The Heart Forger (The Bone Witch #2)(33)

“I think Lady Mykaela can make her own decisions,” I said before thinking.

Polaire’s eyes flashed fire, but Althy stepped in. “We have other duties to attend to, such as the forming of the guards and seeing to the security.”

“Polaire’s been more domineering lately,” I noted sourly after the two had moved off.

Mykaela seemed amused. “Many of my old tasks she has since claimed responsibility for. Her nose has been in every nook and cranny of the palace, ensuring things run according to plan.”

“That’s a terrifying thought.”

“It keeps her occupied. She enjoys it, for all her complaints.”

“But how have you been?” I felt guilty. I had been so busy with my responsibilities that I barely had time to talk to Mykaela beyond a few minutes each day. “I don’t want you pushing yourself, Mykkie.”

She ruffled my hair. “I never do. I trust you’ve been sleeping well yourself?”

I made a face. “I haven’t gone back to the prisons. As much as I want to.”

“Thank you, Tea. I know that was hard for you to agree to.”

I sighed. “Can’t I—not even one more night so I can—”

“Tea.”

“Fine.”

She laughed. “Shall we go? There’re some people I’d like you to meet.”

“Ah, Lady Mykaela,” Kalen began, faltering slightly. “Lady Polaire told us to stay here.”

“And I am telling you that I have a small matter to attend to elsewhere.” It was easy to dismiss Lady Mykaela’s frail condition and forget her forceful character. Her voice took on the tenacity of steel. “It would be a shame to leave you behind, Kalen.”

It didn’t take much for him to give in. “But of course, Lady Mykaela.”

“Pushover,” I murmured in a voice that wasn’t as soft as I thought it was, for Kalen shot an irritated look my way.

Zoya grinned. “Waiting is boring anyway.”

“And Likh?”

Smiling, the young boy nodded.

“Excellent.”

I fell into step beside Likh. “How are you holding up?” I whispered.

Likh shrugged. “As well as can be expected. Kalen and the others are nice. Many of the Deathseekers support my appeal. I’m not used to the attention.” His ears colored.

“The asha-ka are going to see things our way, even if I have to box them around the ears until they do.”

Likh giggled. “That’s a terrible image, Tea.”

“Tea! Fox!”

Our family stood several yards away, waving. My parents looked unchanged, though my dad stooped a little more than I remembered. Wolf and Hawk had gone from chasing each other around my father’s forge to becoming bearded blacksmiths like my father. Wolf was even starting his own family, which made my head spin. Beside them, Marigold, Violet, and Lily bloomed like their namesakes. Rose and Lilac, not quite asha but my sister-witches still, were the same as always, but Daisy had become even more beautiful. My heart ached, knowing how fast they had grown. Was this how Fox felt whenever he had come home on leave from the army?

Yes, my brother murmured.

We were swept up in a sea of hugs and kisses, my siblings surrounding us. “You rarely write!” Hawk complained, clapping his oldest brother on the shoulder. “You used to write enough to fill a book when you were in the army but then practically nothing after you and Tea left for Kion!” He turned to grin at me then—they all did, a little awed as I stood in my hua with its delicately embroidered waist wrap. What money Fox or I could save, we always sent their way, but I was self-conscious that my outfit cost more than what my family normally made in a year.

“Lady Mykaela was kind enough to invite us for the ceremony,” Marigold said happily. “So many people! It’s like solstice back at home, only the dresses are prettier.”

“I got a new heart for the occasion,” Daisy informed me proudly, displaying a gorgeously intricate heartsglass around her neck, gleaming red.

I groaned. “Daisy.”

“What? I dumped him because he was a louse. I wish I had a pretty silver heartsglass of my own.” Ever the opportunist, she turned to smile brightly at Kalen. “Aren’t you going to introduce me to your friend, Tea bunny?”

Growing older hadn’t altered who my family was. Had I changed to them? Did they still see me as the twelve-year-old with her head constantly in a book or did they see me as an asha?

Because I had changed. I wasn’t the girl they remembered. Would they be afraid of me if they knew the runes I wove, if they knew the monsters I’d raised? Would the girl they knew have hidden an azi in her mind and told no one? I knew the answer to that, and it hurt. I was a puzzle piece that no longer conformed to the shape of their lives.

“Thank you, Mykaela,” I whispered as my family joined the rest of the asha.

She smiled. “I know how difficult it is to be away from family.”

I had no time to voice more of my gratitude when my parents descended upon me.

“You’re not eating right,” my mother fretted. “Have they been feeding you well? Are you working too much?”

“Please, Mama,” I mumbled.

My father was a man of few words. “We’ve missed you, Tea,” he said in his low rumble, and I blinked back tears.