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“I hate that. Doesn’t it make you want to throw up?”
“Exactly.” I picked at my fingernails, forcing breaks in them where there wasn’t any until I could pull the excess length away.
“King Windre’s in a meeting. Another one,” she sighed.
Our trail curled around a bush. A bench carved from an old tree trunk lay off to the side where a couple of Nymphs sat together chatting happily. We passed them with small waves.
“I’m surprised you didn’t want to be in the meeting with him. I thought you were all about knowing all the details and helping him lead?”
“I am. I’m just tired.” She kicked at the stone under us, still watching her feet. “You know what? No.” She looked up. “I’m not tired of these stupid meetings, I’m just tired of King Windre always being busy. And you’re here, and I couldn’t hole up in yet another boring discussion just to spend time with him when I could be out here,” she motioned around us, “complaining and fretting.” A small chuckle lightened her words.
“I’m surprised you two haven’t sealed the deal…” I implied with a playful tone.
“No, King Windre is annoyingly proper with some things, while flying wildly by the seat of his pants with others. But I’m so happy for you.” She stopped, taking my hand. “So you love him?”
“I really, really love him.” Butterflies, followed by my remaining nerves, kicked up as I admitted it. “It’s kinda messed up because he is messed up. Like for someone with such a well-cared for life, he is mentally fucked.” I chewed on my bottom lip. Perhaps I’d said too much. “But he is getting better, growing.”
“That’s all you can ask,” Hattie mumbled, starting to walk the trail again.
The sun was beginning to head toward the horizon. I could hardly see its pinkish glow over the top of the bushes that edged the yard and the height of the surrounding wall. The Fae fire light lamps flickered on, filling in where the shadows had begun to creep up.
“Do you like Dace?” I asked.
“Of course! I think you two are wonderful together. I’m just glad you got over your whole ‘no way am I going to love someone who is clearly in love with me during this war’ thing. Why? Do you like King Windre? Should I be worried? Is this leading into some sort of intervention?”
“No, no,” I laughed, patting her shoulder. “I love King Windre, clearly. It’s just you’re the only family I have left other than Daethian…” I trailed off. Where was he now? Since he had left, I’d heard nothing, we’d seen nothing. For all we knew at this point, Daethian was dead. My eyes burned and I forced the thoughts away. “Daethian hates Dace. I don’t know, I guess I'm looking for your approval.”
Hattie tried to hide her smile. “Trust me, Ryker. You both have my blessing.”
“Oh thank the mother,” I gushed. “And you too. You and King Windre have my blessing too. Obviously.”
“Thank you, but we aren’t there yet. I’m not sure if we will ever be, but I appreciate it.”
Another carved bench came into view, its seat facing the open ballroom floor. Hattie pointed to the bench, slowly sitting down on it. I leaned back into it, the wood was cold without the heat of the sun on it, and watched the Nymphs who had gathered. A few were arm in arm, twirling to the beat of their friends’ clapping. I smiled absently at them.
“They seem to be adjusting well,” I began again.
“Yes, it’s not going as well for the few others who were scattered throughout the court. King Windre sent out his proclamation that they should all be free and also sent out a few messengers to deliver Jerydin’s vials so they could have their magic back. It works instantly now.”
“What’s in that concoction anyway? What is it that brings the magic back?” I crossed my legs and leaned an elbow on the back of the seat.
“I’m not really sure. It’s just a mixture that Jerydin accidentally made that a Nymph accidentally took thinking it was something else, and then after a few days they regained their magic. He has just messed with the proportion of the ingredients since then.”
I laughed. “How do you ‘accidentally’ make something?”
“You eat while you do science? He said he was working late on other projects and the soup he was eating got knocked over and spilled into his test tubes.”
“Well, I’m thankful he is a workaholic that eats in his office.”
“Yeah, he over-seasons his food. His breath is always oddly...” Hattie squinted, struggling to find the right word. “Spicy?”
“Spic—” I started, stopping suddenly as blonde hair and a blood splattered suit came jogging down the garden trail. “Dace?”
“I’ll give you two a moment.” Hattie squeezed my hand, taking the trail back toward the castle. As she passed Dace she said, “Glad to see you made it back in one piece.”
Dace bobbed his head as he continued forward, only slowing when he was within arm’s reach. He wrapped his arms around me, squeezing a surprised yelp out of me.
“Are you okay?” I pulled away, examining the blood on him. Unbuttoning the jacket, I pulled it away, making sure it wasn’t coming from something that needed to be examined by a healer.
