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The back door opened, and their mother stepped through. Fransiska made a beeline for Addy and yanked her in for one of her famous hugs that made Tyr nostalgic in a way he wasn’t prepared for. It reminded him of how she’d held him to her bosom with enough force to choke him the day he’d returned to his family from the “dead.”
You snuck out while I was sleeping,Fransiska signed furiously, though the accusation in her eyes was pointed at Tyreste. “She should not be working, Tyreste.”
This wasn’t my doing. You know how she is,he signed in defense, and Addy laughed.
Waited for me to fall asleep. Little demon, you are.She pulled Addy in for another hug and mussed her hair.Go on home,she signed when she pulled away.That’s an order.
Addy rolled her eyes but nodded and pranced away. She turned back at the door and made a heart with her hands, looking straight at Tyreste. She nodded.
Emotional, he nodded back.
“I’m glad to see the two of you have mended things. All I want to do is hold her against me for the rest of her life, but she’s almost a woman now, and she needs herself more than she needs her mother,” Fransiska said. She swept her scrutinizing gaze over him, but exhaustion seemed to dull her usually acute observation skills. She breathed in through her nose and looked past him. “We almost lost her, Tyr. It was so close. Minutes maybe.”
For the rest of his life, he’d see Addy convulsing on the table, bloody foam crusting around her mouth. “It was close.”
“I don’t know how Anastazja knew to come when she did, but...” Fransiska shuddered through a breath. Her mouth trembled closed. “Fifteen dead, Tyreste. Fifteen poor souls. Some are already calling it the next Nok Mora.”
“Because it is a nightmare,” he said. “I can’t think of a better word for it.”
“Nor can I. So many Vjestik are still wounded from what happened back then, and now they’ve been dealt another terrible blow. Perhaps it’s true, and they really are cursed.”
They’re cursed all right, but only a few know the name of it.
“Anyway.” She tried to smile. “I never should have said what I did about Ana before. It was terrible and untrue and, more than that, unfair. We don’t choose the blood we are born with, do we?”
“I appreciate that, but Ana loves Addy too,” Tyr said, switching topics before his mother’s kindness had him crying again. “Look, Mama, I want to take a leave from the tavern for a while. Not forever, just for a little while. I just have so many translations, and—”
Fransiska tugged him close with one arm and kissed the side of his head. He was far too tall now for her to kiss the top, as she had when he’d been a boy. “I don’t need an explanation, son. None of you are indebted to us. Take whatever time you need.”
“Really?”
“Really.” Fransiska kissed him again and let him go. “But Iwouldlike to ask something of you. I’ve been mulling it all night, and I know why you may have good reason to refuse, but I believe you have more reason to grant it.”
Tyr waited anxiously for her to tell him.
“The weather has broken, though probably not for long, and that means we are long overdue for a family campfire.”
He laughed. “Obviously I’ll be there. It’s a family campfire, Mama.”
“Not you.” Fransiska shook her head. “Well, ofcourseyou. But I would like you to invite Anastazja.”
Tyr’s expression froze. “Ana?”
“Will you do that for me?”
“But...” There had never been an invite extended to anyone outside the family. They’d only started inviting Stojan after Agnes had made it clear she intended to marry him when she “looked fetching in her gowns again.”
“I don’t know what happened between the two of you.” Fransiska frowned and held a hand up. “And I do not wish to know, for you’re a man, and your business is your own. HowIfeel about it has no bearing on your life, and I know that. I know it.”
“Mama—”
“But when she saved our Addy, she became a part of us in a way no law nor blood could ever displace. And it would be myhonorto include her in the last truly sacred thing we have as a family.” Fransiska met his eyes. “So will you do this for me? Will you ask her?”
His eyes stung as he nodded. He cleared his throat. “Of course. I don’t know if she’ll come, but I’ll ask.”
“She’ll come.” Fransiska smiled and wiped the exhaustion from her eyes. She reached for her apron, hanging from a series of hooks on the wall. “Don’t worry about your shifts, Tyreste. Stojan has already offered to come in more, and once Faustina delivers and is healed, she’s eager to return as well. We will never need more than we already have. The Guardians have always provided, and after watching another child of mine return to life, I know now they’ll never forsake us.”
Chapter18
