The journal was shaking in my grasp.
Adrastus fathered a child. Before Rogue. Rogue had a brother and yet, no one knew except for Alden and a man named Ewan. Closing the journal, my eyes found the fire, letting the ebb and flow carry my thoughts.
I have to tell him. Before I tell anyone else. If not, I’m no better than any person who withheld the truth from me.What good the information would do, I didn’t know. I had no name or description, but it was not my place to keep it from him. Just as it wasn’t his to keep from me.
Hours passed as I watched the never-ending flames dance, lost in thought as they swirled around Rogue and his family. Wondering where he was. What he was doing. Imagining the look on his face when I had to tell him of his lost sibling.
Just as the orange light of sunset peeked through the window, a light knock sounded from the door. Startled, I spun to see Thana peeking her head in.
“Can I come back in?”
“Of course,” I replied and sat up straighter, motioning to the chair beside mine. She swung the door open with an elbow and entered with a silver tray, carrying a kettle and two cups.
“I wanted to apologize for my harshness earlier.” She avoided my gaze as she crossed the room and set the tray on the side table. My stomach sank at her avoidance and I reached out to place a hand on hers.
“Please, don’t apologize. There is nothing to apologize for. Someone had to burst my self-righteous bubble and if it was anyone, I would prefer it to be you,” I said and she released a shaky laugh. Her eyes glanced up to meet mine and dropped back to the tea tray.
“Well, I’m glad I could be that for you,” she said, seeming to relax some, sitting in the chair opposite of me. As she reached for the kettle, she accidentally knocked over a teacup and it clattered to the ground, shattering. She jerked to her feet and I jumped at the sudden movement. “Oh, I’m so sorry about that. I’m feeling a bit out of sorts this evening.”
Concern creased between my eyebrows. “Are you alright? Are we… alright?”
“Yes, I’m fine. Don’t worry about me,” she muttered, leaning over to clean up the pieces.
I leaned over to help, placing the broken pieces on the tray. Once we finished, she sat up to pour the dark tea into the remaining cup.
Chuckling softly, she added, “Well, at least I managed to pour that one. And yes, of course, we’re alright. I hated that we fought this morning and I just came back to make sure we were still okay. You’ve become a dear friend of mine, even if I was terrified of you when you first arrived.”
We laughed in unison and I relaxed, taking the cup from her.
“I couldn’t imagine anyone being scared of me,” I said.
She grinned. “Well, I couldn’t imagine being scared of you now either.”
My mouth fell open in mock hurt.
“Hey, I do have magic now. Maybe you should be scared,” I teased back, sending another round of laughter between us. “So what tea is this?”
Bringing it to my nose, I inhaled the aroma. It was earthy with an undertone of something sweet—cherries, maybe?
“Oh, this is a special tea from Iaso. She said it’s one for the heart ofconfused lovers,” she said, enunciating the last two words.
“No, she did not,” I said with a giggle, swatting her arm.
“Yes, she really did. Try it. She did say it was delicious, at least.” I blew the steam and she watched as I took a tentative sip. It was sweeter than it smelled.
“Oh, it’s really good,” I said, taking another sip.
“Good.” Her smile faltered slightly as she nodded, turning her gaze to the fire.
The sun was fully set now, perfectly framed by the windowsill as it cast the room in its golden glow. As the warm rays fell over us, a feeling of lightness settled over me.
Chapter Twenty One
Rogue
The Marsh was directly south of Draig Hearth, just a few miles inland from the coast, split in half by the border, deeming it the official place of meeting between Ravaryn and Auryna for as long as history had been written.
Because it was just Doran, Delphia, and I, we decided to ride as close as possible to the border mountains. I would then fly them over one at a time, as navigating through the rocky foothills would add at least half a day to our journey.