Nerissa smiled gently as she realized why Desta had chosen to mention that particular aspect of Aravind’s personality. “She should be proud of them.”
Desta peered up at Nerissa inquisitively. “Does that mean you won’t try to hide yours either?”
“No, I don’t think I will,” Nerissa answered. “As a matter of fact, I think I might make a habit of wearing sleeveless clothes just to show it off. As Aravind would say, it’s proof of my determination to restore Chiyo’s independence.” And a reminder to myself to always consult with my advisors before making major decisions, she added silently.
“I’m so jealous of you both,” Desta said. She sighed wistfully. “You’re so confident, and you’re doing everything you can to work toward your dreams.”
“And you’re not? I would think you’re more focused on dreams than either of us.”
Desta giggled again, though this time her heart wasn’t in it. “I don’t know. I definitely want to learn to use my dreams to help people, like my mother does. But I don’t want that to be the only thing I do with my life.”
“It doesn’t have to be, does it? Your mother also works harvesting plant oils.”
“While I know this may sound selfish, I don’t want to go back to living in that tiny village,” Desta said as she stared out the window longingly. “I’ve always dreamed about leaving, which is part of the reason why I wanted to go with you to search for the books. This spring, I’ll be old enough to start taking classes at the University. I want to go there and study like my father did. Maybe then I can figure out what I really want to do.”
Nerissa patted the girl’s hand. “That sounds like a wonderful idea.”
“But it’s an impossible wish.”
“Why is that?”
“I can’t afford to live away from home or pay the tuition.”
“Perhaps I can offer a solution,” Nerissa said after taking a moment to consider how to respond. She liked Desta a great deal, and she really did want to help. Yet, her motivation wasn’t purely altruistic. There were still lingering questions about the prophecy that she needed answers to, and both Desta and Shae could be valuable resources. “You need money for tuition, and I need help determining why our confrontation with Casimer didn’t go as the prophecy described. I want to know if the prophecy was incorrect, or if something has happened to alter the future. Would you and Shae consider accepting payment to help me?”
Desta shook her head. “I’m sure she wouldn’t be willing to do that. Mother has a strict policy to never take payment for her insights because doing so might call into question her honesty.”
“It’s admirable she feels that way, but surely we must be able to work out some kind of arrangement,” Nerissa said, just as another idea came to mind. “What if I offered her a different job? One of the first things I plan to do is rebuild the Royal Manor. In addition to house staff, I’ll also need to find someone who can restore and care for the new gardens. I could offer that position to Shae, and she would be welcome to use the plants to continue her work harvesting oils. Then you’d have enough money for tuition, you’d both be living together in Niamh, and I could consult with you whenever I needed to.”
Desta seized a wad of blankets with both hands. “I think that sounds fantastic!” she exclaimed, looking like she was restraining herself from bouncing on the bed again.
Nerissa couldn’t help but laugh at her animation. “Then I’ll have a message sent to Shae tomorrow. Speaking to her about the idea can be one of the first things I do when I return to Niamh next week.”
**************************************
Later that evening, Nerissa stepped off one of Darnal’s many cobblestone paths and onto the frosty grass. The cold air thickened the oil in the hinges of her glow lamp, making the lantern squeak with every step she took. Ahead of her, a lone oak tree towered above its shrubby neighbors—the marker indicating that she had almost reached the clearing where she and Raysel had often practiced over the summer. As she passed under the tree, a movement overhead caught her attention, and she looked up to see a strip of white flickering in the waning moonlight. Somehow, a piece of paper had gotten caught on one of the tree’s highest branches.
She smiled at the irony, since it was a piece of paper that had summoned her here in the first place. A message from Rian had arrived shortly after Desta’s visit this afternoon. While Nerissa was happy to hear from him, the note had contained no explanation and no apology for why he had waited a week to contact her. It merely specified to meet him in the middle of the clearing an hour after sunset.
She approached the appointed place with some trepidation. Rian’s behavior lately had been confusing and inconsistent, to say the least. She had no idea what to expect from him tonight.
When she reached the middle of the field, Rian was already there, sitting on a blanket on the ground. “I’m glad you came,” he said. He motioned for her to sit down beside him. “I wouldn’t have blamed you if you hadn’t.”
Nerissa spread out her cloak so that it covered her like a blanket before she sat down “I admit, I am unhappy that I haven’t seen or heard from you since the day we arrived here.”
He pointed toward the sky, and Nerissa followed his line of sight upward. Now that the clouds were gone, the heavens were wide open and coated in a shimmering sea of stars. A thread of white streaked across the horizon, followed quickly by another that disappeared behind the towering cliffs that surrounded the city. “I was waiting for a clear night because I knew there would be a meteor shower this week, and I wanted to watch it with you,” Rian said.
A meteor shower? That was his reason for wanting to meet me here? Nerissa thought. Even though it was a sweet sentiment, it was still a flimsy excuse for his absence.
“No, that’s not entirely true.” His long ponytail swished side to side as he shook his head. “The meteor shower is only part of the reason why I waited. There’s something I need to tell you, and I couldn’t think of any other way to do it.”
