Chapter 46
Chapter Forty-Six
Iryana carried a trunk into the room two doors down from Hadima’s. It had been her room after her father died, before she’d moved back to their little cottage. She had been offered the Second’s old room, but Iryana didn’t want to displace her aunt and uncle, who had just settled into it.
She was more than happy in her old room. It felt like the right place to start rebuilding her relationships with her family.
It was simple. A small bed, a side table, and a little table with two chairs.
The furniture was mismatched, but it was earth-carved and lovely, at least a few decades old.
There was a small blue rug with yellow flowers along the edges, something that must have been brought from Klees because it looked familiar.
Her quilt from her house was already on the bed, tucked tightly around the mattress.
Iryana laid the trunk down at the end of the bed.
It didn’t feel like home yet, but that would hopefully come with time.
She was never going back to the cottage. Couldn’t, actually. She had burned it down last night with her sisters. A way to celebrate the arrival of the Falling Moon as they put the past behind them.
“What do you think?” Misha asked from the door, sticking her head into the room.
“It’s perfect.” Iryana smiled nervously, searching for something else to say. Talking to her sister wasn’t getting any easier.
Misha had grown more closed off and distant since Iryana had returned, and Iryana was trying to give her space.
Hadima appeared in the doorway, saving them from the awkwardness. She swept into the room, pushing Misha in with her. The room was cramped for all three of them, forcing Iryana to sit on the edge of the bed while her sisters took the chairs.
“And you know, Iryana,” Hadima narrowed her eyes the way only older sisters could. “Just because you’re Third, and part of the family again, doesn’t mean you have to give up the new friends you made.”
She would love to see Vaneshta again, maybe even bring her to see the post. If only she were not a soldier and her family not guardians.
Either Vaneshta would get along well with Kladara, or perhaps they would argue relentlessly.
Iryana smiled at the thought. She couldn’t imagine her worlds truly merging with the hatred and distrust still between them, but perhaps her sister was right.
Perhaps she could keep a foot in both worlds.
“And we may not have spent much time together lately, but I am still your big sister. Tonhald told me what was said during the challenge, how Karvek had brought him to watch as punishment. How the new general looked at you afterwards.”
Iryana stiffened, her cheeks reddening.
“What happened?” Misha demanded, looking rapidly between them.
“It was nothing,” Iryana rushed to say, but Hadima talked right over her. “Apparently the new general, the one our sister put in power, looked like he was desperately in love with her!”
Her sister was being intentionally ridiculous and dramatic, trying to soothe the tension still between them as sisters.
“Hadima!” Iryana protested, desperately embarrassed and not wanting anyone to hear.
The things her family had said about the 18th, about its new general… it would be a long time before Pyetar earned their respect and forgiveness.
Misha’s jaw dropped. “I need all the details.”
“That’s all Tonhald told me,” Hadima sighed.
“Ugh, fine. I will get the rest out of him.” Misha jumped up and rushed out of the room.
“Misha!” Iryana called after her. Her whole family was going to be talking about it now, if they weren’t already.
“We’re not, we haven’t…” Iryana sputtered, trying to explain to her sister. “And you know it isn’t an option.”
Hadima came over and sat next to her, wrapping an arm around her shoulder.
“I want you to be happy,” Hadima said softly. “I want you to let yourself be happy. I think we both struggle with that.”
“I need to figure out how to be Third. Not anger the entire family by cozying up to a soldier.”
Hadima laughed. “Can you imagine their faces? Grandmother might have a heart attack. And our uncles! I suppose if you ever grow bored…”
“You are far more trouble than I remembered.” Iryana rested her head on Hadima’s shoulder. “I am just happy being here with you all. Having you and Misha close again.”
“And we’re all happy you’re here. But like I said. It’s a tough world we live in. Hold people close.”
“I plan to.” Maybe not everyone her sister meant, but it would be enough.
“You had better,” Hadima snapped, brows raised dramatically.
Iryana chuckled. “Still bossy as ever, I see.”
“I am not bossy.”
“Yes, you are!” Misha squealed, coming from nowhere to stick her head in the room before bolting back down the hallway.
Hadima tossed her head back and laughed.
Her second-cousins ran down shortly after, Velimik and Nevedya chasing after Janar. Their laughter filled the hallway, and the pounding of their feet traveled through the floor.
