Chapter 4
FOUR
Dexter returned with the children as Yerina prepared the teashop for closing.
One day, she’d be able to keep it open later.
She’d have a few employees to spread the workload, and a full menu of treats to offer along with tea.
Local goods, like her deal with the bakery, but other regional foods too.
Teacakes and other snacks that complemented teas from the Radiant Isles.
Sandwiches and baked goods more after the Rhellian and Graelynd traditions.
Magic enhanced and mundane offerings, depending on the customers’ choice.
So many possibilities! For her teashop. Yerina couldn’t stop smiling, and not only because Eunny and Anadae had been chattering nonstop since they came through the door.
“It’s like a big well, but it’s full of clay! And they let us put our magic in one and we tried to turn it and it was so hard,” Eunny said, hands waving dramatically through the air.
“They broke up the mug I broke,” Anadae added. “It’s going to be in new mugs now.”
“I took them to the reclamation center in the Grove,” Dexter explained, naming Sylveren University’s earth magic department. “Some of the Adept levels were in.”
“My goodness, that’s so exciting. Does it make you want to go to Sylveren when you grow up?” Yerina asked as she finished placing washed cups on the drying rack.
The children nodded.
“I want to go there now,” Eunny declared.
“Soon, dear.” Yerina ruffled her hair. “but not too soon.”
“Can we stay here forever?” Anadae asked.
“Well,” Yerina began, the word stretching out. Picking up on her nervous excitement, all three faces turned toward her. “Haze did leave us with a surprise.”
The teashop’s door banged open, cutting off Yerina’s news. Bioon stalked past the last pair of customers, already on their way out. Her terse, “We’re closed,” drew surprised looks before they hurried off.
“Bioon! What are you doing—”
“I could ask you the same thing, sister,” Bioon hissed. “Gossip in Renstown is that this shop was signed over to a new owner. Only one.”
“Yes, but it only just happened. I was going to tell you.” Yerina held the deed up for all to see, giving a hasty, edited explanation of Haze’s reasoning.
“It’s yours? Forever?” Eunny asked.
“That’s the hope,” Yerina said.
“Are you going to add me as an owner?” Bioon demanded.
“I-I don’t… We should discuss this later.” Yerina glanced at the children, who watched them with tense expressions.
Dexter had gone stiff, his eyes narrowing at Bioon’s harsh tone.
“There’s nothing to discuss. It’s a simple question, Yerina. I’ve been here for the last month—”
“No,” Yerina blurted out. Her hands went to her mouth, but there was no scooping the word back. She hurried to add, “Not if you’re going to want to partner with those investors. Once we pay off the loan, we can—”
“You asked me to come here,” Bioon said in an icy tone. “You begged me to come with you. I left my work back home for you because you promised me—”
“You’ve hardly been here! And you’ve been doing your Coalition work the whole time,” Yerina said.
Bioon ignored her. “I did it. I put important projects back home on hold and I came up here because my older sister asked. Even though this place was a pile of shit when we got here, I stayed, because you promised I would get half.”
“You haven’t done anything,” Dexter rumbled.
Bioon gave him a disdainful look, then pointedly turned back to Yerina. “Who is this?”
“Dexter. He’s a… friend,” Yerina said weakly. “He’s been a great help—”
“What is it you do, Dexter?” Bioon asked, tone going deceptively pleasant.
“Whatever folks need help with around here.”
Bioon laughed, the sound cold and sharp. “Is this how you plan to keep this place afloat, Yerina? With help from a common laborer?” She glanced at Dexter again, nose wrinkling. “Who else? Your little friend who peddles buttons and thread?”
“Mama, you’re being mean.”
“Be quiet, Eunji. Adults are speaking,” Bioon said, eyes not leaving Yerina’s face.
“Let’s not do this now,” Yerina murmured. She ushered the kids toward the back door. “Girls, go up to the loft. I’ll be up soon.”
Anadae went, but Eunny hesitated, emotions flurrying across her face.
Yerina started forward, but Dexter shook his head. “I’ll take them,” he said. With a last glare at Bioon, he urged Eunny out.
“How well do you even know that man, to let him take my child—”
“Do you even care? You left,” Yerina cried. “She misses you! She’s a sweet girl, Bioon, and smart too. She knows you—”
“I’m well aware of my own daughter.”
“Then be around for her.”
“You spoil her, and don’t change the subject.” Bioon swept an arm out at the teashop. “Why did you even ask me to come here?”
“Because.”
I promised our parents. I promised you. To look after her sister.
That they would face the world together.
Yerina had promised to be there for Bioon, all those years ago.
Sworn that she would always be reliable.
A comfort. And she’d meant it, held onto the fervent promises long after Bioon had stopped needing her.
But when given the chance to return to the Valley, those promises had fallen away compared to her own heart’s selfish wants.
“I wanted this for us. Together,” Yerina said, voice small.
