♔ 𝔑𝔦𝔯𝔞 ♔
To walk beside by brother, it still feels like a dream. It feels so far from real, even after I catch him watching me with a splitting grin on his face or feel the squeeze of his hand around mine. All of this time, I had thought him dead. Thought that he had left us and fallen in the process. My heart tugged every time I considered his demise, and each time I considered the fact I would never receive closure.
Yet, he is here now, alive, beside me, marching me down the corridors of the Xandaran castle with a palpable happiness radiating from him. I am sure, once the relief has registered, and the shock has worn, I will be beyond frustrated that he never came home to tell us he was okay, but when I look at him, see the Fae ears that are so distinguishable, I know he stayed far for the right reasons. He has a story, like I have mine, and I wish for nothing more than to sit in only his company and hear it. Even if it takes days – weeks – to revisit the last few years of his life, I'll stay by his side for every second.
The two Guards – one to my left, the other to Darin's right – cannot hold their professionalism to avoid glancing at me in confusion. It seems everyone felt quite the same. No one expected the girl who threw herself from the carriage to be Darin's little sister. Prince Darin. When I catch them watching me, with drawn brows of disbelief, they flush with embarrassment and look forward again. It took longer than I care to admit, for I hadn't even stopped to consider. If Darin is a prince, then I, his blood sister, am nothing short of a princess. They believe they should treat me with the same respect and decorum as the royal beside me.
"Darin," my brother tilts his head to smile softly at me. "How are you –"
"I will explain everything Dee, I promise. When we are alone." He casts his attention over his shoulder to the three that follow us. Calix, Libitina and Tynan. I know what he is insinuating. Just because he trusts me does not mean he extends the same privilege to those I travelled here with.
We continue for a little while longer in silence until we reach an open balcony. The banister wraps around the entire floor, looking out on the space below, lit by a stained-glass skylight. Darin pulls us to a pause and turns to regard his Guards. "You men will accompany The Lord of the Night Court and his companions to stand before the King. I wish for a few minutes alone with my sister."
Despite everything, even wrapped in the blissful surrealism of this moment, my heart stutters. "No. I don't want to leave them." I tell Darin.
I know he is watching me, but I set my sights to the three I came here with. Calix's previous persona has returned – stone faced and impassive. The other two, demon and Kythiran, somehow do not look arrogant enough to dare argue with this prince. "It will not be for long. I'll bring you to them shortly." The Lord watches me, hard and unyielding, and I know without words what he is telling me. The choice is yours.
I manage to offer him a small, almost inconceivable nod. He returns the gesture. "I wish to know where they are going first." It is my only stipulation, and I look towards my brother for his agreement.
He offers such without haste, gesturing out across the floor. "Immediately opposite, to the end of the corridor. The throne room, where the King waits." He speaks to the Guard closest. "They are not to be dismissed until Daenira has been reunited with them."
The Guard nods and salutes, calling an order to his men who shuffle before and behind my company to guide them to their destination. Tynan offers me a brief smile of support, somehow more authentic than any he has given before. Calix does not let his eyes stray from me at all.
Libitina brushes past, pressing the hilt of her dagger into my hand. "You know how to summon me, if you need to." She whispers on a breath as she glides past, her stare a promise that she will come if I call. The effort of comradery settles me somewhat, and I keep my feet firm until they disappear into the corridor as Darin assured.
"Come on, little hunter." He urges, opening a door at his side. Two Guards have stayed with us but remain posted at the door as we submerge ourselves into privacy.
The room is empty, apart from the single bed to the left and single table and chair to the right. He gestures for me to sit, and I drop his hand before lowering myself on the edge of the mattress. He sits on the chair opposite and grins.
"You have ears." He points out.
"I have always had ears." I retort, my lips twitching. For his convenience, I move my hair behind them. "Just none quite as pointed as this."
"They make your head look smaller." He jokes, leaning forward with the support of his forearms resting on his knees. "Oh Nira, I cannot even explain how much I've missed you."
