Page 131 of The Mirror in the Mountain

“You rang?”

Rivan walked into the room, also bearing a tray. I raised an eyebrow at Bash. He had the nerve not to even look embarrassed.

I rolled my eyes. “How much food, exactly, are you expecting me to eat?”

Bash only smiled, swiping a strawberry through the cream before placing it between my lips. I nipped him as I bit down. He yelped as Yael guffawed.

“I wasn’t sure who would come the fastest,” Bash said dryly, taking a steaming mug from Rivan’s tray. He carefully dipped a small metal infuser filled with loose leaf tea into it, then picked up a spool of honey, carefully twirling it before adding the exact amount I liked. “But now we get to all enjoy a meal together.”

I pouted at Rivan. “If I’m stuck in bed, you should be too.”

Rivan placed his tray on the bed, winking before scooting underneath the covers beside me.

Bash carefully blew on the mug of tea before passing it to me.

Yael grinned. “I see he’s still fussing.”

I shook my head. “You have no idea. He won’t even let me?—”

“LA-LA-LA,” Marin cut in, putting her fingers in her ears. “Thisismy brother you’re talking about.”

I snorted. “I was going to say, ‘get up by myself’. Get your head out of the gutter.”

There was a tingle on my palm, warm from the mug.

No, you weren’t.

A blush crept up my cheeks. Bash leaned over, spearing a bite of egg with a fork before placing it in my open mouth. His knuckles lightly grazed my cheekbone before he pulled away. Rivan reached forward, snagging a jam-filled pastry from Yael’s tray.

“Hey, stick to your own,” she teased.

“According to her majesty, I should be bedridden too,” Rivan exclaimed through his full mouth. “Besides, someone had already taken all the pastries by the time I got there.”

I reached over him, grabbing a pastry for myself. “Why is Rivan allowed to be up and about when he was worse off than me?”

Yael coughed something that sounded like, “Debatable.”

Marin stabbed some fruit with a fork. “Rivan doesn’t have a whole host of new abilities to let his body adjust too. And while that magic healed you both, it didn’t entirely replenish the blood loss. Not to mention the fact that you repeatedly burned out your magic.”

“You said yourself that I’m fine now.” I shot Bash a pointed look. “So I should betraining. Just like I did the last time I got my magic.”

Marin laughed. “In my medical opinion, the only reason Rivan isn’t still stuck in bed is because Bash could only focus on one of you at a time.”

I took a long sip of the tea—savoring the restorative taste of ginger and turmeric. “It’s not like I have an entire realm to run or anything.”

“Everything will still be there once you’ve had some time to recover,” Marin said placatingly. “Though I can’t say I’m not feeling the same pressure hiding out here.”

Yael took her hand, using the free one to pick up a pastry. She used it to point at Marin, then me. “Bash is right. We’ve all been through a lot. And we somehow all made it through alive.” Her eyes flickered to Rivan, then back to me. “Even when we shouldn’t have.” She tugged Marin closer, looping her arm around her waist. “We deserve a break. So let yourself take one before it’s time to return to the real world.”

She bit into the pastry, somehow glaring threateningly at us all despite the jam running down her chin.

“You’re not wrong,” I said with a sigh. “It just seems like the to-do list is never-ending…and only getting longer.”

“Your steps don’t have to be long,” Rivan said gently. “They just have to take you in the right direction.”

I took his hand, wrapping our fingers together. “How are you feeling?”

One eyebrow twitched. “Absolutely wonderful, as always.”

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