“If that was true, you’d add me as an owner. None of this dithering.” Bioon turned around and went back toward the front door. She paused by the section of the room that still bore signs of construction. “Eunny and I will be returning to Central soon. I’ll collect her—”
“Bioon, please. She loves it here. At least let her stay for the rest of summer.”
Her sister gave the unfinished flooring a critical look. “That presumes this place is still here by the end of summer, sister.”
She left without giving Yerina a chance to respond.
With a sinking feeling in her chest, Yerina flipped the shop’s sign to ‘Closed,’ jiggling the loose handle until the lock slotted into place. Then, her heart heavy, she went up to the loft.
Dexter had gotten the children settled with snacks, and was in the midst of debating whether dessert before dinner was allowed when Yerina came in. He looked up, his stoic expression wavering as concern took its place.
Yerina shook her head, forcing herself to smile.
Unhappiness radiated from Dexter as he stood. “I should go.”
Leaving the girls occupied with books, Yerina followed him out onto the courtyard stairway. “I’m sorry. My sister is— She’s under a lot—”
“Don’t,” he said quietly. “Don’t defend her. Not to me.”
Not again. The words hung unspoken between them.
Yerina sat on her bed, blinking back tears.
Her throat felt raw, as if she’d been screaming, or crying for hours.
Something more than a handful of words. Whispers, yet each with a jagged edge.
My sister needs me. I’m sorry. I’m sorry, so sorry, but I have to go.
And Dexter was frozen. No longer beside her but away, hands planted against her desk.
Gone was the warm man she’d come to know, to fall in love with.
Shock had leached all that away, leaving him so still.
“She needs me, Dex.”
Bioon had come to her. To Yerina. Bioon, who was so fierce and independent and destined to be such a force.
She was difficult. Rarely saw Yerina as anyone of much value, but wasn’t that the way of sisters?
At least some of the time. But Yerina was the elder sister, and even more than that, this was something she could do.
Be there for Bioon, and not only because she had made promises of duty to their parents.
It was in Yerina to give that love and comfort and care.
How could she hold back when her little sister needed it most?
“What about you? You’ve only… it’s only been a year. You just started at Sylveren, and we…” Dexter’s shoulders slumped. He turned back to Yerina, sorrow etched into his face. “Don’t go. Please don’t go.”
But she had. Left him, and the town, and the Mighty Leaf. It had been worth it. Eunny had been worth it. No regrets. This time was different. Different circumstances, different pain, and yet the echoes of the past wouldn’t fade.
“I’m sorry,” she repeated.
“Don’t.” Dexter raked a hand through his hair, shoulders tensing. “I don’t want you to apologize. You— Gods all fucking break, Yeri. I-I…” No more words came. His head dropped as he leaned against the stair railing, an aggravated sigh shaking his frame.
“What?” she said, softly touching his arm. He flinched, but didn’t move away. “What do you want, Dex? Tell me, please.”
“I want you. To be happy. To stop breaking yourself into little pieces for that… She doesn’t need your help or your love. She doesn’t deserve it. I don’t think she even fucking wants it, except to control you.”
“She’s my sister, Dexter.”
He stared at her. “You’re still such a pushover for her. Has she ever, just once, thanked you for everything you’ve done? Any of it? You put your life on hold for her.”
Never, but that was too painful a thought to dwell on. If Yerina had gone down that road, she’d have become a shadow of herself. Embittered. It wasn’t in her nature to harbor such thoughts. Some people took, while others gave. What point was there in fighting it when Yerina wanted to give?
“I didn’t do it with the expectation of thanks,” Yerina said.
“You deserve better. What I want is for you to realize that. It kills me that you don’t, and I can’t do anything…”
He shook his head again, straightening up. “I’m the one who’s sorry, Yerina.” He cupped her chin, his thumb stroking her cheek.
Yerina’s lip trembled. “She’s family. I can’t—”
“I know,” he murmured. “You have a big heart. I don’t. I will never be okay with how she treats you. I’ll never forgive it.”
A tear slipped down her cheek, dashed against his thumb.
“I’ll resent her, and you’ll know it.” He pulled Yerina against his chest, pressing a kiss to her hair as he mumbled, “I don’t want to hurt you, but I would. I don’t want you to wake up one day and realize you resent me too.”
“I wouldn’t. Never.”
Dexter didn’t say anything else. He kissed her again, his lips demanding.
Desperate. As if trying to map the shape of her into his brain in the few seconds they had left.
He lingered a moment, his forehead pressed against hers.
Then he tore himself away and went down the steps.
Kept walking despite her broken whisper of his name.
Slowly, Yerina made herself go back inside. Pasted a smile onto her face as she forced reassuring words past her lips to soothe the children. Yerina did her best to ignore the aching of her heart at the thought of Dexter Burl.
Twice now, the man of so few words had only found more when they came to an end. And Yerina, with her big heart and so much to give—somehow she never had enough when the time came for them.