“Well?” Enya asks, turning to me again. “When can I expect a new best friend? Preferably one whodoesn’teat table drink?”
I turn to the women at the next table. Two avert their gazes immediately, but one holds it. She smiles. Skyling. She has blond hair and freckles.
“She’s pretty,” Enya whispers, before taking another sip.
I suppose so. I look, waiting for a tug, a feeling. I get nothing. Just vague attraction. I might have laughed at Grim’s assessment of love, but in a twisted way, I agree with him. I don’t believe in love at first sight. Romantic love could never be greater than the love I have for my friends.
Attraction, sure. Sex is great. But talking to one another for hours? Caring enough to collect details about them? Choosing to spend time with them over your friends?
Never.
“At least we don’t have to worry about the Nightshade anymore,” Zed says, holding his empty glass up.
We all cheer to that.
SHATTERING
I find my brother in the war room.
He’s frowning down at the depiction of the island. Standing here, poring over his lands ... he looks uncannily like our father.
“Were you not going to tell me?”
A second passes before he looks up.
His eyes are red. Tired. His cheeks are even sharper than usual. It seems to take him a moment to understand what I’m asking. Then he nods. “The marriage,” he murmurs, as if it’s an afterthought.
“You’re betrothed, and you didn’t tell me.”
He shakes his head. Waves the statement away. “It’s political. It doesn’t mean anything.”
“It will to Aurora.”
He pinches the bridge of his nose in a gesture that again reminds me of our father. His patient tone is all our mother, though. “What it means to her is not my main concern. My top priority is uniting the realms.”
I stare down at the map myself. It’s inaccurate now. Some of its locations have been decimated. “And you think this marriage will accomplish that?”
Egan nods. “Starling has grown in power. Aurora’s abilities are significant.”
I guess at the meaning behind his words. The fate he hopes to avoid with this marriage. “You’re worried she’ll branch off from the island.”
“It’s a possibility. She has the numbers. Her people are largely self-sufficient.”
“Yes, but she’s in love with you.”
Egan frowns, as if Aurora’s love is a massive inconvenience. He doesn’t bother denying it. Love for rulers is dangerous. It means access to each other’s abilities.
I wonder if he’s felt her powers. I wonder how Aurora feels, never having felt his.
“What of your own feelings?” I ask. He’s still my brother. I’ve watched him have relationships with others for years, provoking Aurora’s jealousy.
His eyes snap to mine. He frowns. “Feelings? My feelings don’t matter.”
I think, for a moment, of another person who buried his feelings. And what that led to.
“It will give the island something to celebrate,” Egan says, looking down at the map. He uses charcoal to cross out the places that were lost. “In the worst of moments, people need something to look forward to.” Royal weddings are elaborate affairs. The celebrations last months.
“So, it’s not happening anytime soon?”
