“My men are doing much and more to help your people survive, and if they knew she was spending precious time looking through lenses, they would be most unhappy.”
Elena nods and looks at Nori. “Maybe another season we can look again?”
Nori nods, frowning. “I understand.”
She walks away with Dogan trailing her, and a sudden dread fills me because I know this could mean trouble. Grixis does too.
Amber’s voice rises from the longhouse and a door slams. She glares at us before walking towards the edge of the village, towards the tanning hut.
“She still hasn’t learned,” Asha says with a chuckle.
Elena’s gaze follows Amber. “She will.”
After our meal, we part, but not before Grixis pulls me aside and whispers, “Tomorrow is when we meet.”
After festival, he approached to say we must talk in a tone most worrisome, but has not said a word since.
“Council?”
He shakes his head no and storms off, and I can only guess that Nori’s discovery has him worried.
I, too, am burdened.
Asha and I help around the village before going back to our hut. Worried that Harold’s tiny home would attract a predator into the village, we moved it inside, and she speaks to him as she weaves.
“Why will you not show me the blanket you are working on?” I ask.
“Because it’s special, and besides, it’s still a long way off from being done.”
“Would that not make you want to show me more?”
“It’s meant for Elena and her baby, and will be unveiled when we come together again to celebrate.”
“You are so quick with your fingers and weaves that I am surprised you are not done already.”
“I’d had an idea of what I was going to weave, but it changed, and I redid everything.”
I grumble in annoyance, though I am not at all upset.
“Ramsey?”
“Yes?”
“Can you tell me about Tempest?”
“What is it about Tempest you would like to know?”
“What does your land look like? And your buildings. How are they shaped? If you can, draw them on the earth with a stick.”
Seeing no harm in her request, I take her outside, and while she weaves, I draw buildings, castles, and other elements of Tempest, some long forgotten, until now.
She asks me about the colors and the materials used to build. Details that could easily go unnoticed.
And I feel not a hint of sadness, as my heart no longer yearns for Tempest and Princess Kasmina, for there is only one true princess in my heart.
As the sun sets, we retire to bed, and again, my Little Vaeyark’s scent entices me.
I strip my princess bare, marveling at the wonders of her soft flesh. Her hands are just as greedy as my own, pulling at the ties of my clothes, only pausing to look me in the eye and whisper, “Forever?”
