Aydra’s nostrils flared. “Nyssa…”
“I didn’t know that would happen,” Nyssa promised. “I swear, I had no inclination that these people were dangerous, that a battle would be fought. I thought… Rhaif… I happened to be in the Chamber when the letter came, and he threw such a fit. He made me promise not to tell—”
“How could you not tell me?” Aydra asked softly, her heart breaking.
“I’m sorry. I didn’t think it was serious—”
“My men died on that beach,” Draven interjected from the balcony. “Do you call that not serious?”
“Not now, Draven,” Aydra cut in.
Draven settled back against the railing, arms crossing over his chest. Aydra turned back to Nyssa’s pain-stricken face, and she realized Nyssa was shaking.
“Drae, please,” Nyssa begged. “I didn’t realize.”
A heavy sigh left Aydra as she watched the terror on her sister’s face, the genuine regret in her bewildered features. She shook her head, feeling her face soften.
“Don’t ever lie to me again,” she dared. “I know you think he is righteous and he has the kingdom’s best interests in mind, but… “ She paused and swallowed hard, her hand clutching to the pole at the end of the bed to steady herself. “If you hear anything that he tries to stifle down, you have to tell me. You cannot believe any promises he ever makes you.”
Nyssa’s brows narrowed just slightly at her words, but she didn’t argue. Aydra sighed again, and then she hugged her sister. Nyssa clutched hard around her.
“I’m sorry,” Nyssa whispered against her. “I’m so sorry. I won’t—”
“Did you eat yet?” Aydra interjected.
“We didn’t. We rode through the night.”
Aydra glanced back at Draven’s annoyed figure leaned against the railing still. “Draven, do you mind if my sister joins us for breakfast?” she asked him.
“What— join the Venari?” Nyssa frowned. “But what about—”
“Not so long as she remembers who’s table she’s sitting at,” he answered, eyes traveling deliberately over Nyssa’s embarrassed figure.
Nyssa’s eyes darted between the pair. “But—”
“The Chronicles lie,” Aydra interjected. “These are good people. If you value the crown you’ll one day carry on your head, I suggest you learn respect for them.” She straightened up, looking at Draven again and then back to Nyssa. “You will join us for breakfast,” she said sternly. “You will speak nothing out of turn. You will treat the Venari with as much respect as you show the Bedrani. You will not mock, jest, or talk down to them. And when we are done, you will ride back to Magnice with a message for my brother. Do you understand?”
Nyssa swallowed hard, her apparent confusion written on her face. “Okay.”
Draven pushed off the railing then and started towards them. He looked down the steps and nodded once more to whomever it was down there. “Balandria, see to it our little princess has a seat beside me. And remind the men to be on their best. We’ll have Promised company at our table this morning.”
Balandria came up the steps then and stood smiling in the doorway. “Come, princess,” she beckoned. “I’ll take good care of you,” she added with a wink to Draven.
Nyssa flinched at Balandria’s grasp. “I can walk by myself,” she dared.
Balandria grinned and placed her hands on the princess’s shoulders, nudging them back and forth as she followed her down the steps. “Oh, princess. Don’t think on it. You stumble into the wrong hall here and you’ll be eaten.”
What the rest of their conversation became, Aydra didn’t hear. Draven was staring at her from the deck, the contagious amusement making her shake her head. “What a lovely bunch the four of you are,” he mused.
Aydra sighed and turned back to the bed, Nyssa’s denial about the ships still ringing in her ears. She hugged her chest and stared at the ground. Draven stepped slowly into the room.
“Do you think your prince knew as well?” he asked.
“I’m not sure,” she admitted. “I would hope Dorian would have told me. Nyssa is scared of everything. I understand why she was scared to go against him. But Rhaif… he kept it from me because he knew I would want to send help.”
“Would you have?” he asked.
She met his gaze. “I would have ridden out myself. With my own company,” she promised.
His chest swelled then, and she couldn’t figure out the look he gave her. He looked as though he would reach out to her, but instead he pulled something from out of the back of his pants. She frowned at the black fabric.
“What is this?” she asked, sitting down on the bed then so she could hold it in her hands.
“It occurred to me you’d been wearing the same two dresses for a week now. The men were beginning to complain about the smell. Balandria was nice enough to offer one of her dresses.”
She didn’t know what to smart off about first.
“Okay, first, I do not smell. Second, if I do smell, it is because you have not offered to allow me to wash my clothes. And third, I’m surprised Balandria had a dress to offer. What could she have to do that would require one?”
Draven smiled the snarky smile that she had come to know all too well in the last week. “Perhaps you should take a closer look at that dress and you’ll figure it out.”
She frowned and held it up again. And her mouth almost dropped at the sight of it. It was lace—sheer lace— and was of a slim fitting nature with long sleeves and such a high slit that Aydra was sure her privates would have shown.
“You cannot be—Venari!”
Draven’s low chuckle vibrated the air as he backed out of the room. “I would have thought it to suit you after the dress you wore at banquet,” he mused with a wink. “Make sure you wear that to breakfast.”
“Venari! You—Draven! Come back here!”
She cursed the
