Chapter 4
Trio lifted Nymiria into his arms, twirling her around in a joyous dance as they embraced. His laughter was a balm to her weary soul, her eyes watering as she took in the many faces that sat around the large, food-filled tables.
Majority of the people around them had once worked in Dorid’s palace.
She recognized the cobbler, the seamstress, a few servants, and ladies in waiting.
All of them, once perceived to be human, were now in their Mystic forms. Even Philter, the man that’d trained her since she was a young woman, sat amongst them.
He was still a large and ominous man, but the subtle changes in his features made him all the more approachable.
Once with a dark beard and long, dark hair, he was now a man with skin the shade of mint leaves.
His hair, a few shades darker than his skin, was braided back into the very intricate designs Nymiria remembered the men of Nym wearing when she was a child.
Though the name of her kingdom had changed, it was a comfort to see that there were things that stayed the same.
The customs, the culture, was still alive.
His eyes found hers through the bodies weaving about the room in search of their seats.
Trio placed her back onto the ground and Nymiria’s smile slipped to a calm reverence.
Philter gave her a nod, the fondness of his features much softer than any look he’d given her in all of the years she’d known him.
Like most Mystics, Nymiria could understand that his glamour had become an armor—a means of survival that accompanied an act so deceptive that even Nymiria had been blindsided by his true nature. She never would have expected for half of the individuals in that dining hall to have been Mystics.
It was with a quickened pulse that Nymiria scanned the dining hall, not realizing that she was squeezing Desi’s hand a tad too tight until her friend began tugging out of her grasp. “Are you alright?”
Nymiria’s eyes continued bouncing from face to face, her rib cage seemingly turning to stone inside of her, making it harder for her lungs to expand and shrink properly.
“I… I think–” She swallowed against the rise of bile at the back of her throat upon seeing a face from her childhood step into view.
The woman hadn’t even looked at her. She was too busy herding children to a table at the far end of the room, smiling and laughing as the children ran around her excitedly.
Nymiria’s eyes dropped to the children, each of them seemingly in good health—their hair combed and their cheeks pink and full of life.
But that woman was one she’d seen stripped bare in front of Dorid for her trial, a woman that once lived in a cabin in the woods outside of Nym.
Her grandmother, an elderly witch Nymiria once called her Nan, had long-since succumbed to her body’s decline.
The last time Nymiria had seen the witch’s granddaughter, the woman’s hair had been cut so close to her scalp it’d been left bleeding in some places.
Her body, now healthy and rounded with the subtle swell of life in her midsection, once deathly thin. Grey. Near death.
Finally, as if the woman could sense Nymiria’s impenetrable stare, she looked up at her. Nymiria quickly glanced away, nervously tugging at a damp strand of her hair as Desi and Trio led her closer to a table by the windows.
Sheer purple curtains hung in front of glass-less arches, making it easy for the night breeze to circulate through the grand space.
Though the weather outside was still teetering on the edge of winter and spring, the chill of it felt more like a comfortable evening breeze at the beginning of summer.
Magic, she assumed, just like everything else that existed in this place was due to some form of it.
Finally at their table, they took their seats. The food had already been placed, steaming and glistening under the aura lights.
She was foolish to feel disappointed that Aziel still hadn’t arrived.
But, given what Hilla told her earlier, she presumed that it was normal.
She didn’t want him changing his routine on her behalf.
She didn’t expect him to, either. Nonetheless, she could not stop glancing around the dining hall in search of him.
Upon seeing Nymiria’s eyes flickering from face to face, Trio smiled beside her. “Looking for someone?” He hummed, smirking as he looked at her from over the curve of a silver goblet.
Stomach in knots, Nymiria glanced between Desi and Trio.
“No,” she confessed. “No, I just… I haven’t knowingly been around this many Mystics in a very long time.
It’s overwhelming to say the very least.” She toyed with the drawstring of her blouse, rolling the wooden bead at the tip of the string between her thumb and pointer finger.
It wasn’t much of a lie, but she knew that indulging these two gabbing siblings would lead to embarrassment.
