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Even though I’d eaten not too long ago with Haxil, I found the tantalizing scents of my parents’ home cooking and the feel of familiarity as my family surrounded us to make me hungry for the life we’d once led.
And as Tormesh began telling me how he filled most of his days, I sprang from the couch, no longer able to sit still as I grabbed plates from the single shelf on the wall and glasses for drinks. Every few minutes, I snuck glances at the prince. He sat rigidly, and he made no move to help, yet a part of me knew that wasn’t from bad manners. His magic was that depleted.
My hands shook when I set each plate on the table until Tormesh elbowed me, a grin splitting his face.
“There’s a well in the back.” My brother inclined his head toward another door. “Water from the sea is pumped and filtered daily. Come, I’ll show you.”
Thankful for the distraction, I followed him out. A single pump stood at the corner of their property. We both spoke rapidly as he pumped the well, each of us trying to fill in the other as much as possible so we knew everything that was happening in each other’s lives.
“You have three affinities?” He nearly dropped the bucket of water when I told him that. “And the king entered you into the Rising Queen Trial?”
I nodded. “My first affinity manifested a few months ago. It’s why the prince took me.” I explained my other two affinities as well, but neglected to mention Vorl’s involvement. My brother hated Vorl for how he’d treated me. Even though I’d hidden most of the abuse from my family, they’d still seen enough to know that Vorl was anything but kind to me.
“You have a fire element too, just like mother and me?” Tormesh grinned.
“I do, and watch out, I can probably best you in a fire wielding competition.”
He snorted. “Doubtful.” A lasso of his fire whipped out of him and around me.
Laughing, I released my own affinity. I coiled my fire around his, shoving it off.
“I’m not that easily thwarted.” He circled me, and we battled playfully, lobbing fireballs at each other, whipping strands of fire at one another’s ankles, and creating walls of flames to halt the other’s progress.
Tormesh soon began sweating, and the surprise on his face was priceless when my fire again cut through his.
“You truly are stronger than me.” The teasing left his voice, awe taking its place.
I sucked my fire affinity back into me, shrugging.
Tormesh’s smile broadened. “Who would have thought my sister would become so powerful.” He shook his head in wonder, but then his lips downturned. “I wish I could have seen you manifest.”
My chest tightened. The prince had brought my family here to keep them safe, but this tiny village was still a cage. Nobody could come and go willingly. It was too great of a risk that would expose them all. Basically, it was a prison, and that stirred memories of the time I’d been locked in the Exorbiant Chamber.
If it wasn’t such a sad situation, I probably would have snorted in amusement. While the prince’s intentions were noble, he also had a habit of locking fae up. Although life on the Cliffs of Sarum, with the hope of one day being free, was better than entering the afterlife.
Tormesh bumped me with his elbow again. “Don’t look so sad. It’s really not that bad here. We’ve gotten used to it, and honestly, it’s not that much different from life back home. We just can’t do trips to Firlim anymore, but how often did we leave our village anyway?” He shrugged. “Besides, I saw a lot of the continent when I marched with the Solis Guard. At least I got that.”
“Oh, Tormesh.” I pulled him into a hug. He’d always been an optimist.
He hugged me back just as fiercely, and then our father hollered from inside, asking where the drinks were.
We both laughed as tears pricked my eyes again before we joined everyone else.
The rest of the evening passed in a blur, and it was so surreal it felt magical. We all crowded around the tiny kitchen table, catching up on all that had occurred in the past full season. My family had endless questions about me and Cailis, and the wistful sigh on my mother’s face told me she wanted to see my sister as desperately as she had wanted to see me.
But I didn’t know if the prince would allow it. He’d seemed cagey and concerned about bringing me here, and the secretiveness of the place told me that he’d taken a huge risk just by allowing my entry.
But I didn’t let those concerns cloud my thoughts. Instead, I focused on the present and soaked up every second of my family’s company while the prince remained quiet but ate a mountain of food.
By the time the sky darkened to the deepest night through the window-like ice above the tiny village, I knew it was time to go. We’d been gone for hours, and just because the bombshell of my family’s survival had hit me like a ton of bricks, it didn’t stop everything else that was occurring in my life.
I still needed to wake up early to heal another field, I still had to train, and I still had to prepare for my three Trial tests, which were only weeks away.
So when we stood to leave, I didn’t fight it.
“I’ll mistphase myself, and if you’d like, I can mistphase you too,” I said to the prince, knowing his pride wouldn’t allow him to admit that his magic was weakened.
Surprise filled his eyes. “You can mistphase others?”
