Chapter 12 #2
Niko makes sure I’m secure before he lifts himself up. His muscles strain against his tunic as he pulls himself over. I never thought watching someone get on a horse would be hot, but Niko makes it seem so easy that I can’t help but feel a little breathless.
That is until I feel Zephyr’s heated expression boring into me.
“It’s going to be a long ride. Hold on tight,” Niko says, his voice low and steady.
I glance over at Zephyr just as he swings onto his horse. His jaw is clenched, and he’s deliberately avoiding looking in our direction. Fuck, I think I made him mad…again.
I can’t help but feel like he hates me.
“Let’s go.” Zephyr clicks his tongue and snaps the reins. His horse takes off at a steady pace. We follow suit, and my arms tighten around Niko once we move. I fear I’m holding on to him too tightly, but he doesn’t complain.
And then we ride in silence back to the castle.
They weren’t exaggerating—it really was a long ride.
A few hours in, my body began to protest, a dull ache settling into my muscles.
My thighs throb with an unfamiliar, nagging pain, and the restless night I’d spent on a lumpy cot certainly isn’t doing me any favors.
As the day slips into evening, the sky blazes with hues of orange and red, casting a fiery glow over the landscape.
I’m bone-tired, but the thought of nodding off and tumbling from the saddle keeps me stubbornly awake.
Or at least it did for some time, but exhaustion wears heavily down upon me.
I close my eyes for just a moment, until sleep takes me under.
When I finally wake up, I’m disoriented, wrapped in the softest blankets I’ve ever felt.
Not the scratchy quilts from my youth that decorated my bed at home and a million times better than the cot from last night.
I wake to velvet shadows and the faint scent of burning herbs. For a moment, I don’t move; my body feels heavy, too heavy, like I’ve slept for a hundred years. My eyes blink open to a ceiling carved into stone, gilded with what looks like starlight. A soft golden glow illuminates the room.
My confusion only deepens.
I sit up slowly, taking inventory of the unfamiliar room.
The bed—if you could even call it that—is a towering thing, all gold filigree and curling vines, like someone has carved it from the earth.
Mirrors line the walls, tall and ancient, catching the flicker of candlelight from sconces shaped like twisting branches.
My reflection stares back at me from too many angles, my hair in disarray from hours on the horse and sleeping without my bonnet.
Damn, it’s going to be a bitch to manage.
I move to the edge of the bed. The floor is warm beneath my bare feet, dark wood polished to a shine that mirrors the intricate rug, which is woven in strange, swirling patterns I don’t recognize.
Every surface gleams, not just with wealth, but with an air of magic.
It buzzes under my skin, faint but undeniable.
I don’t remember arriving. Where am I? And more importantly…who brought me here?
For the first time, I notice my suitcase stashed away in the corner, looking out of place and far too modern in this room that looks so whimsical.
I push myself off the bed, ignoring the ache in my thighs, and hurry to the suitcase.
I unzip it, quickly pushing it open and sighing in relief when I notice all of my things are here and mostly untouched.
The pots and pans have moved around some, and spatulas and spoons wiggled free of the rubber band clasping them together, but otherwise it looks fine.
“Thank goodness,” I murmur, grabbing my mom’s sauce pot and hugging it to my chest.
“Do you normally hug kitchenware?” a voice says behind me.
I scream, blindly thrashing the pan through the air, only to see Finnick doubled over on my suitcase, laughing.
“You scare easily,” he finally manages to say once he composes himself.
“Are you always going to scare me when you sneak up on me?” My nerves are shot to hell. I’m not typically this jumpy, but I have a lot on my mind.
“I didn’t sneak up!” he protests. “You just didn’t hear me fly in. You were too busy hugging your pot.”
“It’s a saucepan.”
“Doesn’t make it any better, Eva.”
Eva. No one has called me that in years.
It has always been Evangeline to everyone but my parents.
I didn’t realize how much my heart missed hearing it.
I gently place the pan back in the suitcase, because even I realize how weird it is to hug inanimate kitchen objects.
“They just mean a lot to me,” I explain.
Finnick seems to understand and nods. “Did you sleep well? You stayed asleep the entire time Zephyr carried you in here.”
My eyes widen, unable to hide my shock. “Zephyr carried me? Not Niko?”
“Yeah. Said you needed to rest. Niko wanted to wake you, but Zephyr didn’t let him. So, he brought you to the guest room. My mother’s room is right next door.”
I still can’t quite wrap my head around the fact that Zephyr carried me.
Especially since he hardly seems to tolerate my presence.
Did he also take off my shoes? Tuck me in?
He must have. Everything was done so gently, like he went out of his way not to wake me.
It doesn’t match the cold, distant version of him I met two days ago.
The more time I spend around the fae, the less I understand him. His moods shift like wind through the trees—warm one moment, icy the next. At least with Niko, there’s no guessing. He makes it clear he wants me here. Zephyr...I’m not so sure.
And it’s only been two days. I fear I have much more to learn about the kings.
My stomach growls, reminding me that the few berries I ate didn’t satisfy my hunger. Cooking also helps clear my mind, which is exactly what I need right now. “Finnick?”
“Yes, Eva?” He flutters down to land on my hand.
“Can you show me where the kitchen is? I’m hungry and would like to make everyone breakfast as a thank you for yesterday.”
“Oh.” He smiles, but it doesn’t reach his eyes. “That sounds nice, but we really don’t have much.”
I just shrug. The best thing my momma ever taught me was how to use a few ingredients to make delicious meals. It’s all about experimenting and getting a little creative. “That’s fine. I will make do with what you have.”
Finnick mulls this over. For a moment, I fear he’ll say no, which would take away my one source of comfort and home. But finally, his small shoulders sag, and he nods. “Let’s take my mother with us. She knows where all the spices are.”
My heart skips a beat as I quickly gather the pans I think I’ll need. I know a castle kitchen is likely stocked with every utensil imaginable, but there’s comfort in using my own. Familiar tools in an unfamiliar place.
“That’s fine.” I nod. “I’ll follow you. You can give me a tour of the castle along the way.”
A flicker of curiosity tugs at the back of my mind—where are Zephyr and Niko? But the thought barely lingers. The thrill of cooking in a new place, of creating something with my own hands, drowns out everything else.
Finnick flies high and gestures for me to follow. With a smile, I follow the small sprite out the door to explore my new home.