She couldn’t possibly entertain the idea that she’d been looking for Aziel.
Not when she didn’t have a single right to.
She knew that he was busy. With war, alliances, and his godly duties all weighing on his shoulders, she was sure that he barely had a moment to think about her.
But that was foolish, wasn’t it? To assume that everything he’d said on that ship to be a lie? A trick? He’d seemed far too sincere when he asked her to come back–
No, she thought. Stop this. You are not here for romance. You are here to learn how to help the people calling on you. That is it.
Desi watched her with a knowing look, her mouth knocked down at one corner. “Would you prefer taking your meal in your rooms?” She asked. “We can always go upstairs with you and–”
“I need to do this.” Nymiria placed her hand over Desi’s hoping that the look on her face gave a semblance of reassurance. It did not, seeing as Desi kept looking at her like… that. As if she were some pitiful creature in need of a hug.
She did need a hug.
But that was neither here, nor there.
“I need to be here.” She said more firmly this time, more sure of herself. “If I keep running from them, they will never accept me. Not for me and not as…”
The word “goddess” simply could not leave her mouth.
Even if she would have loved for all of them to know that she cared for them and wanted to regain their trust, she couldn’t dare claim to be something she had no control over.
Perhaps, after a while of Aziel’s help, she’d be able to bear the weight of her title with the same unyielding confidence as Aziel. “I’ll be alright.”
Much to her own agitation, Desi and Trio exchange looks before turning back to their food.
The conversation resumed. Both of them asked their questions about her trek across Gaellagh.
She told them stories of her run-ins with Dorid’s huntsmen, how they’d cornered her in a run-down Tavern outside of Newhaim, where Oran had vanished to when he’d taken to the bottle.
She found him in a state that was unbecoming of him and forced him to sober up.
Eventually, it led to him writing to his betrothed, explaining everything that was happening in Yaar, and requesting if he was still welcome in Shidosha.
Nymiria, then, began to tell them of the beasts they’d come across in the mountains, how forest nymphs and river sirens chased them every day, how a winged creature with purple skin and sharp teeth flew after them through the dense forest, all the way to the bogs and swamps that bordered O’Shae.
“But you decided to return?” Desi asked, her silver goblet of wine hovering in front of her mouth in preparation for another deep swallow. “After all you accomplished, why turn back?”
Nymiria’s eyes darted to Trio. She could see the knowing look in his eyes, the humorous gleam lingering in their depths. “Perhaps your brother might know the answer to that.” She chuckled, eyes playfully narrowed in his direction.
Trio lifted his hands in front of himself in defense, shaking his head. “I was just an innocent bystander.”
Nymiria lifted her goblet in his direction. “So you do confirm that you were standing by. An accomplice, perhaps?”
Trio scoffed. “Accomplice? I would say that the term hostage is more fitting for that situation.”
Desi frowned. “What the hell are the two of you going on about?”
“There was only one way for Aziel to know that I was on that ship with Oran. Given that I could sense Trio’s shadows, I just assumed that he had something to do with Aziel’s sudden appearance and disappearance.
” Nymiria stated with a small laugh, placing a gentle hand on Trio’s arm.
“I’m not angry at you. I know he can be very persuasive. ”
Trio rolled his eyes and took a sip of his absinthe.
Straight from the bottle. “I was just tired of him moping around like some sick puppy. He said he wanted to see where you were, just to be safe, and the next thing I knew, he was walking through the shadows.” He plucked a piece of bread from his plate and plopped it into his mouth. “He took advantage of my kindness.”
Nymiria eyed him for a moment, a knowing grin on her face. “What about last night? Did he take advantage of your kindness then, as well?”
“That…” His eyes flickered to the absinthe.
“This is just to defend myself. By no means am I gossiping, is that understood?” Both Desi and Nymiria nodded, urging him on.
Upon their eager agreement, Trio released a sigh.
“I was half-asleep and he came running into my room at the Willow, naked as the day he was born, proclaiming that you were in danger. So, I let him see you.”
Naked?
Nymiria’s stomach twisted.