SIXTEEN

Kaia was sitting in front of a large fire and wrapped in several blankets, but she still felt ill as she watched the flames. “I hate winter.” She whined as she remained unmoving. “Everything is dead and it makes me feel ill every time. I hate it.”

“I know.” Taimon said from across the room, trying to keep the warm air from the fire centered around his sister. “But not everything is dead. We’re all still here.” He shrugged, looking down at himself, since he obviously wasn’t hurting as much as she was during the cold seasons. “Some of us more than others.”

“Not all of us are still here.” She replied softly as she pulled the blanket a little tighter. “When Devon was alive, I could snuggle against his fur in the winter. He never seemed to mind.” She sighed sadly. “And Destin…He made me laugh so I would forget how cold it was.” Kaia found herself sniffling and tears rolling down her cheeks. “And he never let me cry. He took my tears off my cheeks.” She knew her siblings didn’t need to hear all of her stories, but winter always depressed her.

A hot breeze immediately ran past her cheek, blowing away her tears with Taimon’s equivalent of a joke, but it didn’t help her mood. “You need to spend more time in your garden and less in front of the fire. That’s the only thing that’s going to help you.”

“It’s dead.” She pulled her knees up to her chest under her blankets and rested her chin on her knees. “I don’t want to spend time out there.”

“Enough of your whining.” Daiva finally snipped as she got up from her chair where she had been reviewing some documents. “You are a Forestborn, this is a struggle of your kind, but not a death sentence. Destin and Devon are gone, but you are not. Stop whining.”

“And you are cruel and heartless.” Kaia shot back, still sniffling. “Do you even miss them? All you do is run around plotting and planning, and for what? Destin was trying to do it for love. Devon tried to do it for a different future. What is it you want, other than a fight?”

Daiva stared at her younger sister and tapped her fingers on her stone chair before she gathered the documents nearby into a pile of large tree shavings. She got up, tossed it all into the fire, and looked back at her siblings. “I have things to do.” She turned her attention to Taimon specifically. “Make sure she eats.”

He nodded obediently, and went to grab a few pieces of fruit that were dried during the growing season and had grown by Kaia’s own power when it was at its height. They had plenty of food stockpiled to last them until the spring, mostly because of Kaia’s work for them during the summer, but that wasn’t really the issue.

“You’re wrong about her, you know.” He sat back down next to Kaia, hoping as he did that the current snowstorm would abate soon and allow the world to at least pretend for a while that it wasn’t cased in ice. “She fights for love too, just in a different way than Devon or Destin did.”

“Love? Who does Daiva love other than herself?” Kaia looked over at Taimon. “How can you say that? You see her. She doesn’t even talk about Destin. It’s like she wants to forget him completely.”

“Destin is the reason she wants to break this world in half.” He kept his voice low, since he didn’t want Daiva to hear him talking about her. “And Devon, and our parents. They’re the reason she’s been on a mission ever since the battle with the Genovin. The only way she’s ever going to rest, ever again, is when they’re all dead.”

“She was there, every time.” Kaia said softer, but she was still angry. “Why didn’t she do something? Why didn’t she save Destin?” Kaia knew her sister was one of the strongest wolves she had ever seen. Why didn’t Daiva ever do anything to stop their family from being killed off?

“Because she’s a wolf, not a goddess.” He had asked the same questions before, and felt the same kind of guilt. Like Kaia, he hadn’t been there when their family was killed, either time. “Just don’t tell her I said that. I think she forgets sometimes.”

Kaia wasn’t convinced their sister was kinder than she thought, but she munched on the dried fruit quietly for a moment before she slid closer to her brother. “How do you know she’s doing this for them? How do you know she’s not doing it for herself?”

“Because Daiva never does anything for herself. Not once that I can recall, as a matter of fact.” He looked up at the window as he tried to remember any instances at all, but nothing came to mind. “When our parents were alive, she served them and backed up Devon every time he would let her. After that, she sailed with Destin whenever he left, and fought with him. Since the Genovin, she’s been running up and down the Queen’s Isle meeting with everyone she can find who might support us and making certain of their loyalties. Not to mention the fact that she’s been taking care of us, since Destin isn’t here to do it anymore.”

