Page 167 of A Fate of Blood and Magic
I sighed when they didn’t reply.
“Bon left when I arrived.”Kieren asked,“Do you want me to get the girls?”
“Teddy said she likes the noise.”I wondered if he heard what I left unsaid about how Teddy liked the noise he and his friends had brought into our home.
“Kieren,” Teddy said, looking at us with the side of her head pressed against the back cushion. “Would you mind telling me about the military school?”
Kieren rushed forward as soon as I scented her tears but stopped to peer back at me in question. I nodded.
While I waited for the water to boil, I watched Teddy carefully. It didn’t take long for her face to break out in one of her beautiful smiles as her whole body shook with laughter atwhatever Kieren had told her. Once the tea was ready, I handed Teddy the mug and kissed her forehead.
I took in the way her eyes lit up as she nodded at Kieren. His face was animated, and his hands went up and down with large gestures. A knot formed in my stomach, wishing I was part of their conversation. I wanted to know what was happening in Javier’s life and what brought Teddy’s laughter.
But I was too afraid to interrupt and break the moment.
When Teddy stretched her hand to me, I took it and settled on the floor with her legs on either side. As I’d done so many times in the past week, I rested my head against her knee.
“Do you know Guenthrie, Your Majesty?”Kieren asked me, his tone light.
I chuckled.“Yes, I know Guenthrie. I have plenty of horror stories about him.”
Teddy tensed.“Horror stories?”
“They’re funny now,”I added.“At the time, my friends and I were all terrified of him. Don’t tell Brent I told you this, but he was so scared of Guenthrie, his butt cheeks clenched up so tight he wasn’t able to pass a motion for two weeks after meeting him.”
Teddy laughed.“Poor Brent.”
“Guenthrie is good, though,”I added.“He forged us into the warriors we are today.”
In my mind, I heard Kieren laugh.“Aidas got to know him really well this morning before we left.”
“Guardians, what did Aidas do?”
“He has this weird thing about his eyes and the sun. It’s always bothered him, especially first thing in the morning,”Kieren said.“They positioned us so that we were all facing the sun as it came up, and Guenthrie was in front of us, giving us all the rules of what we can and cannot do on leave. Aidas was squinting so he could seehim better, but when he squints, he kind of looks like he’s smiling?—”
“Oh no,”Teddy and I both said in unison.
Kieren laughed again.“He got right in Aidas’s face and yelled, ‘Are you smiling at me, boy?’ Aidas shook his head, but then he burst out laughing and?—”
“Oh no,”we repeated.
Teddy leaned toward Kieren, hanging on his every word.
“Oh, yeah.”He snickered.“He’s going to be training privately with Guenthrie when we get back.”
Teddy covered her mouth, but I sensed her amusement through our shared connection, that somehow still existed.“For how long?”
Kieren shrugged.
“Until Guenthrie is satisfied,”I answered.“Could be weeks or months. It depends on how much he offended Guenthrie.”
Teddy pressed her hand to my temple, and I leaned my head back to look at her.“Can’t you do anything? Maybe talk to Guenthrie and explain he has a medical condition with the sun and his eyes?”
I pulled up the leg of the loose-fitting pants she wore to trace a finger across her calf muscle. Goosebumps rose everywhere I touched.“I could, but it would only put a target on Aidas’s back. It’s a disadvantage to be related or friends with any royal.”
“He’ll be fine, Mama Teddy,”Kieren reassured her.“We all will.”
Teddy nodded, and when I scented her tears again, Kieren held out his arms. She went to him for a hug that ended with a sob. I rose, taking her empty mug back to the kitchen where I cleaned it with the mortar and pestle.
