Chapter 23
Tatianna
Tatianna was not overly optimistic, but nor was she a pessimist. She believed in weighing the options before her and understanding that regardless of how, an outcome would come about. And it was best to be prepared for all such contingencies.
Including stopping the older Maverine brother from killing the younger.
After Malcolm had landed the dragon in the courtyard, Blade had rushed to soothe the animal.
Becky joined him, assisting in hitching up the basket woven to catch the guvres.
But Trystan had merely stood there, cold as ice, with a look on his face like he’d ram a fist into Malcolm’s smiling mouth at any second.
It was why Tatianna knew she needed to proceed with caution.
As soon as the Sage sisters arrived for their unofficial kitchen meeting, she had to play her cards perfectly.
Alexander Kingsley sat at the table, too—a bizarre sight by anyone’s standards. She took the seat next to him hesitantly, drumming her vibrant nails against the wood of the table, side-eyeing her froggy friend.
Edwin broke the ice as easily as always, walking over to ruffle Alexander’s hair affectionately. “So good to have you back, Your Highness. Don’t you agree, Mr. Trystan?”
The fear of disappointing the ogre had all of them sucking in a breath to straighten, nodding in agreement.
“You look well, Edwin!” Malcolm smiled, taking the ogre’s hand when he was given a ceramic cup of cauldron brew. “Reading anything good lately?”
Edwin gave Malcolm a warm smile in return, fondness in his gaze. “I’m rereading an old favorite. The Cunning Corset Society. I agreed to co-read it with your brother.”
Trystan stopped with the mug halfway to his mouth, dark eyes remaining on the cup when everyone turned their stares on him.
Evie had frozen in the doorway, mouth forming a small O. She’d donned a clean dress—one Tatianna had gifted her, light green cinching tightly at the waist. Evie brushed her hands down the embroidered floral skirt, looking ready to burst from containing her laughter.
There was no need. The boning in the corset could do it efficiently enough.
Tatianna believed in a lot of things: her ability to properly dress her friends according to their color chart; her healing abilities; but most of all, she believed in herself, her instincts. One must accept whatever outcome was before them.
She had no way to know it would be as delightful as this.
“You’re reading…smut?” Tatianna concluded, gleeful as a person could be.
Trystan clenched his jaw, pointing an accusatory finger toward her across the table. “I’m reading a book about complex feelings and emotional turmoil. It’s riveting.” He said it so evenly and without emotion. It made it all the funnier.
“Did you reach chapter six yet?” Tatianna pressed her hands together, not unlike when one was in prayer.
Trystan frowned. “No.”
Evie coughed into her hand, drawing the rest of the room’s attention to her and Lyssa’s arrival. “What’s in chapter six?” Lyssa asked, twirling in behind her older sister.
“Nothing!” Evie, Tatianna, and Edwin all chimed in at once.
“It’s definitely not nothing,” Lyssa grumbled under her breath.
“My lady! You’re looking well!” Malcolm swept up from the table, coming before Evie in a sweeping bow, eyeing her up and down. “And my…little lady! Hello there.”
Tatianna saw the danger ahead and cozied up in her seat. This was going to be entertaining if nothing else.
“Malcolm?” Trystan spoke quietly.
“Yes, brother?”
“Return to the table before I put your head through it.” Trystan proclaimed this very casually, eyes burning into Evie’s reddening face.
Lyssa didn’t appear to care about any of this. Just what she’d been called.
“I’m not a lady; I’m a villain.”
Malcolm laughed, clapping Evie on the shoulder. “A family business in the Sage household, according to that beautiful wanted flyer I saw on my way over.”
Evie paled.
And Tatianna sighed.
Trystan’s fist flew at Malcolm’s face, knocking him to the ground.
“Trystan!” Evie objected, grabbing the top of his arm and pulling him away.
“Can you teach me how to do that?” Lyssa whispered at Trystan’s hip.
Trystan took a break from his anger to look down at her softly, nodding, before returning to glare at his brother. Lyssa ignored the man flat on the ground to jump up and down in excitement.
A tenderness crept its way into her heart when Tatianna saw it. The likeness between the sisters, the invisible cord tying them together.
This really was going to be a horrific conversation.
Malcolm remained the good sport he always was during rows with Trystan, thank the gods. It was good. Considering he tended to instigate them all.
“Apologies,” he said, pulling his cheek from the floor. “I thought perhaps the promotion was a good thing. You were due for a rival villain; you were getting too big for your britches.”
You absolute buffoon. Tatianna rubbed at her eyes. How they’d kept Malcolm alive in Trystan’s presence for so long was either a miracle or a stroke of luck they’d run out of.
“She’s not my rival,” Trystan gritted out. “Sage, ignore him.”
“I could be your rival,” Evie objected, narrowing her eyes. It appeared she was taking Trystan’s dismissal of her as an insult.
Tatianna adored that about her.
Trystan did a double take in her direction, and a barked rasp from Alexander followed the action. He’d been watching the exchange with a rather large grin, the sight dear and familiar but changed. He looked older than when Tatianna had seen him last.
