Page 104 of The War of Wings
“Wow. And Nieve was the one to make the sacrifice. Surprising.”
Cielle put a hand up. “No, no. Her intentions weren’t all noble. She thought it would make her less appealing to any suitors. All it did was darken her hair though, which, in my opinion, actually suits her.”
A laugh — a true laugh — burst from Miles. It was a sound I didn’t know I needed to hear. Fuck, I wished Petra was here to witness this. But as Miles’ laughter died down, his face grew serious once again. “But Cenric… He still uses his chair. Did the sacrifice not work?”
Cielle was the one laughing now. She was trying to hold it back, one hand on her chest as she giggled. “No, it did. Apparently when she made the sacrifice, she asked forthe thing Cenric wanted most in the world, assuming it would be the ability to walk. Didn’t know she had to be specific.”
Miles’ brows furrowed. “And what could he have possibly wanted more than the ability to walk?”
Cielle could hardly contain her laughter, and it took a few tries before the words came out. “Something that didn’t even come true until last night. He wanted to see a driva.”
If Miles’ laugh before felt good, this one felt great. He threw his head back, trying to catch his breath as Cielle descended into a fit of laughter along with him.
“Oh, my fucking Saints,” he sighed, trying to catch his breath. “And he got his wish here in Araqina, huh? How pissed was Nieve?”
“Imagine Nieve as angry as you can. Now multiply that by a thousand, then by a thousand again for good measure.”
Miles wiped at his eyes. “She didn’t want to try again?”
“Her parents wouldn’t let her. And Cenric said he’d grown to like his chair because he could use it to roll over Nieve’s toes.”
I sat crouched in the shrub, holding back my own laughter at this story about strangers. The way Miles and Cielle talked, the way they interacted… Fuck, it felt good to see.
As their laughter finally quieted, the energy between them changed. Things suddenly felt stiff — almost as stiff as my neck from hiding in this fucking shrub.
Cielle was the one to break the fragile silence. “It seems you’ve found your family.”
Miles’ smile was weak as he nodded. “I found my brother, yeah. The King of Widoras. Imagine that.” He huffed a laugh, much different than the one he’d just shared with Cielle. “We’ve been catching up, making up for lost time.”
“That’s good.” Cielle nodded, the air suddenly turning awkward again. “Queen Petra seems nice.”
Was that…jealousy in her voice? Tension in her shoulders that hadn’t been there a second ago?
“She is. A little scary, too. Who would’ve thought the Daughter of Katia and my brother would fall in love?”
Her shoulders relaxed, and holy shit, shehadbeen jealous. I fought a smile. She still had feelings for Miles. But I hadn’t needed that little show of jealousy to tell. “Small world.”
“And you know what’s funny? When I first met her, I thought I saw some traits of yours in her. Sure, she’s prickly and scrappy and rough around the edges–”
Watch it, Miles, I thought. I had no problem showing him prickly, scrappy, or rough around the edges.
“But there was a softness to her,” he continued. “A kindness, and I think… I think that was her connection to you. Of course, you’d been raised by different parents. But that softness and kindness that was passed down to you by blood, by your biological parents. They must’ve passed some on to Petra while they were raising her.”
She blinked at him before her eyes were suddenly on the ground, her toes digging into the gravel beneath her shoes. Cielle shifted, as if there were words she wanted to say but decided against them.
“Listen, Cielle, I’m sorry–”
“No,” Cielle cut in. “We’re not going to do that. I don’t want your apology.”
“Whether I say it or not, it’s true. I should’ve…” Miles trailed off, blinking hard. He went silent, and I was two seconds from busting out from the bushes, grabbing Miles by the shoulders, and screaming at him to just say what he wanted to say, that he wished he’d gone with her. This was his chance.
“We both would’ve ended up right here in Araqina anyway,” Cielle answered before he could continue, smoothing her hands over her skirts. “Even if you’d chosen to go back with me to Coldwater, right? The Daughter of Katia would’ve come here to Araqina and summoned the kingdoms for a ball. We would’ve ended up here.” Once again, I couldn’t read the look on her face, and I wasn’t sure if Miles could either.
“Right,” he answered quickly. He shot to his feet suddenly, taking a step back that was noticeably unsteady. His eyes flashed to where I was crouched in the shrub.Shit, he looked nervous. Something was wrong. “I better go,” he stammered. “I, um, need to…”
She raised a brow, slowly standing and tucking her book beneath one arm. “Go read up on your trees?”
“Yeah. That.”
