by Jenn Vakey
Tense silence filled the clearing for a moment before Maizie broke it again. I was glad, being that I didn't really know what to say to her. That is until I heard where she was going. "I can totally see why Alister was singing your praise. I just thought it was because he's into you."
I grunted. It was apparently a confirmation in her eyes.
"He's really cute," she went on. She walked further into the clearing and leaned against a tree.
"His ability is shapeshifter," I countered, not giving any kind of confirmation. It was true he was an attractive guy, but he wasn't Rhydian. "He can look any way he wants to."
Maizie's eyes lit up with intrigue. It wasn't something she had known. Aarys had told me when I first arrived that people didn't usually broadcast what they could do. I didn't know what the majority of the people in Alkwin who were Tainted were capable of. Other than my friends, it was only something I learned when it had come up. Like when I was there when they were admitted through the archway.
"That's really cool," she mused. “It also makes him even more of a catch. You should totally lock that down.”
I sighed internally. What was with the women who wanted my fiancé insisting on setting me up with Alister? It made me wonder if they actually saw me as a threat, even if only subconsciously.
“Now you sound like Joury,” I said, chuckling more from exasperation than humor. Things would be easier when we told everyone, although I knew Rhydian was just as worried about Maizie’s feelings as I was Joury’s.
Maizie met my statement with a raised eyebrow and smirk. “See. That must mean you’re a good match.”
“I’m not interested, but thanks for the thought,” I answered.
Maizie rolled her eyes. “Whatever you say.” She thought I was being ridiculous. It was close to the reaction Joury had been giving me since Alister first arrived. It wasn’t one I could dispute without giving my reasoning. While there was some part of me that actually wanted to make sure Maizie knew exactly where things stood, as petty as it was, Rhydian really should be the one to handle it.
“I bet you’re feeling better now that you have your memories back,” she said, thankfully changing the subject.
That made me smirk. “Yeah, that’s something I never want to have to do again,” I admitted. I hadn’t really understood the full extent of it at the time, but being like that had left me feeling as helpless as I had that night Lillith was captured in Eden. I had fought so hard to make sure it wasn’t something I’d ever feel again. Part of me even worried that I’d somehow end up back there. Like I would wake up in the morning and everything would be gone again.
Even letting that fear settle in sent a shiver up my spine. I couldn’t go through that again. Not just for me. I couldn’t imagine making the people I love have to deal with me being unable to remember them.
“I heard you’ll be on the trip going to Denver now that you’re back in fighting shape,” she stated. “I was hoping to get in on that, but it looks like all of the spots have already been filled.”
Nodding, I leaned back as far as I could on the fallen tree without falling. I felt bad for not really liking her. It was clear she was trying to make an effort to befriend me. Maybe I should try harder. For Rhydian’s sake. She still rubbed me wrong, though. I had a feeling that wasn’t something I would be able to move past until we announced our engagement and she accepted that they would never be together again. So, for now, I would ignore the fact that I knew she only wanted to go to be closer to Rhydian and at least try.
“We’re taking a hovercraft,” I said. “It’ll hopefully cut a full day off the trip. The downside is the number of people we can take. There will be more trips later to our other communities. Maybe you can get onto one of those.”
As long as it was after we had announced our engagement.
“Isn’t it a risk sending both princes?” she questioned. “I’d think that at least one of them would stay here in case something happened. That would just leave the princess as an heir, and no one knows where she is. That pretty much eliminates her from being able to motivate people.”
My insides twisted with a sense of unease. She was lying. Not about her thinking it was a risk. It was Linley. Rhydian trusted her, thus didn’t see her as a threat to his sister, but we really didn’t want anyone knowing who she was.
And Maizie did.
“Although, it’s not like having a face for the revolution will really do much,” she went on, oblivious to the panic starting to surge through me. “Dex has the Sentry and the council. I doubt even an army of Tainted could take it from him.”
I nodded, not really paying attention to what she was saying as I opened my mind and reached out to Lillith. The world dimmed, the bright sunlight being replaced by that of the dorm. The woods vanished and were replaced by the walls of Lillith’s room.
“Leeya?” she asked. Paxton turned to face her, and I knew she was speaking out loud instead of in her mind.
“Find Rhydian and reach back out to me,” I thought quickly. “Now.”
I broke the connection just as she started to stand. I had no idea how long it would take her to track him down. I needed to focus on Maizie.
“We’ll be careful,” I assured her. “Gryffin needs to meet with all of our people, and I’m sure you would agree that Rhydian would never let us go without him. Besides, he’s one of the best fighters we have. There’s no one better to protect the future king.”
Even if we really were taking a trip to Denver to meet with the Makers, Rhydian would never hear of staying behind. Not if either Gryffin or I were on the trip. He was too protective of his family.
