Chapter 9
“Keep going,” Raine coached, standing beside Ava several days later.
A droplet of sweat trailed down Ava’s face and into her eye. Blinking against the sting, she kept her trembling hand extended. With a grunt, she urged the vine to grow longer as it stretched from her palm and wound around the dummy in the training ring.
“Now,” Raine said.
The vine tightened and flowers bloomed along the surface. Pink and blue and…yellow. Dozens of yellow flowers. Bright, and cheery and—
“Will you make me a pretty flower?” Remy’s voice echoed in her head.
Ava’s gut twisted and the vine disappeared as she stumbled backward. Raine caught her by the elbow. “Let’s take a break.”
She blinked. “Yeah.”
Taking a spot on the ground, Ava leaned against the stone wall and took several deep breaths. Raine sat beside her, handing her a waterskin. She took a swig and handed it back. “Thanks.”
Ava was doing her best to grieve Remy openly, not shying away from the ache in her chest, and though it hadn’t been long since Casimir’s rescue, it was helping.
Sometimes the tears would fall in the bathtub, alone in the quiet of her suite.
Other times, the pain would rear itself when she was training with Raine, like it did today.
“Are you alright?” Raine asked.
Ava tucked a loose strand of hair behind her ear. “Yes. Sometimes, I just…need a minute.”
“It’s the yellow flowers, isn’t it?”
“Yep.” She took another deep breath. “The reminders are hard…but also comforting in a way. I don’t know if that makes sense. Seeing them makes me happy and yet sad at the same time.”
“I understand,” Raine said. He was silent for a moment before he added, “It happens to me too sometimes.”
Ava placed her hand on his.
His eyes were full of sorrow. “Finnick had this adorable obsession with fireflies. Sometimes he’d drag me outside late at night just so we could snuggle against a tree and watch them for hours.
It was one of my favorite things about him.
How he would find joy in the tiniest of moments.
But still…even though it’s been decades since I lost him, sometimes when I see a firefly, my soul aches.
And yet at the same time it makes me happy. Like he’s saying hello.”
Ava squeezed his hand. “That’s exactly how it feels.”
They sat in silence for a while longer, listening to the clang of weapons as other soldiers practiced in the nearby dirt rings.
“How did you meet Finnick?” Ava asked. “I mean…if you want to tell me.”
Raine perked up. “Well, that is a fun story.” Clasping his hands behind his head, he leaned back. “Cas and I had gotten roaringly drunk one afternoon at a tavern in one of the smaller towns, and I had the bright idea to go shopping.”
Ava’s eyebrows rose.
“Oh yes, darling. Believe it or not, Cas used to be a bit of a scoundrel. Back when we were young and stupid. That was before he was the general.”
“I’m sure that was a sight to see.” She couldn’t fathom Casimir getting intoxicated and acting foolish. It was such a far cry from how he was now.
“He excelled at getting into tavern brawls,” Raine said with delight.
“Anyway, we ended up spending time in a local clothing shop and Finnick happened to be a tailor who worked there. He was so helpful. So kind. Even though we were both acting like complete imbeciles. He was helping me try on a jacket when I vomited all over his shoes.”
“Oh no…Are you serious?” Ava couldn’t control her laughter.
“Very.” Raine’s eyes twinkled as he recalled the memory. “I felt so terrible about it after I sobered up, that the next day I showed up to apologize, and he asked me out on a date.”
“I’m assuming you said yes.”
“Of course. We had an amazing time. We were so enamored with each other, I came back the day after that and we ended up fucking in his shop.”
“Why am I not surprised?” She bumped his shoulder with her own.
“Actually, he was the one who shoved me into the tiny dressing room. I was that irresistible.”
Ava shook her head.
With a heavy sigh, Raine said, “And that was that. We never looked back.”
She gripped his shoulder. “Thank you for telling me.”
Raine’s lips curved into a smile that didn’t reach his eyes and stood, reaching out his hand to help Ava. “Of course. Now let’s get back to work.”
Later that evening, Ava found herself hunched over the book of portals in a quiet alcove in the library. “Memorizing the symbols would be easy, huh?” she mocked herself under her breath.
It was dark and cozy, sconces on the walls providing warm light and walls of books surrounding her. She sat at a small round table, the book open in front of her and papers strewn about where she’d been drawing each symbol.
She’d spent another couple weeks practicing with Jorrar in the field, repeating the same process they had on day one.
According to Jorrar there were three types of portals—and potentially a fourth, but they still couldn’t read the last part of the text.
The simplest ones gave her the ability to move quickly between nearby places.
The further away the second portal appeared, the more magic it required, and Jorrar was coaching her on how to feed her magic into the portal slowly without wearing herself out.
The second type involved jumping further within the same realm, but she must have been to that location before so she could visualize it.
For example, she could open a portal leading to the Whispering Bog, or Saxumdale.
It would come in handy should they need to move locations, but she hadn’t traveled extensively so the options were still limited.
The third opened to other realms and required a significant amount of magic. This was what she’d need to create to banish Deidamia. Then she’d use even more magic to seal the portal shut forever and destroy it.
But memorizing the symbols wasn’t as easy as she’d initially expected. And there were dozens of variations regarding how long portals could remain open, how to maintain them and so on. Pinching the bridge of her nose, she heaved a sigh.
“Hey, love.” Casimir’s voice startled her.
He sat beside her, placing a kiss on her temple as he set a tray of tea on the table.
“The librarians will be upset if you get tea on the books.”
“You’re the one who’s more likely to spill it,” he jested. “How’s your studying going?”
“It's harder than I thought.”
“Is there any way I can help?”
“Not really. Some of these symbols are so similar, I keep getting them switched around. I just need to keep practicing.”
Casimir poured a cup and handed it to her. “Drink.”
“Bossy general,” she muttered, suppressing a smile. She took a sip and hummed at the minty flavor. “Thank you.”
“Are you hungry? Do you want something to eat?”
She shook her head. “I’m still full from dinner. I’m alright.”
“Let me know if you change your mind.” She gave him a thoughtful look. “What?” he said.
“You always do that.”
He leaned back in his chair, toying with her unbound hair. “Do what?”
“Get me tea…fix my plate…make sure I’m eating…and so on.”
“I like taking care of you.”
“I like it too. But let me take care of you sometimes.”
With a twinkle in his golden eyes and a smirk on his face, he lowered his voice to a sensual growl. “Oh you already do, love.”
She smacked his shoulder. “Naughty fae brute. You ruined a sweet moment.”
He chuckled.
Ava tilted her head. “So, what are you up to besides shamelessly flirting with me in the library?”
“It’s getting late. I came to bring you tea and to convince you to come to bed…”
“And?”
“And to let you know we’ve finalized our plans to leave for Igneothenia.”
Ava paused. The next significant step in this war was here. “When do we leave?”
“Three days. We’ll meet up with Saxumdale’s army on the way.”
Ava took another sip, ignoring the butterflies in her stomach.
Casimir reached across the space between them and cupped her cheek, leaning in. “Come to bed,” he said as he kissed her. “You can study more tomorrow.”
She hummed against his lips. “Only if you tell me a story about when you used to get into tavern brawls when you were younger.”
Casimir groaned. “Raine…”