Lex’s nostrils flared. “You’re making excuses for him.”
“I’m not—”
“Yes. You. Are,” Lex growled. “You may think he loves you, but this is not what love is. Love is not this pain. It is not the excuses and the promises he’s made to you.” Tears were in Lex’s eyes, and she started to reach out for Aydra’s hand, but stopped short upon remembering the water.
“I have always supported you, whatever decisions you make, whatever you needed or wanted… But I will not stand here and watch him do this to you as though you are nothing more than a servant for him to throw around. You are the Queen. Not a decoration on his arm. Not just a pretty face wearing a crown. Whatever problems he has faced in his past, they are not your fault. You have never been anything less than the strongest woman I know. Do not let his words get in your head and make you feel inferior.”
Aydra’s jaw tightened, and she inhaled the deepest breath she’d taken in a long while. She nodded slowly and sat her chin on her knee. A moment passed, and Aydra continued rubbing at the red marks on her skin, burying the pain of it washing away deep in her core.
“You cannot breathe a word of this, Lex,” Aydra managed after a few moments. “And you cannot harm him.”
Lex sighed audibly, and Aydra knew the look she would have on her face without looking up. “I know,” Lex finally said.
“I will be ready next time,” Aydra promised.
“Next time?” Lex repeated. “I—”
Aydra held a hand up and shook her head. “He is on edge. Something is wrong, and I’m not sure what.”
“And that is an excuse to hurt you?”
“I am not saying it is an excuse, I am simply telling you the truth of it,” Aydra almost snapped. “I will not pretend to think this is over.”
“What can I do?” Lex asked.
Aydra thought about it a moment, “I want you to stick closer to Bard. Find out if there’s anything going on that he’s not telling me. I want to know everything and everyone he speaks with. Employ Corbin or any of our women if you need to.”
Lex nodded. “Yes ma’am.”
“And I’ve told Nyssa that we will be traveling to the Forest for the Dead Moons. She’s yet to meet any of the Noctuans. I have failed her training.”
“You haven’t failed anything,” Lex argued. “But I think a break from here would do you both well,” she agreed. “Our trip to rid the Infi was short-lived. Now that the streets are once more safe, I believe a month away would do you a great favor.”
“I’m not sure a month away would be wise,” Aydra said. “A couple of weeks, sure. But not a month.”
“Why not? Your brothers can take care of things in your place. You need a break, Aydra. A real break. Not just one of your skirts off to the cliffs.”
“Where would you like to go?” Aydra asked her.
“We’ll go to the Forest, and then travel back through the mountains on our way back to Magnice. Visit these Blackhand people that I’ve so long heard stories about,” Lex said with a wink.
Aydra almost laughed. She looked down at her wrists then and noticed the redness turned to simply pink, and the rawness of the burns on her stomach now looking of yellow bruising.
“In the meantime, we need to find out what is going on. They’re hiding something from us,” Aydra said.
Lex stood from the chair then and grabbed the thickest robe from across the top of the three-pane divider. “We’ll find out. But today, we go see if Maye can make you a dress befitting of pissing your brother off again. ”
A swell of gratitude filled Aydra’s chest at her Seconds affirmations. She nodded again and forced herself to stand from the tub. “I’d like that.”
CHAPTER EIGHT
DORIAN RETURNED ON the morning of the next week, and Aydra swore he’d grown an inch more and filled out more in the time that she’d missed him. She and Nyssa met him at the gates, and Aydra watched him hug his sister, swinging her around in a circle as the joy of seeing one another exuded from both their cores.
The sight of it brought tears to Aydra’s eyes. She remembered when her own brother had been so happy to see her once, when every time she and Zoria would return from the Forest and he would hug her as Dorian had Nyssa. The smile he would meet her with, the fill of happiness in his eyes… Her heart ached for that feeling again. For the butterflies and swell of chest, for the skipping of heartbeat and jagged breaths that came with the joy of seeing someone you could not explain a love for…
Dorian sat Nyssa back on the ground and then his eyes found Aydra’s a few feet behind her. A small frown slipped on his face, and he eyed her. “What’s this? Did you actually miss me?” he mocked.
Aydra couldn’t help the smile and shake of her head. “Funnily enough, I did,” she answered. Her arms opened to him, and he hugged her tightly.
“Are you okay?” he whispered in her hair.
She pulled back and pressed her hands to his cheeks. “I’m fine,” she assured him. “But tell me, how much trouble did the Venari get you in to while on the road? Shall I have to skin him when he arrives for meetings next month?”
Dorian laughed. “No skinning needed. He stuck around until Scindo Creek and then left me to deal with the other two towns on my own. I think I’m beginning to understand your