“I should talk with him,” she said lightly. She reached up and swept her long red hair over her shoulder. The way she spoke made it sound like she truly believed she would have a say in it. Again, I fought back the urge to scowl.
“You really think you could talk Rhydian out of going?”
My words had a bite to them that I regretted. Not that Maizie appeared to pick up on it at all. Not when she met the question with a smug smile. It made me want to punch her in the face.
“With the right incentive. You probably didn’t know, since it was before your time, but we used to be an item. We’d be married by now if I hadn’t ended up in that place.”
“I actually did know that,” I countered. It was becoming increasingly more difficult to keep my building anger from sounding. It had been one thing to know that Rhydian had a past when we got together. It was something entirely different to actually have that past standing here talking to me about him. “That was what, three years ago?”
Maizie actually looked shocked. Again, my tone didn’t bother her. Her grin only grew. “I see someone’s been talking about me.”
“It came up in a conversation we had shortly after I got here,” I said, not wanting my words to get her hopes up. “He was just telling me how he got here.”
Before I could see how she reacted, the world changed around me again and Rhydian’s face filled my vision. He looked worried, which was the only thing that kept me from giving that instinctual smile. I was sure that would have left Maizie with questions.
“What’s going on?” he asked, folding his arms. “Where are you?”
“The clearing. I just thought you should know Maizie knows who Linley is.”
Rhydian’s eyes widened as Lillith relayed my thought words to him. He looked around, jaw tense before meeting my eyes again. Well, her eyes.
“She said that?”
“The opposite,” I said quickly, trying to also pay attention so I could hear Maizie when she spoke again. Given the lingering silence, my words must have struck her. I was too worried about this current situation to feel bad. “She said no one knows where she is. She lied.”
“I was half worried on my way here that I’d find out he had forgotten about me and moved on,” Maizie’s words cut in.
“What’s going on?” Lillith asked, her tone sharpening.
I shushed her.
/>
“But of course that was silly,” Maizie said. I couldn’t see her, but she sounded light. Not like there was even a part of her that was worried. “We had something really good before the Sentry grabbed me. Distance and time doesn’t make that go away.”
Lillith was relaying everything she was overhearing to Rhydian. His eyes burned, body somehow growing even tenser. There was no mistaking that touch of worry there too. I couldn’t really blame him after what had happened the last time I had been in hearing distance of a conversation about them. I wanted to tell him not to worry, but my focus was on Maizie.
“Really? I heard the two of you broke up.”
“Eh. It wouldn’t have lasted. Besides, he’s way too good in bed.”
My blood started to burn, my fists clenching as my fingers dug into the bark of the tree I was sitting on. I could hardly make out the words Lillith was saying to Rhydian before he spun on the spot and stormed off.
“You better get back to that,” my sister said. She sounded nearly as angry as I found myself. “Just don’t listen to her. I can practically feel your anger. It might feel good at the time to knock her on her pompous ass, but you’re better than that. You don’t need the problems it could bring. Especially if she knows about Linley.”
I took in a slow breath and held it as the connection broke. Lillith was right. If I pissed Maizie off, she could end up retaliating and revealing Linley’s identity. That was far more important than making sure she knew her place.
So I didn’t tell her how much I agreed as Maizie’s face came back into focus. That was made slightly easier when I saw that there wasn’t a touch of malice in her expression. Nothing that said she was only saying this to poke at me. Instead, she seemed to actually see this as a bonding session. Gossiping about boys.
Oh, goody.
“And you don’t think he’s seeing someone?” I asked, calming slightly.
Maizie scrunched up her face in thought for a moment before shrugging. “Even if he is, it won’t last. Can something really be serious if no one knows about it? Besides, we have a lot of history. He’s still processing everything right now. You know, since he spent the last several years thinking I was dead. But we’re destined to be together. Nothing will keep that from happening.”
I hated that a small part of me wondered if she could be right. It was irrational. Rhydian had been doing everything he could since the rescue to make sure I knew how he felt about me. To make sure I knew that there was nothing still there between them. Then there was the fact that the reason no one knew we were engaged was because I had wanted to wait until things had settled down.
But there was also that part that said it had been his decision first. Even from the beginning, he had never shown affection when anyone was around to see it. He kissed me when we were alone. The only reason anyone in camp knew was because either I had told them, or in Auggie’s case, he had just paid extra attention. Well, before Zaydan saw us.
But even with all of that, I knew that he would tell people now if I said I wanted it. It was stupid to doubt that. To doubt him. It wasn’t fair to him.
My expression must have given something away, because Maizie asked, “Why? Is there something I should know?”
I shrugged. “You’d have to talk to Rhydian about that.”
“Talk to me about what?” that deep, beautiful voice cut through the clearing.