“Taking care of us means she trapped us in here as soon as she got home. She doesn’t trust us. Why can’t we do anything to help? I tried to reach out to Miris. That didn’t work. He doesn’t care about himself or anyone else.” She sighed dramatically after she finished talking, since she hated feeling trapped or stymied.

Taimon held his peace. He felt the same way, but the difference between them was that he had always been comfortable being limited. Growing up, it had been more than clear that the two of them were destined to live in the shadow of their older siblings. Not just because they were younger, but because they were lesser elements. It made society at large discount them, and Taimon had never questioned that.

“There’s going to come a time when Daiva’s going to finally bring us in on her plans, and when that happens, we need to be ready to help.” He looked at the window that Daiva had mostly sealed up, but which still couldn’t quite keep out the sight of the storm outside, snow falling in harsh waves. A few flakes made it into the room with every breath, but the hot air from the fire immediately turned them to a puddle near the window. It only made him miss Destin more. He’d have kept out even that much of the outside world. “No one’s doing anything in these storms, though. Whatever Daiva has in mind, it’s going to have to wait until spring, just like us.”

Kaia didn’t move away from Taimon, and while she wanted to shift into her wolf to be warmer, she knew it would be painful, since she had to preserve what little energy she could maintain for the Fullnesses. “I can’t wait until spring.” She kissed her brother’s cheek and rested her head on his shoulder. “I hope it gets better by then.”

“You know, you say that every year.” He joked with her gently, poking at her side through the furs she had pulled tight around her body. “And every year it does. I’m seeing a pattern here.”

* * * * *

Adriana was glad to be inside on such a blustery day, and she was glad that Shian and Malcom were working inside too. There were only a few slaves outside because of the conditions, and she felt sorry for them and grateful at the same time. When she had finished her basket-weaving, she set the large basket aside and snuggled into the extra blankets they had been given until Shian arrived.

He and Malcom were sent earlier that day to work in one of the larger chambers of Chainhome, cutting the reeds and the wood to make the baskets the rest of the slaves were working on. He’d been out a few days prior during a lull in the storms to cut the trees themselves, and it had been grueling work. Even within the stone walls of their home, though, and with all the activity racing through the halls, Shian’s cheeks were still bright red when he came back near nightfall, and his skin was icy to the touch.

“These are beautiful.” He commented as soon as he came in the door, looking over the stack of baskets Adriana finished on her own after being left alone all day with the supplies. “They had us cut plenty more for tomorrow and the next day, so it doesn’t look like we’re going to be sent out anytime soon.”

“Hopefully they are sturdy as well as beautiful.” She grabbed one of his freezing hands and pulled him over to their bed. There was warm soup waiting for him and she didn’t want it to get any colder. “Come. Eat.”

He allowed her to warm his hands for a while, until feeling returned, then started eating the soup quickly. They hadn’t been given anything else all day, but he was accustomed to that. He took his meals where and when he could get them, and always preferred it when he could share it with Adriana. “Still kicking like it’s trying to escape?”

She smiled and nodded as she sat close to him and kept rubbing along his back to try and warm him up while he ate. Adriana looked down at her ever-blossoming belly. “Yes, still kicking. Do you want to feel? He always gets excited when you’re here.”

He handed her the stew, hoping she would take some more of it, and laid a hand on her stomach with a smile. “Did your others kick like this too? It’s a wonder you don’t have bruises showing through.” He lifted her dress to take a peek, since he knew it would make her laugh, then put it back down again quickly.

Adriana did laugh, and she leaned in to kiss him afterward before he went back to eating more soup. “No, the others weren’t like this one. This one is pretty special.” She really did believe that, especially because she knew how excited Shian was to be a father. He would be a wonderful father. As much as he was permitted to be. “We still haven’t picked a name.”

That dimmed his smile a little, and he took his time with his next bite before he answered. “Will he get to keep it? I mean, after his first year?”

“Yes, they keep their names. Wolves don’t care about that, and they don’t want to take the time to rename them.” She kissed his cheek, then kissed the tip of his nose. “Don’t be sad. It’s too cold to be sad and shivering both.”

