Seven Courts of Love and Magic

Chapter 5

Nyx

I don't know why I did it—maybe I just really needed someone to talk to. But her?

I grab a tunic from my room, shrugging it on, and lead Zaria to the large kitchen usually occupied by court chefs and bakers during daylight hours. On the corner table there is a basket full of leftover dinner rolls. "We have bread and...I'm not sure what else." I turn back to her with a shy smile.

Her lips quirk upward in response and my chest clenches, leaving me unsettled once again.

"High Lord in training can't make food for his subjects?"

My smile wavers and I pull some cheese from the cupboard along with the dish ware. I walk over to the sink to pour us a couple glasses of water. "High Lord in training, huh?" I say, distracted.

I set the glasses as well as the bread and cheese on the dark wooden table and take a seat across from her, inclining my head to the books. "So..."

I watch her as she slowly takes a sip of her water. I wish I knew what she was thinking; it would be much easier than trying to get her to tell me. A skill that I unfortunately did not inherit from my father. I could speak through minds like him, but I could not read them. I could not delve into the expanse of her thoughts and sort through them, no matter how badly I wanted to.

She sets her cup down, finally looking at me. "I asked you once, if you would help me."

I pull a thick blanket over her body, her laugh like a warm breeze, except this time I don't hear it. I disappoint her. Her eyes are sad. Why won't you help me? It's not true. Not enough, never good enough. My mate.

I tense but quietly answer her. "It isn't true."

Zaria slams her hand on the table in anger and rises out of her chair, a hint of claws at her skin. "It is true!" As if realizing her sudden outburst, she sinks back down in the embrace of the wooden armrests. "It's getting worse, Nyx. Why won't you believe me?"

That wasn't the problem. "I do, I do believe you, but—"
"But what?" Her eyes turn from jade to the deep green of the Spring Court forests. "Without the magic of Prythian, we are nothing. We disappear. Everything will die Nyx, even us, even your invincible and powerful High Lord of a father. I don't know about you, but I quite enjoy life, and I want to keep living it."

I don't move a muscle, instead quietly asking, "Why me? Why do you want me to help you? You don't even like me."

She slumps against the back of her chair. "Because there used to be a time when we trusted one another. Because I have no one else, no one. But I should have known better than to trust you again," she adds quietly.

The chair scrapes as Zaria pushes away from the table and stands to leave. "Keep the books. I don't need them."

She abandons me and the books alone in the dim light of the kitchen.

I believe her, but how can I help her when I can't even help myself?