Page 20 of Under the Lion Star

“Probably Nima, she’s the second oldest after me. She and I studied medicine with my aunt growing up. She’s planning to open an apothecary shop with her partner one day.”

“Not for you?” El asked.

“I don’t think I’d be good at dealing with difficult customers,” I smirked, meeting El’s knowing grin.

“You don’t say?”

“Shush.”

El laughed, which may have been the most beautiful sound I had ever heard.

“What do you want to do?” He asked, unaware that it was my least favorite question.

“Honestly,” I sighed, my smile falling. “I have no idea. Nima has a brain for business, so it makes sense for her. My twin sisters are both apprenticing with a seamstress, and even my youngest two sisters have a general sense of what they want to do. But me? I’m not sure.”

“No idea at all?” El asked without judgment.

“I like to help people,” I averted my eyes to look out over the mountains. “But everything feels so small scale. I help my grandma and other farmers; I help my sisters and our parents, but there’s more good to be done, I’m sure of it.”

“Even small scale can yield big results, Z,” he offered. “You’re still leaving the realm slightly better than how you found it.”

“Z, huh?”

“I’m a very efficient man,” El’s face held a mock sternness. “Your friends and family may save some time by using ‘Alda,’ but I save even more by just going with one syllable.”

I choked out a laugh, which El answered with his own.

“So serious. So efficient. You’d be a terrible addition to my grandmother’s roster of lovers.”

“I take my time where it matters,” El smirked softly, leaving my legs feeling less than solid beneath me. “But I’m not great at sharing, so she may have to look elsewhere.”

“She’ll be heartbroken,” I protested.

“A woman like that? She’ll be fine,” he winked.

We continued our journey with lighter topics of conversation until we reached the city gates. El said he had to take his horse to the stables but offered to meet up to continue working on Grandma’s house in a few days. His smile as I waved my goodbye was genuine, and it made my body light up with a sense of victory.

I tried to ignore the images of his forearms and sweat soaked body, although they appeared to be imprinted on the backs of my eyelids. Instead, I focused on wiping the grin off my face so that I wouldn’t face an inquisition from my sisters upon arriving home.

El was hiding from something, but if giving him a few moments of peace and distraction as we painted an old woman’s house eased his burden, I was happy to oblige.

Chapter 5

Zialda

The sunlight permeating my eyelids was both welcome and a reminder. Not a good one.

Today was the final day that El and I would be working on Grandma’s house, and I had a growing suspicion that I would never see the man again.

Over the past two weeks, we had met up nearly a dozen times, and although he was still guarded and closed off, I felt confident that we were cultivating the beginning of a friendship. He rarely divulged information about himself but shared countless stories about his time during the war. Most were happy memories, but I assumed that was more due to him not wanting to dampen the mood with the more tragic things he had witnessed in Krannar.

I also made him laugh loudly on three occasions, which I felt were among my most outstanding achievements.

Dressing quickly, I made my way downstairs, finding my mother at the table sorting through the various missives and correspondence frequently delivered to the Helner household. I never bothered to ask if any of it was for me. I think the last time I had any personal mail was the university acceptance letter nearly six years prior.

“Everyone leave already?” I asked, taking the cup of tea she offered.

“When you sleep until the afternoon, that tends to happen,” she smiled.

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