My eyes fill without need. "Me too."
"Tell me everything, how are you here?"
My sigh is feeble. "It is a long story."
"We have time. So much of it." He assures.
"I want to hear about you." I press, and my eyes flit to the ears of his own, tracking his body for further change. Nothing shows itself.
"I asked first," His grin is still that boyish half smirk. It punches me with an astounding sense of nostalgia. All the times we ran around Cracuria, getting into obscene amounts of trouble. This was how he smiled when we had got away with thieving, or when I had taunted a squire until we were running like our lives depended on it. It was how he smiled when he was laid on the tabletop, back flayed, asking me why I was always so intent on being the hero. Or when I'd cried after the rock that I threw split his brow, and he promised me he wouldn't tell our parents.
I look at that mark. "You still have your scar."
His fingers lift to it briefly. "They take a ridiculous amount of time to disappear." I try to hold my smile. Try not to cry at how untrue his words are. "Now, come on. Tell me everything Dee. How are you here?"
I sigh, lacing my fingers together and settling my clasped hands on my lap. "I was not supposed to be. Months ago, I was taken by the Fae from Vrodora, and sold to one of the Lords as a slave." Darin's smile falls at that. He looks prepared to leap to my protection. "It's alright. It wasn't terrible. He wanted me for more of a mercenary – a Fae huntress. I was trained in weaponry, and I was fed well. I was even given a Pegasus to fly.
"The King was not fond of how I was treated. Especially after I had almost killed two of their own. He sentenced me to execution and declared the only way for me to remain alive in Vrodora was if I competed."
"In the Equinox." Darin breathes.
My eyes widen. "You know?"
"Not that it was you." He inches his chair closer, awe striking across his features. "We all knew of a human competing in the Fae competition. We have all heard the stories of what she did to get there. I never guessed it was you."
My face warms for some reason. Embarrassment. "Oh. Well, yes. It was me."
He huffs a laugh and his carefree smile returns. "We have your wyvern living between the trees of our outskirts." My mouth falls ajar. "Thank you, for that."
"I didn't plan for it." I tell him, but something on his face tells me he is not done asking questions.
"But you planned to kill the King, didn't you?" True then, that the Realms know Vrodora struggles with a fallen monarchy.
I lower my head an increment, enough to confirm. "The Lord who bought me, he promised that if I did, I could go home. Except, he lied. He betrayed me and I woke up, weeks later, as this." I clench my jaw at the reminder. "I escaped him, but I haven't been home since. I cannot, like this. As I am sure you know."
His face was aggrieved with sadness now, raw and unfiltered. "There was no need for me to return home. I thought everyone dead. Our home taken by a fire the last annum."
I shake my head in a hurry. "Where did you hear that? Our home still stands." I try to tell him reaching for his hands. He takes them in a secure hold.
"No – he was there. He told me he saw it." Darin claims. "Daenira, you don't understand – he fled to find me, do you not –"
"Well, they were wrong. There was no fire – we are all fine." My heart clenches, he watches me with a silent plea to explain the ache that has overcome me. "Maybe he was confused. The fire was at the blacksmiths – it, oh Darin, it took Papa."
"What?" It is not a question of heartache, but confusion. "Nira, that is not true."
I recoil. Pull my hands from him. "Darin, I saw it fall. I sat before it for days!" I stand, frantic, trying to get him to understand. "Papa and his apprentice – we could not even find the bodies."
Darin stands too. His expression is haunted. He looks pale. "How can you not – Nira, Papa found me. He told me." He takes a step away. I forget how to breathe. "You don't know. That is not why you're here." He looks at my face, my ears, my body. He blanches.
"I don't know what, Darin?" I seethe, but I needn't ask. In that moment, the snippets of information begin to knit together. No body. Darin a prince – a Fae. The bow of the Guards at my feet. My brother's shock, then lack of, when he saw what I have become. Lies upon lies upon lies.
I see red.
———
Do you think Nira has enough reason for her villain arc yet?
Did any of you see this coming?