A Tale Of Queens

Him

Surprising.

This was the way Sa-Alti could describe Jyaret.

His dry sense of humour was surprising. His sensitivity was surprising. That they were even growing close at all was surprising.

Beneath the rough exterior, Jyaret was a very kind man. He listened to her. He was gentle with her. And s o m e t i m e s, sometimes, the way he looked at her. She could not describe the feeling of those dark eyes, focusing on her, watching for the sake of it. Her cheeks felt hot just thinking about it.

She was curious about what he saw when he looked at her, what he thought of her.

Did he have any idea about how intense he was?

On the night after the meeting with Dimtu, something between them changed. Maybe it was the mere act of sharing a secret. Or the act of planning something together. She did not know.

But it seemed like all of a sudden, they had just clicked.

In the days that followed, they would meet in Jyaret's or her room to m a k e arrangements for such things like where to hide the swords when they were finished, or how the training would go, or how long it would take to even train inexperienced men. Gradually, they would find themselves exchanging childhood stories, stupid jokes and even their most embarrassing secrets.

This was how she found out that Jyaret could sing.

But there was absolutely nothing embarrassing about it.

He had a deep, soulful voice that seduced and begged to be listened to. She had tears in her eyes the first time she heard it. The fact that he told her afterwards that he had never sang in front of anybody made her feel a certain kind of way.

Special.

How she wished Vileytna was here.

How she wished she could describe to someone, the feeling of your heart about to explode in the presence of one person.

How she wished that like Jyaret, she worshipped gods, so that she could pray to them to give his heart to her.

How she wished.