, interrupting her. This was already going in the direction I did not want it to go, was she that unaware of how she had hurt me, what truly had done it.

“Tell me, please,” she pleaded, approaching me.

“Tell you, just like you told the Adriatians my truths or how you didn’t tell me yours?” I asked. If she had the intentions Kilian had told me, she certainly had never made me aware of those before, let alone how she had contracted a plan to aid them.

“Snow, at that moment I did not consider what or who they were, I just knew they could help you. But I realized I was wrong for doing so, and I am still very, very sorry,” she said, approaching and grabbing my hands to hold them in hers.

I think this was the time to let this go, no matter what I thought, I loved Nia and I could also no longer see her affected by my words and situation.

“Forgive me Nia, for a lot I have said to you too.”

She threw herself towards me, hugging me tightly. It was not something we did often but maybe we should. Basking in its comfort brought some sense of serenity.

Slowly letting go, a grim expression wore her face. “There is something else I have been hiding. I knew you would not agree to it, but now I understand it was wrong to hide it from you.” Whatever it was, she had prepared herself for a bad reaction from me. “I have been training my magic with them.”

The revelation left me slightly shocked, not because I was against it or because she hid it from me. “I thought you did not wish to learn.”

“I thought so too.”

The nervous fiddle of her pupils, the chew of her lips, the curled fist on her lap told me more than she ever had. “Please Nia, tell me you have not declined to learn because of me? Please,” I begged and hoped I’d not become a villain to her too. “Please tell me I have not become something for you to fear.”

She swallowed hard. Her eyes rested above the cold ground, answering more than words ever could.

I felt my face twist in a brief cry. “Why?”

“It would hurt you. I still remember your reaction from when I told you the first time what I was. I didn’t want you to hate me again.”

“Nia, I could never hate you, never. It will never matter to me because you are my sister. I care about you, all sides of you I never chose to like only the part of you that isn’t Adriatian.”

“I was afraid,” she said, swallowing a wavering cry. “She…she would hate me because of it. I thought you would too.” Her sister, her true sister who’d taunted her for inheriting her father’s magic, which she herself had not. It wasn’t her mother who abused her endlessly, not the father who spat over her worth or the man who tore her limbs, it was her sister, the evil she feared most. Her words still whispered with the wind, everything and everyone reminded Nia of her.

“Nia,” I said, cupping her face. “I am not her, but I will be the one to kill her, your father, and your mother and both of their bloodlines to the root.”

Her expression turned woeful, two hot tears sprawling from her hazel eyes while admitting it for the first time to me, “I don’t want them dead.”

“Then I won’t kill them,” I said wiping her tears away. “That is all I want you to do, tell me. Apparently there is something with miscommunication and some injured hearts.” I flagged a hand in the air, forgetting his words. “Never mind.”

She nodded and rounded herself around me. “A hug to warm the soul,” she murmured, buried between my hair.

“A kind word to soothe the mind,” I finished. The two sentences Alaric had made us remember time after time. They could heal the world he had said, two simple effortless actions. I was happy that she grew away from her past, accepting and moving on, not letting it affect her life. I adored her so much for it, for her strength and will. She deserved all the sweet this life could offer.

The sky had turned completely dark, and for the first time in Isjordian land I could see patches of star adorned skies. Nia had left for dinner, but I stayed behind to marvel at the entrancing magic of the dancing sparkles, already fed with guilt. They dazzled, radiant. It felt as if they were the only normal thing in my life at the moment, their glimmering stillness had enchanted my troubles away only for a few moments. That and the vanilla cream bun Nia had brought as a peace offering.