Nerissa turned to look at him, but he kept his gaze focused on the stars. She couldn’t tell if she was going to like what he had to say or not, so she wrapped her arms around her knees and waited for him to speak.
“On the first night we watched a meteor shower together, I told you there was a superstition that falling stars grant wishes,” Rian said.
“I remember,” she replied. “People write their wishes on paper strips and hang them as high in the trees as they can climb so the wishes are easier for the stars to reach.”
Rian nodded. “On that night, I told you my greatest wish was to be a personal guardian for one of the members of the Royal Family. But I didn’t tell you the reason why I wanted to be a guardian.”
Nerissa recalled that conversation distinctly. That was when he told her he wasn’t eligible to be a guardian because his father was “chief” among the Ohanzee’s enemies.
“Unlike Raysel and the other Ohanzee, my desire for wanting the role wasn’t born from a devotion to the Royal Family. My reason was far more selfish. Twenty years ago, my mother staged a carriage accident so it would appear we had died. Then she and her lady’s maid, Alala, fled to Chiyo, hoping to find a place to stay where no one would recognize them. They found it with the Ohanzee.”
His heavy sigh came out as a cloud of mist that slowly dissipated into the night. “I spent my whole life feeling ashamed of who my father was. It was a secret that had to be kept from everyone. I trained as hard as I could because I thought that if I were the best among the Ohanzee, I would finally have something to be proud of. That I could prove I was nothing like him. Still, no matter how many sparring matches I won, or how many times my arrows hit the target, nothing ever changed. You can’t imagine how angry I was when ‘Caeneus’ bested me at the archery tournament. Even the small amount of pride I had was snatched away by a newcomer.”
“Oh, during our first sparring match, I had a pretty good idea of how angry you were,” Nerissa interjected.
>
Rian laughed softly. “While I wish I could say I regret how I treated you then, I don’t. That was when I first recognized you. And as I got to know you better, I finally started to think maybe it didn’t matter who my father was.”
He took in a deep breath and held it for a moment. When he spoke again, the words tumbled out of him in a rush. “Then, you told me who you really were, and I felt sick. You were the one my father had wronged the most, so I was the last person in the world who deserved to be with you. I couldn’t even bear to look you in the eye anymore.”
“I noticed. You haven’t said my name since that night,” Nerissa said in barely more than a whisper.
“I’m sorry,” he replied. “After months of wanting nothing more than to know your real name, once I learned it, I couldn’t bring myself to call you by it.”
Nerissa’s heart sank. “So is that what you called me out here to tell me? That you can’t bear to be around me now that you know who I really am?”
Rian rose and held out one hand to help her up. “I believed that for a while,” he said as he led her out of the clearing. “Because of Shae’s warning, I had to go with you to confront Casimer. I told myself that once we were done, I would leave the Ohanzee. But then, when Casimer attacked you, I drew Bane with one thought in mind—to protect you. For the first time in my life, I drew my sword for someone else’s sake and not for my own pride. And as I looked down at my dying father, I didn’t feel hatred or release. All I wanted was your safety. On the way back to Darnal, I didn’t know if you would recover from your injuries or not, and the only thing I could think about was that even though I didn’t deserve to be with you, I also couldn’t bear to be without you.”
He stopped in front of the oak tree and pointed upward again. “So, I brought you here to tell you—and the stars—that I’ve changed my wish. I don’t care if I’m your personal guardian or not, as long as I can be by your side.”
Nerissa’s eyes scanned the sky overhead, but she didn’t see anything unusual aside from the wayward paper strip stuck among the branches. Then her eyes widened as she realized it was no stray piece of paper. “You climbed all the way up there?” she gasped.
“I had to put my wish as high as I could so the stars could reach it,” Rian answered. He turned to her with a hesitant smile, and Nerissa felt a prickling sensation at the corners of her eyes. “Can we start over again? As ourselves this time.”
Unsure of what he meant by starting over, Nerissa simply nodded.
Rian stepped back and swept into a low bow. When he straightened, he took her hand and kissed it—just as he had at the clinic in Rhea. “I am Rian, son of King Casimer and Queen Marianna of Marise.”
An introduction? Dumbfounded, Nerissa responded the only way she knew how. “I-I’m pleased to make your acquaintance, Rian,” she said. “I am N—” Before she could finish saying her name, Rian tightened his grip on her hand and pulled her toward him.
“Nerissa,” he said, his voice a fervent whisper, his lazuline eyes fierce with emotion. He pressed his lips to hers and stole the rest of the introduction from her tongue.
When they parted a short time later, another star arced low across the heavens and disappeared directly overhead. Rian reached out and gently pushed away an errant lock of her hair, then leaned down and nuzzled the bare part of her neck, whispering her name over and over again while his kisses traced a path up to her ear, along her cheek, and back toward her lips.
Nerissa couldn’t say how long they spent together in the clearing that night, reveling in the feeling of finally being free from the masks they had both been wearing. But when she looked up to the stars one final time to make a wish of her own before going home, the slip of paper was no longer among the tree’s branches.
