Daughter of Tide and Illusion

Chapter 16

Chapter 16

Gideon tried to convince her he could watch over Jai during the night, but there was no swaying her plans. It didn't take her long to figure out he was nervous about sharing a room with Thia, but not in the way one would have thought.

"She could kill me in my sleep," he whispered dramatically. "So, just in case I'm cut into ribbons by morning, just know I love you and hope you live a great life. I hope you and Jai overcome all this and have babies and name one of the boys after me..."

"You're insane," Lyv snorted, rolling her eyes as she pushed him toward the door. "Just put your own ward up and try not to be too suggestive in what you say. Trust me, we all know you're trying to charm her and have been for over a year now. And guess what? It's starting to wear her down."

Gideon hardly registered what she was saying as he went on, and then finally did. "You know I can't do that. No matter what, I just...hold on...what did you say? Am I? Has she said anything to you? What about...?"

But Lyv just laughed and started pushing him toward the door. "I have to get Elys out of the bath and ready for bed, so go on. Get out of here."

"Ugh, fine! Don't think this conversation is over. And don't think you can ravage Jai while he's unconscious, though I'm sure that will wake him up..."

"Then you don't do it to Thia, though I'm sure she wouldn't mind it either after she smacked you upside the head a few times..."

That made Gideon bark out a laugh as he closed the door behind him.

Glancing over at the unconscious Jai, Lyv headed for the bathing room to check on Elys. He was still in the bath, surrounded by bubbles, and laughing as he played with a toy ship. Posy had been sitting on the edge and sneezed, sending those bubbles in front of her flying through the air.

After coaxing him out, she helped him dress and comb out his hair before he brushed his teeth. Once he was tucked in bed after saying goodnight to Jai and they read a story, he curled up with his face pressed into the pillow and promptly fell asleep with Posy cuddled up next to him.

Lyv, though, didn't go to sleep right away. After peeking out the window to say goodnight to Roshan and Erly, she sat in the armchair beside Jai's bed, watching his chest rise and fall and letting Gideon and Thia have control of their shared bathing room for a while. She didn't get up until she couldn't hear their muffled arguing anymore.

After a draining day, the hot water from the shower soothed her tense shoulders and back as she stood under the spray of water. Closing her eyes, it felt good to have an actual shower, especially since it was the first one since they left Azam and Ajolak. Once she was out, it took her a moment to dig through her bag for the tunic she wore to bed, one that came down to her knees and didn't have to wear any leggings with it in the warm Ethran nights. The back of her hand brushed against something else as she was packing everything else back – parchment envelopes she kept tucked away.

And she held those envelopes bound together with twine to her chest as she walked back into their room. With Elys and Posy sleeping soundly, she placed her bag on the desk and went to the one open window to peek out at the dragons once more to find them curled up together.

Everyone seemed to be sleeping. Everyone but her.

So, she sat back down in the armchair beside Jai's bed, nestling into the cushions and resting her feet on the edge with her knees slightly bent. She never opened the letters to reread through them, but rather traced the lettering of her name on the outside of the envelope written in Jai's hand. And he used her full name, carefully penning the loops and curls in emerald green ink.