“Who are we going to tell?” Bella asked, returning to the kitchen to make her own cup of tea. “I mean, it’s not like we get any visitors here.”
“Or that Mother let us have friends besides the servants that she magicked into being,” Courtney pointed out.
“It’s a sister thing,” I added.
Courtney collapsed into the chair opposite us. “Ugly? Are they serious? You’re fucking gorgeous!”
Tavlor’s gaze went straight down into his mug. I didn’t think I had ever seen him embarrassed before. The telltale blush decorated his high cheekbones and he avoided everybody. Instead, he placed his face near the mug of tea, the steam coating his skin. He was gorgeous. Right now, though, he was adorable.
I grinned at Courtney. I couldn’t believe I hadn’t seen them in... I didn’t even know how long it had been. I just knew I missed them. And I was so, so glad I got to be here with them, introducing them to Tavlor. He was the other important person in my life right now. It was only fitting that they meet.
“So, what have I missed around here?” I asked. I took a seat opposite Courtney before having another sip of tea. From my peripheral, I saw Tavlor pick up his head, as though he thought it was safe to listen to the conversation without being the subject of it.
Courtney groaned. “Absolutely nothing!” She threw her arms out dramatically. “It’s boring as bat shit around here.”
Bella cleared her throat. I could feel tension surround her, as though she was embarrassed by Courtney’s behavior. She sat down with her own cup of tea so all four of us were sitting at the table.
“That’s not entirely true,” she said, her voice tentative.
My eyes darted between my sisters. Courtney’s flair for the dramatic suddenly disappeared and her eyes narrowed. That was a warning glare, if it was anything. I furrowed my brow and looked over at Bella. Her eyes were pointedly looking at her tea, rather than at Courtney.
“Bella...” Courtney began.
I put out a hand to stop her. “What’s going on?”
Bella and Courtney exchanged glances. Bella still wouldn’t look at me, her focus on the mug of tea, while Courtney’s face turned red and her jaw was locked together. It was almost as though they were trying to figure out who would hold out the longest.
Then Bella looked at me.
“Courtney’s been leaving the realm to explore the village,” she said, tracing the mouth of the mug with her fingertip.
I gasped, turning around to face Courtney.
“You didn’t!” I said. I completely forgot Tavlor was in the room. Suddenly, I was back here as a sister that hadn’t left and was trying to play peacemaker between my two sisters. “You know how dangerous that is!”
Courtney groaned, slapping her palm against her forehead. “How would I know anything?” she asked. “Mother never told us anything. You just... left because you wanted to go do something! Why shouldn’t I go out and see what’s out there? Why can’t I just come and go wherever I want? You don’t get to have all the fun just because you’re the oldest, Ava!”
“Fun! You think I’ve been having fun?” I wanted to tear at my hair but instead grabbed my mug and put the soothing warmth to my lips. My hands shook, and I nearly spilled the liquid all over my lap.
Oh, my god, she had no fucking idea!
This was so typical Courtney. How had I not expected her to pull some kind of crap like this?
I took a sip of the tea, and then another, the spreading warmth filling my belly, and concentrated on the healing aspect of the potion, and not on Courtney’s ridiculous statements. I breathed in the scent, loving the warm sensations filtering through me. After a few breaths and a couple of moments, my frustration slowly ebbed away.
While I was drinking my tea, Tavlor sat up,
“Ava is in a lot of trouble, in my world,” he said. I wasn’t sure why he suddenly felt comfortable enough to speak, but I was glad I had someone in my corner. His voice was casual, but his tight jaw indicated that he cared more than what he was actually saying. “I asked her to please seek shelter here, in your mother’s realm, to avoid the people hunting her.” He looked at Courtney. “If you leave the realm, they may be able to track you back here.”
My sisters made small sounds of surprise, and I lifted my head to look at them.
Bella’s eyes were wide as she said, “Hunting you? What does he mean, Ava?”
I glanced at Tavlor. He could explain this much better than I could.
“I better start at the beginning,” he said, taking the hint. He relaxed, but only slightly. He must have been grateful that he wasn’t under such intense scrutiny from them. “To understand everything, I’m going to tell you, you need to understand the politics of our world, so please be patient.”
He went on to tell them everything that had happened to me. From the trial that exposed my power, to the forced interrogation that made me admit who my father was. Then the death sentence that had forced me to run, and the latest chapter, that included a bounty on my head, all orchestrated by the Council our father worked for.