Page 27 of Under the Lion Star

A single note from home had signaled the end of my life as I knew it.

“Missed you,” I said, returning her embrace with my own. “Have fun with Atlas?”

“Of course,” she nodded. “But I feel like I never see you anymore.”

“I know,” I sighed. “Once things cool down a bit, I’ll be able to spend more time with you. Promise.”

“Orin, too,” Sanna wrung her fingers together. “He needs us, I think.”

“He does,” I agreed quietly. “We’ll bring him back to us, Sanna. Don’t lose hope, okay?”

“I was thinking about reading to him,” she continued. “But Liras is always there.”

“You can’t read with Liras around?”

Sanna’s cheeks flushed, and I did my best to hide my amusement over my fifteen-year-old sister’s obsession with Liras.

“I’d rather not,” she squared her shoulders. “I should be able to visit my brother without an audience.”

“You know how those two are,” I explained. “Attached at the hip ever since Mom and Dad first brought Liras home. He’s hurting, too, Sanna. I think Liras is afraid that something horrible will happen if he lets Orin out of sight.”

“Yeah, but,” Sanna hesitated, wringing her fingers again. “They have each other, and you’re going to find a wife, and I just worry…”

“Sanna,” I knelt in front of her to better look her in the eye. “Nothing could ever change the fact that you’re my sister. You’re the glue of this family. You always have been. Can you imagine how morose dinners would be if it were just Orin and I?”

“Just you two grunting at each other,” she smiled.

“And I’m not even sure I’ll take a wife, but if I do, you will never be on the outside, okay? Once Orin finds his way back to us, you’ll see that. It’s just chaotic as we wait for the dust to settle. A lot has changed, but we’ll find a new normal. Together.”

“Okay,” she breathed. “But you should take a wife.”

“Gods above, not you, too.”

“I’m outnumbered here, Leor,” Sanna groaned.

“Then you have to attend the stupid party,” I glared at her. “Pick someone you like because the last thing I have time for is a wife who expects a loving husband.”

“You’re plenty loving,” she scoffed.

“It’s a time thing,” I explained. “I just don’t have the capacity to be a decent spouse right now. My plan was to find someone who only cared about wealth and notoriety. Maybe it won’t be such a lonely existence if she has a friend in you.”

“You should just marry Atlas. He knows the score.”

“Can you imagine the scandal the first time he was seen exiting a brothel?” I cocked a brow.

Sanna laughed and nodded. “He’s never been one for discretion, has he?”

“Truer words. Now, show me the dress you picked out.”

Sanna, unsurprisingly, had chosen three dresses. Her excitement as she showed them off allowed me to feel like myself for a few moments.

People often mistook my sister's sunny disposition and preference for feminine things as evidence that she was weak or naive. That couldn’t be further from the truth.

I’d always been envious of Sanna’s outlook on life. It took strength to choose to be optimistic despite the state of the realm. My sister wasn’t ignorant of reality, but she actively looked for the good things, even if they were sometimes hard to find. It was a quality that had been snuffed out a bit after our parents’ deaths.

Slowly but surely, the sunshine was returning to her. I wondered if she knew that I considered her one of the strongest people I had ever known. Apathy was easy, as was pessimism. Both of which I leaned into frequently, as did the majority of elves. But not Sanna. The world would be better off if more people were like her.

When I left her room, I made my way down Orin’s hall. Nearly every day since Liras first brought him home, I walked the length of the corridor, all the way up to his bedroom door, where I would hesitate. Very few times did I venture inside. It was too much, too difficult. I had failed my brother in so many ways, and the guilt clawed at the inside of my chest anytime I saw him.

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