Page 31 of Chaos and Crowns

Odelle’s shoulders drew up towards her ears in preemptive defense. “Are you going to scold me for not calling you and Adam as soon as we found out that the Shadow was after the crown?”

Nora hesitated but shook her head. “You were handling it really well. Honestly, I’m impressed with all the fake identities you made to pull off the switch, but the shit hit the fan, as it normally does with the Shadow.”

Odelle tugged at the furry rug they sat on and nodded.

“I want you to know though,” Nora continued haltingly, “You don’t have to feel bad asking for help here. You have nothing to prove. I know that I’ve started fighting the Shadow with the Eteria, but it’s ok if that’s not for you. I don’t want you to feel like you’re being forced to join this fight, just because I’m in it now.”

“Be real, do you think I could know that all of this battle between the Shadow and the Light was happening just beneath the surface of reality and go about my life like nothing has changed?” Odelle asked. “Besides, these people are your family. I don’t want to get in the way of an important part of your life.”

“You’re my family.” Nora bumped a shoulder against Odelle’s. “And you don’t have to charge at the Shadow with a spear for me to want you to be involved in this new part of my life. I’m sure the Eteria are happy to have you around, immortal sorcerer or not.”

“Yeah well, I don’t think Antony sees it that way,” Odelle huffed, although now she was just disappointed, no longer capable of being stung by his rejection. Not after what they had just been through together. What she had learned about his past.

“I doubt that,” Nora argued. “I thought you guys really hit it off. I could have sworn there was something between you.”

Odelle buried her face in her hands, making her voice come out muffled. “Yeah, I thought that at first too. Antony made it clear that I was wrong.”

Nora’s touch landed on Odelle’s shoulder and pulled her face free.

“What happened?”

Odelle sighed and stared into the fire as she relayed the events of Christmas eve. Her face burned hot with embarrassment as she recalled her silly actions—the reason she hadn’t told Nora what happened sooner. How she had kissed Antony like any other man at a party, when she should have realized he belonged in a different league. Shame stung her chest at the rejection, amplified by sharing it with somebody else. Now that she couldn’t bring herself to be mad at Antony anymore, her heart felt tender and bruised. The shield of anger she had built around her feelings by telling herself that he was just cruel was waning, and now she had to face the reality of the situation. She still didn’t know why he would be so callous, but her indignation had been replaced by confusion.

Nora was silent when Odelle finished. Odelle continued to pick sullenly at the shaggy carpet.

“So I guess I did have something to prove—that I wasn’t worthy of the Eteria.”

“That’s not right,” Nora interjected sharply. “And that’s not like Antony, there must be more to the story.”

Odelle sighed. “Just because there was more to your story with Adam and you got your happily ever after, doesn’t mean I will. Sometimes things just don’t work out.”

“True,” Nora conceded, “But not with somebody who stares at you the way I saw Antony look at you. Maybe you gave Antony your legendary cold shoulder prematurely.”

Odelle shot Nora a glare out of the corner of her eye, and Nora held up her hands placatingly.

“Look, I’m just saying, you seem confident most of the time, but you and I both know that when it comes to rejection, you bruise like an overly emotional banana. Probably because you don’t have much practice with it.”

Odelle narrowed her eyes, and Nora shrank back despite being one of the few people that could stand up to her younger sister’s temper. The fact was, Nora had struck a nerve. Odelle’s normal assuredness in her abilities was a double-edged sword. While it usually allowed her to face challenging situations with fire in her veins, it left her floundering on the occasions where she was unsuccessful.

“There might be more to his rejection than meets the eye,” Nora pressed on, even as she held up her hands like Odelle was a snarling mountain lion she was trying to tame. “Did you give him a chance to say more than one sentence before you stormed off?”

Odelle shook her head to which Nora held up her hands in a way that said see? Odelle wanted to believe her. She wanted to believe that Antony’s soft smiles—those beautiful legs he had made for her—were a sign of how he felt. After being so thoroughly burned by him once though, she shied away from the thought of making another advance.

“I can’t promise anything,” Odelle hedged. “But I think we can at least be…comrades now. After a wilderness survival bootcamp, you can’t help but feel bonded with somebody. Harrowing experiences and all that.”

The look that Nora gave Odelle implied she thought they might be “bonded” by more than a night of arctic camping, but she let it drop.

“So the crown…” Nora started.

“I assume you and Adam are going to make it a priority to find it?”

“Actually, I was hoping you and Antony would continue to work on it,” Nora explained. “Of course we’ll help, but with your job, you naturally have your ear to the ground on all the happenings in the city. You’d be the first to hear about anything abnormal.”

Odelle’s insides warmed from more than just the tea. She could be an asset to the Eteria after all.

“And Antony,” Nora continued, “If the Shadow really has somehow corrupted the crown, he’s the only one who will know how to fix it.”

Odelle nodded, tugging at a loose strand of hair in thought and then grimacing at the greasy texture. Her arctic expedition hadn’t been great for her look.