Maizie jumped, and I turned, not even slightly surprised to see him crossing through the tree line. His eyes found mine, searching. His expression giving none of that anger I had seen when he was with Lillith away.
“Hey, Rhydian,” Maizie said. Her tone was light, flirty. I felt my jaw tick, but I looked away quickly before he could see it as I threw my leg over the tree and shifted so I could see them both. “We were just talking about how risky it is to send both of our princes to Denver. Especially with what’s happening in Eden.”
Her lie sizzled through me, even though it had been smooth. Had I not known the truth, it would have actually sounded believable.
“Fancy that,” Rhydian said. “I was just coming to grab Leeya so we could make sure we have all the Healer supplies we need for that trip.”
I smirked, not bothered nearly as much at his lie. “Afraid I’ll have to save you again?”
Some of his tension drained as his focus turned completely to me and he gave me one of those real smiles. “It does seem to be one of your favorite things to do,” he said. “Don’t tell me we’re still keeping track.”
Grabbing my bastons, I shrugged and stood. “Of course we are. We’re still tied, so it would be a shame to stop now. Especially when it leads to an adventure like we had the last time we were in Denver.”
Rhydian’s eyes were locked on mine as I walked toward him, fire filling them that sent a rush of heat through me. The statement had been pushing things. While she might not have had any idea what we were talking about, it still had to be clear that his attention was entirely on me. And maybe on some level I hoped that she did know him well enough to be able to recognize the look he was giving me.
Not that I would ever admit that to anyone.
“See ya, Maiz,” he said, barely sparing her a glance before he turned and walked with me out of the clearing.
As we went, the memories that had been sparked by the mention of our night in Denver faded and the weight of what had just happened started to settle back in.
“Tell me Lillith was exaggerating.”
I shot him a sideways glance. His body was tight, his hands tucked into his pockets. His gaze was trained ahead, almost like he was afraid to look at me and see my reaction.
“Don’t worry,” I said, trying to sound light about it. “I already knew you were good in bed.”
Rhydian closed his eyes and groaned. He looked miserable. “She probably figured it out. I don’t want to think she would be that petty, but I can’t see there being any other reason to say anything like that. It’s not like you two are friends.”
I thought about everything that had been said. I wasn’t one to share such a personal thing with anyone, especially someone I didn’t really know, but I would be lying if I said I hadn’t considered throwing it at her as a jab. Nothing about the look she had when she was talking about it made me think that was what was happening, though. She hadn’t been watching me for a reaction.
“I don’t think so,” I said honestly. “And honestly, I’m more concerned with the fact that she knows about Linley.”
Rhydian sighed. “It’s not ideal, but if she lied to you, she’s at least making an attempt to keep it hidden. I told her myself that you used to babysit Linley in Eden, so she has to know you’re in on the secret. She hasn’t even told me that she figured it out.”
We walked the rest of the way across the training field in silence. When we reached the dorm, Rhydian grabbed me by the elbow and pulled me through the door and down the hall to my room. Our room.
“I’m sorry,” he said, pushing it closed and looking down at me. “I never thought she would say anything to you about that stuff. Even if she wasn’t doing it to try to get to you, she knows that I’ve never been fond of sharing personal things with anyone who didn’t need to know.”
I stepped forward and wrapped my arms around his waist, looking up into his pretty green eyes. He looked like he was on the verge of panicking. “I’m okay,” I assured him. “Like you said, it was a long time ago. I’ve always known that you had a past, and I’ve never held it against you. The future is all I care about.”
Rhydian gave me a sad little smile and brushed the hair out of my face before sliding his hands down my back. It felt good. I’d missed his touch so much, even if I hadn’t realized it at the time.
“You should be prepared for her to try to convince you not to go on the Denver trip,” I added. “She wasn’t really lying about us talking about that. That was actually how the other conversation got started in the first place. She thinks she’ll be able to talk you into staying behind
.”
Rhydian dipped his head down and pressed his warm lips against my forehead. I closed my eyes and sighed. “Like I would let my girl go anywhere without me by her side.”
I grinned and pushed up onto my toes, capturing his lips with mine. We did nothing more than that for several minutes, just enjoying being with each other. Being really alone for the first time since I had found myself again.
“Are you sure you don’t want to just tell people?” Rhydian asked after we broke apart. “It would keep things like this from happening again. It would also mean I didn’t have to sneak you away anytime I wanted to do this.”
I considered it for a moment. I didn’t like the secrecy of it. I loved him so much, and I wanted to be able to share that with people. But I still shook my head. “We will after we take Eden,” I said, hating the disappointment I saw there. “If things go wrong, we’re going to need everyone to have a clear mind for the second wave. Telling people now would also mean having to answer questions when we need to be focused on planning.”