Chapter 19
Homecoming
Nerissa
Nerissa walked across the checkerboard floor of the University Library’s foyer feeling awestruck. It was hard for her to believe that just two weeks ago, she had been on her way to the palace in Marise to confront Casimer. Now, despite everything that happened, here she was in Niamh, about to make the traditional procession through the city to take her oaths to be crowned the Blood of Chiyo.
The library, which currently served as the staging area and starting point for the procession, was filled with people. The multitude of voices under the vaulted ceilings created an echoing din that filled the foyer and made it difficult to hear anything at all. Libraries really weren’t meant to be noisy places, but then again, they weren’t meant to be used as the starting place for royal parades, either.
In the past, the procession would have originated from the Royal Manor and finished with the oaths being taken on stage in the University Theater. Today, however, Nerissa would be following the route in the opposite direction—a symbolic return home.
Rian gave her hand an affectionate squeeze and leaned closer so she could hear him better. “Raysel must be around here somewhere,” he said. “Do you see him?”
“Not yet,” she replied, scanning the passing faces. It seemed odd to see members of the Ohanzee openly working with library staff and organizers, but there was no longer any point in concealing the group’s existence. After their clashes with the Senka to retake the city, there was not a citizen in Niamh who hadn’t heard about the group of swordsmen operating in Nerissa’s name. Still, just because their existence had been revealed didn’t mean anything else about the Ohanzee was common knowledge. Their origin and who all of their members were remained a closely guarded secret.
“Maybe he’s with the others,” Rian said as they entered the main body of the library, where dozens of glow lamps hung from sprawling chandeliers to illuminate the room with soft-white radiance in spite of the overcast winter sky outside.
The other members of her escort party turned expectantly at her approach, but Raysel wasn’t among them.
“I can’t believe you fooled us for so long,” Eloc said, looking impressed. “I think you may be even more talented with disguises than we are.”
“Hardly,” Nerissa said, shaking her head. “I couldn’t have done it without all of your help either.”
Cole held out one hand and tapped his open palm. “Well, if you want to show your gratitude, we’d be happy to take that voice-altering choker off your hands and put it to good use.”
“I’m not sure your definition of ‘good use’ is the same as everyone else’s,” Rian teased. He gave her hand another affectionate squeeze as the twins shared impish grins, and Nerissa was glad she had convinced him to be open about their relationship. The Ohanzee had plenty of secrets. Their relationship didn’t need to be another one.
“They aren’t the only ones. I never suspected a thing,” Leal said, bending slightly in a respectful bow.
Beside him, Jarold held up one hand and pinched his fingers together so that there was barely a gap visible between them. “Perhaps you could have given me a small hint?” he said, repeating back the request Nerissa had made of him following their last sparring match.
Before Nerissa could reply, Charis came running down the main aisle.
“Nerissa, there you are! I’ve been looking all over for you,” she exclaimed.
“Charis! We’ve just arrived,” Nerissa said, preparing to give her friend a welcoming hug. “I was hoping to see you—”
Strangely, Nerissa’s sentimental best friend didn’t want a hug. Shaking her head, she grabbed Nerissa’s free hand and proceeded to haul her down one of the side aisles with Rian in tow. “There’s not much time for you to change, so we have to hurry!”
“Time to change?” Bewildered, Nerissa glanced down at her outfit. Although the pants and blouse from Darnal didn’t compare to the stylish garments she had worn as the Heiress, they were still perfectly suitable for the occasion. And she certainly didn’t want to change her jewelry, which was a set from the Treasury that her mother had often worn. “Why do I need to change clothes?”
“It’s a surprise,”
Charis answered as they veered into a short hallway.
Nerissa tugged on her friend’s hand in a futile attempt to get her to listen. “Charis, I don’t want to seem ungrateful, but I really need to find Raysel.”
Just then, they reached the end of the hallway and Charis came to an abrupt stop. She turned the knob to the Head Librarian’s office and flung open the door with a flourish to reveal Raysel waiting inside. Though his clothes were rumpled and there were dark circles under his eyes, the smile on his face was so broad he was practically beaming.
“Raysel!” Nerissa and Rian exclaimed at the same time.
Nerissa took a handful of steps toward him, and then stopped short when Rian suddenly let go of her hand.
“She’s going to be changing clothes, so you have to wait out here,” Charis said, blocking him from crossing the threshold.
“W-what?” Rian spluttered. “B-but if Raysel is in there, why can’t I go in?”
Laughing, Charis pulled him out into the hallway with her. “Give them a minute. He’ll be coming out to join us shortly.”
Nerissa caught only a glimpse of Rian’s scandalized expression before the door closed.
Raysel watched the exchange with an amused look on his face. “I must say, it feels rather good to see someone else be on the receiving end of a slamming door for once.”
Nerissa suppressed a smirk and hurried over to give him a hug. “Where have you been?”
“I went to Silvus,” he said when they stepped apart.
“You went to Silvus? Rian said you were sending a message there.”
Raysel ran his hand through his hair. Apparently, he hadn’t kept up with dyeing it while he was gone because the long strands had almost fully returned to their natural, snowy-white shade. “That was my original plan.” he said. “But after I left, I realized Darci would not be willing to part with this dress in response to a letter. I knew she would recognize me if I rode to Silvus to ask for it in person.”
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