Chapter 24 #2
“Your trainer then?” Father mused, combing his fingers through his beard. “I thought you might have been bringing home a man for another reason.”
The crushing reminder that Vander and I would only ever be friends hit me in the gut all over again. “Um, no, he’s my trainer, that’s all.” I waved at Vander to join us. “Come on!”
He gently set Nessy on the ground and pulled his hood back. Once he reached my father he offered his hand. My father shook it. By the intensity in his face, I was sure he crushed Vander’s hand in his grip. “Viper, is it?”
Vander didn’t seem fazed. “Yes, sir.”
“What kind of name is that?”
“It’s an assassin name.”
“What is the name your father and mother gave you then?” Father finally released his hand and inclined his head.
“Vander Vierroson. You have a wonderful daughter, Havar. She is an exceptional assassin apprentice, brave, loyal, and strong.”
I stood there, shocked that he’d given him his full name.
Assassins weren’t supposed to do that while in uniform. He wasn’t supposed to take off his hood or mask either for that matter.
“She got most of that from her mother.” He glanced my way. “He’s doing a good job then?”
I smiled and thought about saying something snarky, but I wanted my father to get the best impression. “They say he’s the best assassin in the League. He does a good job, Dad.”
“I’m happy to hear that.” My father put his big arm around my shoulder and gave me a side hug. “Well, we’d better get you both inside for something to eat. Do you like venison, Vander? I have some smoking.”
“It’s a favorite of mine, sir.”
Kayda and even Grandma Esha stared at Vander enough that I was sure he was getting uncomfortable, but I didn’t blame them.
I probably did the same thing when I first saw him.
No one in Neverglade was as handsome as Vander, and they’d already seen all the males our small village had to offer.
He was something new and shiny. The only new thing in this house.
Everything looked exactly the way it had when I’d left.
The same long wood table, hand-carved by my great-grandfather.
The green tapestry with the cream-colored family tree my mother had stitched.
The new branch with baby Aiden had been done.
Probably by Kayda. She enjoyed sewing, the way I carved.
The same metal shutters ready to be latched over the windows come nightfall.
My throat constricted when I focused on my mother’s empty seat.
I wondered if anyone would ever sit there again.
We didn’t talk about her loss, which I was grateful for.
My brother brought her up casually a few times.
How he missed her biscuits and wished she could be there for his upcoming wedding.
I blinked in surprise. “You’re getting married and you’re just now telling me?”
He smiled, cutting into the meat on his plate. “You knew I would marry Ericka. Father and I are almost finished with my new house. Didn’t you see it out back behind the barn?”
“I was so focused on seeing Mother’s resting place that I didn’t.”
“Will you be able to come? She wants a July wedding, a few weeks after Midsummer.”
Vander’s Aunt Murial had mentioned a royal party with his family on Midsummer.
I turned to Vander. June would be the year mark for my time in LOA, but it didn’t mean I would graduate to full assassin if I failed the tests.
I didn’t think I would, but he and the Commanders had to believe I was ready.
His gaze flicked between my brother and me. “It’s possible.”
“Why the hesitation?” Ivarr asked. “You’re here now.”
“And we’re breaking the rules by being here.
She’s not supposed to return home to visit until her training is finished and she’s on her own,” Vander clarified.
“Although she is very close to graduating. The final tests are the first week of May, before the new apprentices come.” His mannerisms while eating were perfect.
The way he cut his food and the use of his utensils.
Even the way he held a glass. He always sat at the trainer table, so it was rare for us to eat together in a formal setting outside our bedroom.
My father bobbed his head. “Well, we’re grateful you brought her here, even if today is the only time.”
I wanted to tell them they could possibly one day join me in the city, but I didn’t want to get their hopes up if anything went wrong. Or get into an argument with my father. I knew it would take time to convince him to leave our home, land, and village.
Now that I knew Vander’s secret, it changed what could happen in the future. If he was going to leave, I didn’t know if I wanted to stay in Nighthaven. My loyalty should be to LOA but last night proved my loyalty was to him.
We spent hours talking about my training, life inside the city, and what it was like to kill vampires. My grandmother gasped and slapped a hand over her heart when I told her I kicked a vampire out of a tree and drove a dagger through the heart.
I was thankful my father didn’t go on any tirades about ducai and their treatment of everyone outside the wall. Vander knew how I felt but my father was much harsher than I’d ever been.
“Vander, if you’re the best assassin in the League, how many vampires have you killed?” my father asked casually.
Vander set his fork down. “I’ve lost count.”
“More or less than fifty?”
“More.”
My father’s brows rose. “More or less than a hundred.”
Vander was trying not to smile. “More.”
“Two hundred?” Ivarr added.
“More.”
“Three hundred?” My father balked.
Vander dabbed the corner of his mouth with a napkin. “Like I said, I’ve lost count, but I kill any vampire I encounter, and I’m good at it.”
Ivarr let out a low whistle. “You should marry this man, Aesira. You’ll be safe.”
I flushed and my eyes went wide. “Ivarr.”
“What? We are your family. I am your elder brother, it’s my duty to look out for you. Is he your askair?”
Kayda giggled. My grandmother muttered about the inappropriateness of the discussion at the dinner table.
My father appeared pleased, like he was glad he didn’t have to be the one to ask these questions.
I was thankful that a sheet of my hair shielded me from facing Vander’s reaction.
I regretted telling him that an askair was a lover.
“I’m his apprentice. Nothing more. Will you stop, please? ”
Ivarr picked up his cup and brought it to his mouth, staring Vander down over the lip of it.
Vander quietly cleared his throat. “I take my role as her trainer seriously and that would be compromised if there was anything beyond mentorship with her.”
I internally groaned and took a bite of potato.
“So you’re saying you don’t think my sister is beautiful?”
