A Court of Stars and Memories

35. Brutal Truth

    A chilly mist was falling when Lysander arrived at his parents' house to retrieve Mitsi and Mina for their visit to the orphanage. The days had grown cooler all week and most of the trees in the Night Court were becoming more bare by the day. Autumn was making way for winter, but he thought the season might hold out a little longer yet.

    Lysander's siphons lit up as he allowed his magic to spread warmth through his body. This was yet another trick Mikael had taught him after he and Estelle worked it out together. Lysander was more than grateful to have the skill, especially during the past few winters which had been unusually cold, and he knew it would come in handy again this year.

    He perked up when the door opened and Mina and Mitsi appeared on the stairs, calling a quick farewell to Seren. They were each carrying a box. "What's in those?" Lysander asked when the females reached him.

    Mitsi shifted around him with a grin. "You'll see once we get there."

    "Why the secrecy?" He chuckled, but fell in step beside her. Mina walked at her sister's other side, shooting him a wary look when he partially extended a wing to shield them from the rain.

    Mitsi shrugged. "Perhaps I just don't feel like explaining right now."

    "I suppose I can grant you that." Mother knew she'd been sharing plenty with him the past few nights.

    Lysander had resumed his evening visits to see Mitsi now that he was home, and surprisingly, she'd been waiting for him the first night he came. He usually stayed for an hour or two now, during which they spoke about many things. Mitsi had told him several humorous stories about when she and her siblings first went to live with their adopted parents and how awkward things had been at times.

    She'd also shown him her old three-legged stuffed fox, kindly returned by her young cousin. Mitsi claimed she was going to send it back soon. She just hadn't wanted to give it to Corbin, for fear of it arriving in multiple different pieces. She'd shared with him more of her interests too. She liked horses and enjoyed riding Wynter's Ursa stallion, Bruma, when he was younger.

    She showed him some of her quilting projects and pointed out a few of her dresses which she'd also made. His favorite was still the simple, delicate blue one that she often wore. And Mitsi told him about the many wishful suitors she received in the Winter Court, and how Cyrus loved chasing them off at the end of his sword.

    In return, he'd told her stories about his time as a novice and his first few years training in Windhaven. He had plenty of humorous stories to share involving himself, Corbin, and Nyx, and many more with just himself and Estelle. Mitsi had found the story about Toothpick's name exceedingly funny.

    She'd asked him about his paintings too, pointing out the ones that remained on her bedroom walls. Lysander spoke only briefly about his art and explained that he seldom worked on paintings these days. He also told her about his love of flying on dreary days like this, especially when the nights following were swathed with fog.

    They hadn't spoken anymore about Mitsi's childhood with her parents or his past with Celeste, for which Lysander was grateful. As much as he'd like to know more about Mitsi's history, he didn't want her to tell him until she was ready, just as he didn't want to tell her anything more about Celeste until he felt ready.

    Lysander glanced at Mitsi from the corner of his eye. Her stunning smile remained and she hummed softly to herself while they walked. Mina cleared her throat beside Mitsi and Lysander averted his gaze. He was starting to think that Micah had shared his opinions with Mina, given how the two of them seemed to be doing everything in their power to keep him and Mitsi from seeing each other outside of training.