Chapter 56 - Kaelen
Kaelen
After six days of dealing with Lyra’s sister, I have the strong sense that I might have preferred being at war.
“This bedroom is an insult.” Reena glares across the bed at me, and I stare back, incredulous. “And your food is barely fit for consumption.”
“This is my bedroom.” Which I’ve given over to Lyra’s healing.
And since she won’t leave Lyra’s side, to her.
My irritation softens the smallest amount.
“And the person in charge of our food is currently… away from duties. We’re making do.
I apologize if it doesn’t meet your expectations, Commander. ”
Settling myself into the chair beside Lyra, my hand reaches for hers. Squeezing, I wait for a sign. Any movement. Anything.
“Eres believes that her body is sleeping off the effects of the healing,” Reena says tightly. “There was significant damage to her heart. We won’t know until she wakes up.”
“I know.” He’s repeated it to me, over and over again, his patience unwavering, whereas Darian and I are almost climbing the walls.
She looks at my hand, her nose wrinkling. “Then stop pawing at her, Duskbane.”
The already slim chances of this ceasefire holding are growing slimmer by the moment. “I am not pawing at her.”
She sniffs. “My sister begged on her knees for your life. I’m failing to see why.”
“That’s because you’re not her,” I almost snarl back. My grip on her hand tightens.
Wake up, witch. Before your sister and I come to blows.
“No.” She’s watching Lyra closely, as if waiting for any movement herself, despite her sharp words. “My sister has always been the better between us.”
Reena looks up. “You know that I intend to take her back to Solvandyr with me.”
My shoulders curve. “It’s Lyra’s decision.”
Nobody else’s. Not mine, and certainly not hers. “If you care for her so deeply, where were you when she was being tortured by your father? For years?”
Reena… flinches. The movement is so unusual, at least from the rigid, regimented Lightbringer she’s shown since her arrival, that it takes me by surprise. “I tried to help, where I could. My father made it clear that any involvement would only make it worse for her.”
“So you do care for her, then.”
“Yes.” Her eyes shoot sparks in my direction. “And so do you. All… three of you.”
I nod.
She clears her throat. “Perhaps we should discuss arrangements. Have you had any thoughts?”
No. After hundreds of years of war before a ceasefire, after I saw my mother and Eldritch and so many others laid out in the hall, after silently begging Lyra to wake up over and over again, I feel as if I can’t fucking think at all. “Perhaps you should start.”
“I’ve had some thoughts, as it happens.” She straightens, and I feel a foreboding sense of panic. “Let us start with the Veilspire boundaries.”
My brows knot. “There are no Veilspire boundaries.”
“Exactly.”