Daughter of Tide and Illusion

Chapter 12

Chapter 12

She shouldn't have gotten so close to him as she passed through the entrance into the tent. Her arm brushed against his chest, sending that familiar jolt through her as she glanced up for a second to meet his eyes. At least Elys was between them to act as a buffer of sorts. He was excitedly wiggling in her arms as he wrapped his arms around her neck to hug her, a bright smile lighting up his face and taking away from his scars. Even Jai couldn't help but smile at the boy, his grin infectious.

It was hard for Lyv to see that joy on his face as he looked between her and Jai, though. And when they were inside with Gideon, Thia, and Posy.

Like he finally was looking at his family he'd been waiting to be together again.

Because even when he wanted them there with him – and Lyv had to admit...so did she – there was still the matter of the vision he'd had of Jai getting hurt, the very thing she wanted to prevent in making them stay behind.

Lyv sat Elys down on his feet before the little boy ran over to the table where his forgotten book was still laid. Posy followed him, landing on top of his head as he sat down on his chair, and pulled the book onto his lap, picking up exactly where he left off as if nothing had even happened.

With one swipe of her hand, everything that had been turned over in her haste to protect Elys when Allel and Mik came was put back in its place. But it wasn't even her magic then that had Jai and Thia pausing. It was all that was in the inside of the tent that did.

"I so wasn't expecting this," Thia whistled as she peered around the inside of the tent. "Nice set up."

"I got pretty good at that extension spell after a few weeks here," Lyv smiled at her. Gods, did she miss her friend. "I didn't think my bag would be the only thing it'd be useful for."

"And she carries everything around with her in that bag of hers," Gideon went on, going for the kitchenette. He knew exactly where Lyv stashed the much-needed alcohol, grabbing the bottle of Torrent and four tankards. "Good thing she thought to pack some of this, too, because I am in desperate need of it now after all that."

As Gideon poured, Thia sat down beside Elys, leaning over to look at his book and asking him about it. Elys happily told her, pointing at all the pictures of the dragons, mermaids, and ships. The kid was resilient, even though it had been less than a quarter of an hour since Mik and Allel's attack. Gideon was watching them out of the corner of his eye, stashing the bottle of Torrent away again before taking a seat across from them. That left three open seats, one on the other side of Elys and two beside Gideon.

Lyv took the seat beside Elys.

And Jai the one across from her since Gideon decided the one between them had better use as a footstool.

With Jai's eyes on her, Lyv took a giant gulp of her drink, wincing slightly as it slid down her throat, and leaned back.

But he was still looking at her, mostly because she was still in her bloodied clothing. Not wanting to get up, she decided to go with magic. With one small flicker, it was instantly clean again. The casual use of her magic made Jai blink. He wasn't used to it, especially when she'd really only used it for healing before in Ayveri and even in Escarral.

And he was still staring, taking in all the features he'd only had two weeks to get used to. That was months ago, though. While she'd gotten used to seeing her burgundy hair with silver streak, her familiar yet sharpened features, her more defined feminine curves of her body, and her pointed ears, Jai hadn't.