Page 206 of Spring Guardians & Songbirds

Someone threw an arm over my shoulders and I jerked upright. “Where did I lose you to?”

It took me a moment to jump from my safe haven to reality, and when I did, Eren stared at me with a frown like always. “Just thinking.”

“Of what?”

“Things.”

He turned tense as always. “Rora.”

“Please, can we not? I swear it is not like before.”

“What is not like before?” Snow asked, coming to kneel before me. She reached to rest a hand on my knee but pulled away.

“You’re going to hog them for yourself all day?” Cai, her friend, called, crossing the training court distance to us. His eyes slipped to my brother for a small moment before they focused on Snow. “You could have taken them to see the north, the south. And you brought them here.”

That had been because of me. Everywhere we’d seen today had been flat land.

Snow stood. “Why are you dirty?”

He slung a hand over her neck. “Someone has to do your dirty work in Myrdur.”

My sister tensed and I could feel the alarm from the way her eyes settled. “This early?”

“They had made camp in Fernfoss last night. All were young, probably excited to do their part.”

“How young?” Eren asked, he was tense too, but a different tense from Snow. He worried.

Cai’s look was downcast. “Young.”

“What is with all the grimness?” Another voice came from behind the two. Malik. Kilian’s brother. He winked at Cai and slapped his bottom. “Looking all cute, my muffin. The ruggedness really works for me.”

My brother’s brows were a bit higher than usual. “You two—”

“No,” Caiden said quickly. “He is just an arsehole.”

Malik frowned. “Cai, my sweet, careful, some people might think we are friends.” He sat next to me as the others began chatting about Myrdur, sprawling on the bench, and I glided a bit further away. The movement was small, but his attention snapped to me, gaze travelling from the tip of my boots to my hair. “Little bird.”

“Thora.”

He eyed the bow on my hair. “Wasn’t that what I said?”

I frowned. “Is it a hearing or a comprehension issue?”

His mouth pulled up in a slow smile. “I’ve got something for you?”

“For me?”

He brought out a little yellow stone pendant and put it on my hand. “Apologies for the colour choice, but I made the assumption that your eyes were the same as your sister’s.”

No one had given me jewellery before. Quickly, I undid the clasps and put it around my neck. “Thank you, yellow is one of my favourite colours. It’s Snow’s eyes.”

Suddenly, someone sat between us, forcing us to part. “Quit bothering her,” Nia said, and I laughed.

His eyes slid to me again, but only for a moment. “Did you put Moriko to sleep with one of your spicy contraptions? How is it that you are not in her bed at this hour in the afternoon?”

The two began bickering and snarling at one another, and I felt overwhelm coat my attention to a glazing white and fill my hearing with a swarm of bees.

So many people. So many people loved Snow. Snow was so loved. She’d not been alone. For that I was grateful.