Sisters Three (Completed)

15. Adair

Adair clenched her teeth and stared into those familiar eyes. He knew far better than to bring up this subject. It had been argued about in many different ways over many different days and years, but always with the same answer.

"Absolutely not." She said it firmly, and almost in a laugh. Silver, however, showed no signs of being anything but calmly serious. It drove Adair insane that he could remain so placid when the very thought of him leaving set her teeth on edge.

"Don't you want new boots? Something to eat off of? Seasonings?' Silver asked.

"We've gone over this before. We don't leave the North," Adair said. His jaw clenched and he glanced away from her. She stepped forward, gripping his forearm. "What were you in our life before?"

He paused, but answered in a clipped voice. "A servant."

"And before that?"

Silver shrugged tensely. "I can't remember."

She knew he could, because she knew very well that he still had nightmares of the year he spent on the streets when he was barely six years old. The beatings from anyone who caught him trying to seek shelter on their doorstep, the starvation, and other things he'd never told her about. The simple fact was that no one out there wanted Silver, and being an unwanted object meant being expendable. She'd told him this so many times it surprised her that he was still bringing it up.

"Silver-"

"Nevermind," he said, quickly. He crossed his arms and looked down the hall. "What were you coming to see me about?"

Adair, still slightly unnerved by his request, was slow to answer. "I'm terribly bored. I wanted your company."

Silver nodded. "We can go on a walk. Didn't you want to show me the new ice orchard you made last week?"

"That sounds nice," Adair said, carefully.

Silver offered his hand, but Adair shook her head. "You go on ahead," she said. "I need to fetch something from my rooms first. I'll meet you outside."

Thankfully Silver didn't question this and merely strode off, headed downstairs. Adair didn't move. She hadn't left anything in her room. She merely wanted to see what it was that Silver was hiding. Because she knew it must be something. He'd been a little too eager to take a break and walk with her, when normally she had to pry him away from any task he hadn't completed yet. And the fact that he had brought up the issue of leaving, when he knew very well not to, made her suspicious. She was certain that he had been trying to distract her by getting her mind on something that would make her too worried to wonder why he'd practically pushed her away from the door when he'd first come out. She wanted to know what it was.

She placed her hand on the doorknob but found it was locked. Her suspicions solidified. Silver never locked his doors. At any rate, she'd made every door and lock in the castle with her powers and could easily undo them with just a flick of her fingers.

The door opened onto the empty lookout room. Nothing looked out of place or moved from where it normally sat. It was just as silent and barren as always. Adair bit her lip as she walked further in, her eyes scanning for anything strange. Her fingers grazed the edge of the stone bowl and she turned to glance at it, expecting to see the neutral white of one of the slopes. Instead, she saw something that sent a jolt through her limbs.

Bright green. A green so vibrant that she hadn't seen something like that in her years in the north. It rolled in waves of spring grass, filling the entire stone bowl. It was a field, dotted with early buds of wild flowers. The colors almost glowed against the gray and blue of her surroundings, so clear that she almost could smell their scent.

The image had to be from somewhere right on the southern border where the stone and snow didn't reach. Adair's mouth ran dry. She didn't let Silver go that far down the mountain. He knew she wouldn't approve of him even looking at it from the stone bowl. He'd hidden this from her deliberately, and a sickening drop in her stomach brought her the idea that this probably wasn't the first time he'd gazed on the land beyond her borders.

Adair grabbed the bowl and wrenched it from its ice pillar. The shimmering liquid sloshed onto her skirts, sending ripples over the image of the green sea of grass. She hauled the bowl to the stone wall where she hurled it. The bowl didn't shatter like she wanted, but it did create a great clatter as it bounced off the wall and spun out. The liquid splashed all the way to Adair's feet, the image finally destroyed.

It didn't make her feel any happier, but it did give her a moment of relief.

She couldn't have Silver looking at such things. She'd lock the bowl to only the places that wouldn't give him ideas of villages and festivals. He had no business with the outside world. All he needed was her, and she was here to stay.