“It will be louder here than at your cottage,” Hadima pointed out.
“Yes, it will.” But Iryana smiled.
She wasn’t sure if she was relieved or disappointed that her grandmother had put her in charge of the arrangements with the brigades.
It made sense; she was the one who knew them, had been one of them for a while.
But she’d thought it was something the First would handle, that she’d be sucked into endless preparations before winter was fully upon them.
Iryana walked along the main road of the Myura River Fort, cloak wrapped tightly around her. It felt strange being back again, almost sad. It had been the first place that had felt like home for a very long time, and she had to leave it behind. Leave her friends behind.
And now she’d have to come back now and then, a reminder of what this place had been for her. Who these people were to her.
Things looked different already, more like when she first arrived at the fort. Pyetar must have been making good progress already.
“Iryana!”
She turned to find Vaneshta and Lidishta rushing toward her, both bundled in thick cloaks. Vaneshta wrapped her in a bone-crunching hug, grinning widely.
“Heard you were coming for a visit. We have to hurry, but find us before you leave,” Vaneshta demanded.
“There’s a new batch of blueberry liqueur. You’ll love it.” Lidishta added, eyes flicking to Vaneshta with a smirk.
“Sure,” Iryana agreed, smiling.
Vaneshta grabbed Lidishta’s hand, her thumb rubbing against her hand affectionately. Vaneshta gave Iryana a wink before she headed the other way down the road with Lidishta.
Iryana watched them walk away for a moment, eyes lingering on their joined hands. She never would have expected it, but stranger things had happened.
One day, would she have something like that? Someone to hold on to wherever she went?
She shook her head. She was there on business.
When she finally found Pyetar, he was in a side room of the estate that she’d never been in before. It looked to be some kind of meeting room, a half-dozen captains seated at the table with Pyetar. They quieted when she opened the door.
Pyetar stood immediately, his eyes lingering on her. He looked much better than the last time she’d seen him, almost entirely healed from his time with Karvek.
“You can finish this up without me,” he ordered as he stepped back and walked around the table toward her.
“I can wait,” Iryana offered, but her heart sped up.
“No need. Our agreement with the Kleesolds is a priority.”
Was that all it was?
Pyetar led her into a small study on the second floor, smaller than the one Karvek used, but much more like Pyetar. He crossed the room, leaning against the front of a large desk strewn with papers. A warm glow fell over him from the fireplace, and Iryana realized how tired he looked.
“How was the meeting with the duchess?”
She took a seat on the small sofa nearby. “Good. The Dovaki Post is secured, but we need to get the dakii under control.”
“I’ve increased our patrols, and I am working with the captains to put more of an organized plan together to clear them out. And we should be good to take a group to the metal wells soon.”
“Let me know if there is anything the Kleesolds can do.”
“Of course.” Pyetar flexed his hand.
Iryana looked away, focusing on the shelves of books instead. “I will have to meet with the Air Elementi about my dual forging.”
It would have been good to talk to the other Elementi, water and metal in particular, but there weren’t any in the duchess’s settlement. Perhaps they existed out there somewhere in Istri, in some other settlement, or perhaps they had been killed by the dakii too.
“Will you be okay?”
Her eyes snapped to his. “It will be fine. It’s a good thing that they are looking into it. If more people could be double-forged, that would change a lot.”
His eyes didn’t lose their tightness. “Just—be careful.”
Iryana nodded, swallowing at the awkwardness in the room. She wasn’t sure if he could feel it too—the tension between them. It felt as if they were intentionally ignoring it, but it was for the best.
Her sister may have thought it was something Iryana could afford to pursue, but it was just as doomed now as it was when Karvek was in control.
Pyetar cleared his throat. “We’ve established deals with the other brigades and settlements to send the remaining stock of Beasts Poppy through official medical channels only. It will have to be strictly regulated, but we will hopefully be out of that business quickly.”
“That’s reasonable enough.”
The silence stretched painfully between them.
“Do you have anything else to report?” Iryana asked when she could no longer take the quiet.
“No, that’s it for now.”
Iryana rubbed her hands over her thighs and adjusted one pillow haphazardly arranged beside her. “Well, then. I guess I should get back.”
She stood and turned toward the door, but his hand caught her arm before she could walk toward it.