Ten years passed for him in human time. And he got to experience none of it, she thought with a pang.
“I did so miss your warm greetings, brother,” Malcolm said as Edwin helped him to his feet. “And Alexander! I thought I was here to mourn my father, but I see there’s something marvelous to celebrate as well.”
Alexander responded to the heartfelt declaration by…ignoring it. Too distracted by a strand of hair falling over his forehead, the sensation appearing so startling to him that he flailed his arms, ready to fight his invisible attacker.
When he realized he was under no such attack, he smiled sheepishly at the rest of them. “Oh.”
The singular word caused a ripple of laughter that swept over them, and even Trystan’s lips quirked upward. Lyssa tilted her head and stepped forward. “Why were you green, sir? Were you ill?”
“A frog in his throat,” Evie added sedately with a wicked glimmer in her eyes.
Tatianna doubled over, hiding her face behind her hands. “Someone tell her, I beg you.” Elsewise she’d never stop laughing.
When Trystan crouched to Lyssa’s level, he delivered the news of Kingsley’s change with a gentleness he only displayed when conversing with the Sage girls.
That same softness clenched her heart when Clare’s hand found Tatianna’s under the table, her stomach doing somersaults. No one in the world had the power to excite her so. No one had the power to hold her heart. Only Clare Maverine and her aversion to glitter.
Evie took that moment to get the meeting going. “Tatianna, you summoned me?”
Tatianna’s heart began to race, and Clare squeezed her hand.
With a bracing breath, she planted her hands on either side of the table to stand, rounding to take Evie’s hands, pulling her deeper into the room.
“My sweet friend.” Tatianna swallowed around her words, unsure when nerves ever became part of her emotional threshold.
“I was hoping you’d consider… Well—Blade believes that if we can make the guvre nest with the eggs viable again, even if just for a few seconds, it might be enough to attract them back so we could recapture them. ”
Evie blinked, appearing bewildered by the idea. “But what does that have to do with me?”
“Starlight magic is the most healing sort,” Clare offered, and Tatianna shot her a grateful look that was a cross between thank you and please save me from this torture.
“But my mother’s magic is gone…” Evie’s mouth fell open, her eyes shooting to her sister, who was currently sneaking sugar cubes out of a glass. “Wait, Lyssa? You want to use Lyssa?” The betrayal in her voice was evident.
Trystan looked horrified. “Have you all been addled?”
“Are you going to pretend you didn’t know?” Evie spun on him, eyes glassing over. “What? Did you all convene to figure out how best to ambush me with this?”
Trystan flinched, eyes shutting for a moment before he steadied himself. “No, Sage. I—I would never do that to you.” He looked something close to hurt, and now it was Evie who flinched.
“I want to do it,” Lyssa murmured, drawing everyone’s attention to her. She’d abandoned the search for sugar and now appeared sedate, serious, her small hands folded at her chin. “I already told Blade yes.”
“He asked you directly?” Evie gasped, appearing so hurt Tatianna felt her heart snap like a twig.
“He said I need your permission.” Lyssa took hold of Evie’s hand, trying to make her understand what they all knew. “But he asked me first because it’s my magic and I should have a say in how I get to use it. I’m going with them, Evie. It’ll be fine, I promise.”
Tears were no longer glassing over Evie’s eyes—they were drifting down her face. “But it’s my job to keep you safe. I won’t ever stifle you, but please, won’t you let me protect you?”
Lyssa appeared much older than ten years when she responded, with so much wisdom, “You can’t protect me forever, Evie.”
The true cruelty in raising a child.
Edwin placed a gentle hand on Evie’s arm, and her lip wobbled. “I know that. I know I—Very well. If you insist on this, I will come with you and—”
“You can’t.” Clare stood, taking the words Tatianna couldn’t bear to say. “I’m not trying to be cruel, Evie, believe me. But your wanted flyers are everywhere. The entire kingdom and beyond knows your face. You’ll draw more attention to them.”
“It’s okay. I don’t need you there,” Lyssa assured her, and Tatianna thought it might have been the most brutal words ever spoken to Evie.
But she merely gave her sister a watery smile. “Of course you don’t, sweet.” Her voice cracked at the last word, but her smile remained firmly in place.
Lyssa frowned. “Why do you look sad?”
Evie rushed to comfort her sister, rushed to reassure her with a brightened attitude. “You’re going to do wonderfully. I’m just tired. Blade will keep you safe.”
“I’ll go, too,” Tatianna offered, fully expecting Evie to shoot daggers at her eyes. Instead, all Tatianna saw was pain when Evie’s lashes lifted and the woman offered her a sad but resolute nod.
“That’s kind of you, Tatianna. Please alert me as soon as you return, hmm?” Evie leaned down to give Lyssa a kiss on the cheek. “Good luck,” she whispered, a sniffle following it. And with a swish of those delicate embroidered flowers, Evie was gone.
The kitchen meeting had been a resounding success.
And Tatianna felt wretched.