I nearly choked and gripped my fork so hard my hand ached. I couldn’t believe Ivarr was doing this to me.
“I never said that,” Vander countered.
“So you think she is?”
I peered at Vander around my hair; he tilted his head as if he knew this game and smiled. “She’s very beautiful. And she’s training to be an assassin, a good one. She won’t need a husband to protect her. Life is different in the assassins’ guild.”
“She’ll want one,” Ivarr challenged. “The assassins’ guild isn’t that different. I have an eye for these things, you see. I know there’s something going on between you two. Break her heart and I don’t care how many vampires you’ve killed, I’ll break your nose.”
“Ivarr, enough,” my father finally chided.
A little late, Dad. I shoved away from the table.
In Neverglade a father worried over their daughters finding a good husband to keep them safe, protect them, and provide.
We often married young, in our early twenties, but my life wasn’t here anymore.
Most assassins didn’t marry until much later.
There were committed relationships, but they considered marriage more for procreation and settling down in retirement, and since they didn’t have children until after at least twenty-five years of service, most waited.
“Ivarr, outside. I’ll show you what I’ve learned so you can stop embarrassing me. ”
Ivarr laughed as if it was a joke, and my father stood from the table to gather our plates. “Aesira, I wouldn’t want to hurt you. You’re my little sister.”
“Try me.”
“Fine.”
“Be careful,” my father remarked from the sink. Grandma stayed to help my father clean up while the rest of us gathered in the backyard.
Ivarr rolled up his sleeves and combed his dark hair off his forehead. “Let’s see what you’ve got, Aesira.”
My brother could toss a heavy hay bale onto the back of a wagon like it weighed nothing, but he wasn’t ducai strong, nor had he trained to fight in any formal setting, but he was my older brother and still intimidated me.
I lifted the strap holding my sword over my head and Vander held out his hand.
“I’ll hold it. Don’t hurt him too badly,” he said with a smirk.
My brother pointed at him. “I saw that wink.”
“Oh, shut up!” I stepped left, then jumped right and swung behind him.
He turned but not quickly enough to stop me from jumping onto his back and hooking my arm around his throat, locking him in a choke hold.
Driving my knee into his spine, I forced him to bend.
If I applied more pressure around his neck, he’d go unconscious in moments.
Ivarr raised a callused hand and wheezed, “Alright, I yield.”
I grinned and dropped to the ground then patted his shoulder. Payback was sweet. “Don’t worry, I won’t tell Ericka your little sister can beat you up.”
He looked impressed as he rubbed his red neck. “I’m proud of you, sis. That was quick, and you’re stronger than I thought. You held back all those years wrestling over the last piece of pie. But I still know.” He wagged his finger between Vander and me.
I rolled my eyes. “You’re ridiculous, but thank you. I’ve worked hard.”
“I can see that.” He smiled at Vander and ran a hand over his stubbled chin. “You taught her that move?”
“I taught her all her moves.”
“Would you show me a few things?”
Vander inclined his head, all business. I thought my brother was joking but Vander uncrossed his arms and handed me back my sword. “Sure.”
“Really?”
“Yes, you’re Aesira’s family.”
The sparkle of mischief in his eye worried me. My brother was about to regret the interrogation at the table.
With Kayda beside me, I sat in the grass with my legs crossed as Vander explained basic hand to hand combat just like he had to me when I first started. It wasn’t long before he tossed my brother on his ass. “You deserved that!” I hollered.
Ivarr rubbed the back of his head just before Vander pulled him back to his feet. “Again,” Vander said.
Kayda nudged my shoulder. She’d just turned eighteen last month. In another year she’d be at The Sorting Rite. Part of me hoped she would be chosen and join me, and the other part hoped she didn’t have to. “So, I know Ivarr is completely embarrassing, but Vander is cute.”
I smiled. “He is.”
“Well, tell me how it’s been? And I mean the details you left out at dinner. You two seem close.”
I sighed and plucked a clover blossom. It was nice to talk with Kayda again. It felt like my time away made us miss each other enough to finally heal whatever rift had been there before. “We are close. We’re always together. At first it was strange living in the same room—”
She gasped. “You share a room?” She lowered her voice at the scandal. “So he is your askair? Don’t worry, I won’t tell Dad or Ivarr.”
I flushed, wondering if Vander could hear. Thankfully, he seemed preoccupied with my brother.
“No, I wasn’t lying, but we do share a room.
It’s the way things are during training.
” Last night’s rejection hit me in the chest again.
I wanted him to be my askair. That strain still lingered between us, even if we’d escaped it for the afternoon.
Tonight, when we were back in our room, I was sure it would be a weight pushing between us.
I explained our living situation, which I’d purposefully left out at the dinner table. My father, brother, and grandmother wouldn’t think it was acceptable for me to be living with a man I wasn’t romantically involved with, no matter the reason.
“But do you like him?” The corner of Kayda’s lip curled. “I mean like him like him. You look at him the same way you used to look at Kace, and he looks at you almost as if... he’s afraid to be too far away from you or something. You two mirror each other’s movements a lot too.”
“I’ve shadowed him for training long enough that I think I do it without thinking now.”
“It’s not only you that does it.” She wiggled her brows. “He likes to be close to you. I can tell.”
I chuckled and feigned ignorance with a shrug.
I didn’t see what she did, but what I’d had with Kace was just a girlhood infatuation.
With Vander I had fallen into an endless cavern and kept falling, waiting for him to catch me.
I feared I would fall forever. “I do enjoy his company more than I should.”
Kayda giggled behind her hand. “Have you kissed?”
“No,” I hissed and then smiled. “You’re as bad as Ivarr.”
“Sira.” My heart skipped at the familiar male voice. I twisted around to see Kace.