AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Amara stood. “Given there has been no solid news of Grey, I can’t see any rush for us to get to the capital. We can afford to spend a few days in Eldrida before moving on. But first, I need a proper sleep.”
Everyone stood, moving away from the table, but Gia only moved around to latch onto Nik’s arm.
“You will be coming with us all the way to the capital, won’t you?” she asked quietly, her eyes fixed on his face.
“Don’t worry, Gia. I intend to see this through.”
“That’s not what I mean, and you know it,” she said fiercely. “It’s been long enough, Nik. You need to come home.”
He opened his mouth to speak, but she rushed on.
“I know what the Triumvirate did to you was awful. And Father treated you badly, too, in his own way. But he didn’t know it was going to happen, and it wasn’t as if he was offered a choice. He and Mother miss you. She’s been so worried, not even knowing where you were.”
“And so you wanted to make her feel better by leaving home the second your apprenticeship allowed and wandering the kingdoms yourself, then?” he asked, but it was amusement, not bitterness, lurking behind his words.
Gia had the grace to flush. “I understand why you had to get away. I had to as well, at least for a while. I’m just saying it’s been long enough.”
“Gia, stop.” Nik cut her off gently. “I’m not avoiding Mother and Father, not anymore. I’m seeing what I started through to the end and making sure Grey can’t hurt anyone ever again.”
“So you’ll be going to the capital with us?” she pressed.
He sighed. “I don’t know what you’re expecting. I’ve been gone a long time, and everything has changed. There’s no place for me there, anymore. Or are you forgetting what I am now?”
She groaned. “Why couldn’t you have waited to run off until after you finished your apprenticeship? Would that really have been so hard?” She gripped his arm with both hands. “But couldn’t you ask them to take you back? If your master accepts you back, and you complete your apprenticeship, you won’t be a reneger anymore.”
He rubbed the back of his neck, giving a laugh that held a tinge of his old bitterness. “And you think Master Augusta will accept me back just for the asking? Unlike our parents, the Triumvirate always wanted me gone.”
She bit her lip, her eyes worried. “But you could at least try.”
He gently removed her hands from his arm. “I’ll stay with you all the way to the capital, sister. But I can’t promise you what will happen after that.”
I stood frozen, hardly breathing since they seemed to have forgotten my presence. But as soon as Nik finished speaking, he flashed me a glance loaded with more emotion than I could name.
I stepped toward him, my mouth forming his name, but he was already gone, out the front door of the cabin and off into the greenery of the crevasse.
ChapterThirteen
The trip due south to Eldrida was uneventful since it took us largely through desert. Gia took every opportunity to initiate conversation, quickly wheedling my entire life story out of me. She shared freely about herself as well, regaling me with stories from her childhood with Nik.
Nik, on the other hand, was clearly avoiding me. He never did anything pointed enough that I could protest, but neither did we have opportunities to talk unless there were several others present.
“Why does he have to sabotage his own happiness?” Gia asked sadly as we approached Eldrida on the final day. She was gazing at Nik, who was walking ahead of us in conversation with Renley.
I didn’t pretend not to know what she was talking about or that the matter hadn’t occupied many of my thoughts during our journey.
“I think he thinks he’s doing it for me,” I said with a sigh. “He knows I won’t leave my apprenticeship and Amara—he wouldn’t even ask me to—and he thinks that means it will never work between us. Like Amara and Hayes. So he’s trying to create distance between us now, to minimize the pain.”
Gia groaned. “That would explain why he’s always looking at you.”
“He is?” I frowned. I hadn’t noticed him watching me. I was always the one looking at him.
But Gia nodded assuredly. “Whenever you’re distracted and not looking at him, he stares at you like his life depends on memorizing every one of your features. Just seeing his expression makes my heart hurt—and that’s despite thinking he’s being a fool.”
I looked down at my feet, my face burning. Did he really look at me like that?
Gia was right—he was a fool.
“Can’t you straighten him out?” Gia asked. “I’ve tried, but he stonewalls me.”
