Pryor and Luca and Trina and…Tynan. Oren and Amber Mavis.
Tairn and Andarna choosing me.
Xaden kissing me.
Our mother ignoring me.
Mira pulls me back just long enough to look me over, as if she’s checking for damage. “You’re all right.” She nods, her teeth digging into her bottom lip. “You’re all right, aren’t you?”
I nod, but she blurs in my vision because I might be alive, thriving even, but I’m not the same person she left at the base of that turret, and from the heaviness in her eyes, she knows it, too.
“Yeah,” she whispers, tucking me in tight again. “You’re all right, Violet. You’re all right.”
If she says it enough times, I might start to believe her.
“Are you?” I jerk back to study her. There’s a new scar that stretches from her earlobe to her collarbone. “Gods, Mira.”
“I’m fine,” she promises, then grins. “And look at you! You didn’t die!”
Irrational, giddy laughter bubbles up. “I didn’t die! You’re not an only child!”
We both burst into laughter, and tears track down my cheeks.
“Sorrengails are weird,” I hear Imogen state.
“You have no idea,” Dain answers, but when I turn to look, his lips are curved into the first genuine smile I’ve seen from him in months.
“Shut up, Aetos,” Mira barks, throwing her arm over my shoulder. “Catch me up on everything, Violet.”
We might be hundreds of miles from Basgiath, but I’ve never felt more at home.
…
It’s early evening two days later, just after dinner, when Rhiannon and I climb out our first-story window and drop to the ground. Mira’s out on patrol, and as wonderful as it’s been to have her close, this is our only chance.
“We’re on our way.”
“Don’t get caught,” Tairn warns.
“Trying not to.” Rhiannon and I sneak along the battlement wall, turning the corner toward the field—
I run into Mira so hard that I bounce backward.
“Shit!” Rhiannon exclaims as she catches me.
“Don’t you at least check the corners?” Mira lectures, folding her arms over her chest and staring me down in a way I might deserve. Fine, I definitely deserve.
“In my defense, I didn’t think you’d be there,” I say slowly. “Because you’re supposed to be on patrol.”
“You were acting super weird at dinner.” She tilts her head to the side and studies me just like we’re kids again, seeing way too much. “So I switched shifts. Do you want to tell me what you’re doing outside the walls?”
I glance at Rhiannon, and she looks away.
“Neither of you? Really?” She sighs and rubs the bridge of her nose. “You two need to sneak out of a heavily fortified defensive position because…?”
I look up at Rhiannon. “She’s going to figure it out anyway. She’s like a bloodhound with stuff like this. Trust me.” My stomach clenches.
Rhiannon tilts her chin. “We’re flying to my family’s house.”
Mira blanches. “You think you’re what?”
“We’re flying to her village. It’s like a five-minute flight, according to Tairn, and—” I start.
“Absolutely not.” Mira shakes her head. “Nope. You cannot fly off like you’re on vacation. What if something happens to you?”
“At her parents’ house?” I ask slowly. “Because there’s some major ambush planned on the off chance that we might just be dropping in?”
Mira’s eyes narrow.
Shit. This is not going well and, given the death grip Rhiannon has on my arm now, she doesn’t think so, either.
“We’d be in less danger visiting her parents than we are at Basgiath,” I argue.
Mira’s lips purse. “Fair point.”
“Come with us,” I blurt. “Seriously. Come with us, Mira. She just wants to see her sister.”
Mira’s shoulders dip. She’s softening, and I mercilessly go in for the kill.
