As per usual, the more that I need to get to work, the more my characters are coming to the surface… Here is some cutesy stuff:
[Nati and Stris. Mama (O'Nell) is from a different country so her mannerisms are a little different. Sela is Nati and Kraio's etiquette teacher]
“Gods, I do not know why, but these chambers always make me nervous,” he said through gritted teeth.
Without thinking, I grabbed his hands and brought his knuckles to my lips and kissed them gently, just as Mama had done so many times before.
“What are you doing?” He whispered.
“I, I –” I stammered, “my mother – is this not normal?” I dropped his hands, suddenly feeling self-conscious.
“No, not in Darion,” Stris chuckled and I felt like shrinking in on myself. All of those lessons with Sela, and I had still managed to paint myself as an outsider.
“But perhaps it should be.” And he took my hands in his and kissed my knuckles. But there was something entirely different about the gesture.
Mama’s gesture was a comfort; the way she put it, it ‘pulled away anxiety to leave only calm’.
His was not calming. His eyes held me captive and even if I wished, I could not have broken free. The warmth of his lips swept over my knuckles and sparked something in me.
“Yes,” I whispered, “Perhaps.”
Someone turned the doorknob and instantaneously, we lept apart.
____________________
[Nati and Stris]
“Hi!” she giggled, “I knew you’d come! You’re always there.” She mumbled something that sounded like “rotten bastard.” But still in the cheeriest of tones.
“What have you been drinking?” I asked, picking up one of the empty glasses on the side table. It smelled vaguely of sugar and berries.
“Aelina kept bringing them to me,” she threw her hands up. “She said they were” she hickuped and covered her mouth in surprise. “Special.”
Aelina. That girl was going get herself into trouble. “Come here. Can you stand?” “Where in the palace are you staying?”
“I don’t remember?” She said as she tried to get up, tried being the operative word. She would have crumpled to the floor if I hadn’t caught her.
“Alright, you’re coming with me. Time for bed.” I said as I swept her up into my arms.
“My! How forward of you!” She said, throwing one hand around my shoulders and the other to her hair.
I could feel the heat of my embarrassment burning my cheeks. “I’ll take the lounge.”
Carries her to the Seblire section of the palace. Where the Bestolin wing used to be.
… I set her on the bed. And she looked at me for a long moment. “You know that you’re beautiful?”
“Nati, we’ve had this discussion. I look like your brother.”
She waved a hand “Yes, but you’re different. You’re… I don’t know. You make me feel things. Not supposed to…” her voice became deep and she waved her hands about. “Might compromise the mission.” Her voice returned to her lovely register as she said “Pha! I still think you have a cute butt. And your poetry makes me blush and I think you’re grand.”
“Nati, you’re drunk.” I could not help but chuckle. “It’s time to go to sleep now.”
“Nati, do this. Nati, do that.” She sighed, kicking off her boots.
_______________________
[Siblingness. Kraio and Nati]
“Kraio had I not grown up with you, I would be convinced that you are actually a child.”
He looked up at me, his cheeks almost bursting with sweets, and mumbled something that vaguely resembled, “Fight me.”
“A few more of those and you will be much to fat for any of that,” I said.
____________________
[Solin and Eline (Stris and Kraio's Parents) out for a walk on the palace grounds]
“Kiss me.” I stopped in my tracks.
"Pardon?”
“Kiss me, like you need me more than air. Like I am the first breath of sea air you have ever had. Like the blessed rain after a drought.”
He grabbed my hand and spun me towards him. Even with our gloves in the way, I could feel the heat passing between them. With his spare hand, he swept a strand of hair from my face, his fingers lingered on my cheek. “Is something the matter?”
“Yes. no.” I shook my head. “I’m just feeling particularly insignificant at the moment.” That and I wanted to feel as if he needed me in the way I needed him.
He let my hand go to pull me closer to him. His eyes lingered on my mouth a moment before he ran his thumb over my lower lip. “Here? We’re not alone.”
“I don’t care,” I whispered.
He lowered his lips to mine, soft and tender, he breathed life into me. Warmth raced across my lips, yet I needed more. He opened unto me and I to him. I drank him in. I did not care who saw. The taste of him on my tongue was enough to chase all thoughts of propriety away.
He pulled a whisper away. “You are more precious to me than anything I have ever experienced. You are incomparable.” He murmured against my lips.
“You keep talking like that and I’ll have you right here.”
“Can’t have that,” he laughed and kissed me on the forehead. “Also, you need to leave the poetry to me, that was particularly awful”
“Oh, come on!”
“Mustn’t let that head of yours get much bigger”
“Oh!” I scoffed. “That’s it. No more for you.” And I danced away from him. I could see what he was doing, and it was working remarkably well.
____________________
[Erion while he is training to be an assassin]
Sela whispers in my ear but all I hear is Marielle. She is so clear to me, the hearty peal of her laughter, the feeling of her arm being so close to mine that I could almost feel the warmth of her. I remembered looking up at the stars from the palace celling when the Pravaci Court was in session [and all of the Pravaci Children were living in the wings]. It was all of us. Sol and Jer. Mari and Eline. We would laugh late into the night and without fail, Mari and I were always the last to fall asleep. Sometimes we were already next to each other. Other times we would whisper over the others. And sometimes when I was feeling particularly bold, I would get up and slip in next to her and we would look at each other instead of the stars.
Those nights I wanted nothing more than to reach out and touch her cheek. But I held back. For some reason, that had felt too bold. I didn’t want to make her feel… I couldn’t put it to words then, now I can. I did not want to make her feel like her place among us was dependent on how we felt about her. How I felt about her. She tried to hide it, but sometimes I would see her catching herself – finding the delicate balance between demure ladies maid befitting court and the firebrand that we loved.
It hits me like a wave.
I miss her.
I miss her more than I miss my brothers. More than I miss Mother.
“Erion,” Sela’s finger trailed down my cheek. “You are far away again. Come back.”
