Heir of Dust and Wind

Chapter 29 - Stubborn Enchantments

"Careful!"

At Gainor's alarmed exclamation, Ava felt big hands wrap around her arms on both sides.

"Thanks," Ava mumbled, her vision still so blurry that she couldn't even make out who was holding her upright. If no one had caught her, she would have fallen onto the living room floor, face first.

Now that she was firmly in one place again and the fuzzy feeling of travelling via portal faded away but her ears were still ringing and her vision hadn't cleared yet.

"Just breathe evenly", came Gainor's voice from somewhere beside her and she felt the grip around her arms increase. 

Was it him who was holding her? Ava still felt too disoriented to know for sure.

Opening the portal to finally return to their new home had cost her what little energy she'd had left and the exertion of the last days had finally caught up with her and she had begun to stagger, the world turning dark although her eyes had been wide open. Although she hated to think of herself as someone who needed rescuing, she could do that herself, thank you very much, she was deeply grateful for the steadying grip.

"You need to rest," Trygve said behind her, his voice unusually soft, completely devoid of his usual briskness. While his intention most probably had been to reassure her that all would be well, he achieved quite the opposite. If the most stoic person she had ever met changed his way of speaking to her this drastically, things had to be bad. She had to be bad.

However, when the Dracaeni, who placed to her right because that was the direction his voice was coming from, his voice sounded anything but gentle again.

 "You can let go now, I've got her," he snapped to the person who must be to Ava's right.

"So could you," came a prompt retort in a less familiar voice, sounding no less sharp than Trygve's. 

The Fae's voice. Her consort's voice. A consort whose name she didn't even know, she realised with a start as the events of the last minutes came crashing down on her once more. If she'd really forgotten about that detail for even the tiniest of moments things were very bad indeed.

As her vision had almost cleared now, Ava tried turning her head but regretted it in the same instant. It immediately started pounding and the ringing in her ears returned to full volume.

Shit.

"Easy," came that dark voice from where she had wanted to look.

The low growl that escaped Trygve's mouth at that let her know that the Dracaeni still hadn't taken to liking their former prisoner any better now that they were safely out of the Council's reach. Brilliant, just what she needed.

If she hadn't been busy with keeping her eyes open and her body from falling over, she'd probably rolled her eyes. This was neither the time nor the place. Still, neither of the men let go.

She closed her eyes, still feeling dizzy and slightly nauseous, and tried to take a couple of deep breaths before trying to open them again.

"You're both being total pricks!" Gainor said from somewhere in front of her. and she felt both men at her sides shift uneasily at his decided tone. They clearly weren't used to being called that.

Despite herself and her current situation Ava felt a smile tug at the corners of her mouth.

"Can't you postpone your pettiness until Ava and the rest of us have had some rest?" he went on exasperatedly. 

"Yngvar won't deliver the present before tomorrow and whatever else we need to discuss after tonight, nothing good will come from us all starting this conversation being as tired as we are. It makes everyone irritable and unreasonable." Ava opened her eyes, her vision no longer clouded, just to see him shoot more than pointed looks at Trygve and the Fae.