“That’s true enough.” He finished the soup and set the bowl aside where Malcom or one of the other boys would be along to collect it later. “I don’t suppose anyone came by with an apple or two.” He didn’t expect anything of the kind, since Kaia hadn’t come by in weeks, as soon as the snows started, but he still hoped.

“No, I’m sorry.” She wanted to think that Kaia stopped coming because of the cold, but she also thought it could be because Kaia simply didn’t care about her now that Destin was dead. “I wish there was more for you to eat. Liliana gave me more bread than usual because she thinks I have two babies in here.”

She moved away to bring the rest of the bread to him, but then cuddled close again. Adriana was always eager to be close to him when she could, being as affectionate as possible. She already loved Shian, and every day she was convinced she was a little more in love with him. It wasn’t the same as what she felt for Destin, but that didn’t matter and she couldn’t dwell on it. Destin was gone.

He took some of the bread, but it was gone quickly, leaving them with nothing but the sound of chattering teeth echoing through the corridors around them. He tucked the blankets around them where they huddled against the wall. “It’s alright. I’m not that big a man, it doesn’t take much to fill me up. If anything, I’d be more worried about Liliana calling you fat. I don’t think I would take that. Especially from her.”

“Do you think I’m fat?” She said with a smirk as she poked at his side playfully underneath the blankets. “You can tell me. I can handle it. I try to be as beautiful as I can manage…”

“I prefer you a little rounded.” He said with another poke of his own and a kiss to the side of her neck. “I’m the one who made you that way, so it’s not like I’d have any right to say much about it even if I didn’t.”

“That is quite true.” She smiled at him and slid into his lap so he could envelop her in his embrace. Adriana kissed the side of his neck in return before she wrapped her arms around his midsection. “I’m glad I have you, Shian.”

He adjusted the blankets around them and sighed as his body began to warm up after the long day working with the raw materials for the baskets. Over the last few months, it seemed like everything in the world had turned cold around him, except Adriana. On the voyage to get to the Queen’s Isle, he had envisioned a life of servitude and solitude, but in spite of everything else that was expected of him as a healthy young man, he couldn’t find it in himself to be unhappy with the life his masters had given him. Not so long as Adriana was in it. “I’m glad you have me too. I’m not interested in being had by anyone else, certainly.”

Adriana tucked her head under his chin and ran her hands slowly along his chest in a continued effort to warm him up. “I think we should name the baby after you.”

He shook his head with a chuckle. “No need to curse the child like that. He’d be better off with some variant of yours. Darian, maybe.”

“Darian?” She shook her head and she thought carefully as she chewed on her bottom lip. “What about girl’s names? Just in case.” She really thought it would be a boy, but she didn’t have any proof either way.

“I knew a girl named Danna once.” He shrugged and laughed beneath her kisses, his hands moving down over her legs to warm her skin, since his hands had been under the blanket long enough to be comfortably warmer. “Might be a little awkward to have a daughter named that, though, considering she’s one of the few other women I’ve had besides you.”

“You probably shouldn’t name a daughter after a lover.” She laughed before she kissed him yet again. “What about Shanna?” Adriana had warmed her hands by that point, and she slid them under his shirt to caress along his skin.

“Shanna’s a good name.” He relaxed under her touch and smiled down at her. “Hopefully she’ll like it, if it is a girl.”

“I still think it’s a boy. But we’ll have to think of another name later.” She spoke softly into his ear before she kissed him a little harder. “I need to make sure you stay nice and warm.”

“You’re the one doing the hard work here and taking care of a growing baby. I should be the one who does the work to keep you warm.” He moved to lay her down on the pallet they shared, which was a complicated adventure of keeping the blankets warm around them. “And you don’t have to make sure I stay nice. I try to be that way on my own.”

Adriana’s cheeks got warm as soon as Shian took control, and her heart pounded a little harder in her chest. They had spent the last several months keeping each other warm with amorous activities, and they were definitely in tune to each other’s likes and dislikes. “We’ll…take turns keeping each other warm, then.”