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Chapter 21
Talin
We'd spent far too many hours with my sister-in-law. Lunch had turned into dinner, and Maela still hadn't been ready to call it a day. Breshay had excused herself first, having an appointment that night. Faylie was next. That was when Maela realized she'd been monopolizing everyone's time and begged for forgiveness.
Of course, the women had given it. I was pretty sure Nari actually enjoyed Maela's company. The two of them were honestly friends, and Nari didn't have many of those - outside of her family. Yet spending all day with my sister-in-law didn't finish our homework, so when we got back, we'd all jumped in to handle that.
Wraythe and I had a decent amount of our own studying to do. Anver was ahead on his, saying he had more free time to blow. Ela and Nari were still doing ok, so Nari handled most of her own classes herself. When we all started yawning, Anver headed back home. Eventually, Nari passed out, but she hadn't mentioned the incident on the stairs again for the whole day.
That bothered me. When I got up the next morning, I found Ela in the kitchen, heating water. He looked like he'd slept no better than I had. Still, I made my way around behind him, wrapped my arms around his waist, and stole a kiss against the side of his neck.
"Bad night?" I asked.
He leaned back into me. "Nightmares," he admitted. "I kept seeing Nari falling, but Zeal didn't show up to catch her."
"Yeah." Because I hadn't been much better. "I think that's your guardian bond growing with her."
He shrugged, then turned to face me. "Maybe. Maybe it's because I love that woman more than I ever thought possible. Wraythe, however, slept fine."
"He was also curled up around her all night like she was his stuffed dog."
A smile flickered over Ela's lips. "Did you know that he used to sleep with the thing? Puppy? Until he was about sixteen, he'd hug that dog all night - but never admit it. I slipped into his room while he was sleeping enough times to know his denials were bullshit."
"That sounds adorable," I moaned.
"It really was," Ela agreed. "Now, he just hugs Nari."
"Or you," I pointed out. "I can't count the number of times I've woken up to find you curled up against his chest."
Ela just lifted a brow. "Do you blame me?"
"Not at all," I said, leaning in to steal a quick kiss. "I think your water's hot, though. Gonna make me one?"
"Grab a cup," he told me, reaching for another tea strainer.
I pulled one out of our cabinet and was almost back to his side when someone tapped softly at the door. Letting out a heavy sigh, I set the cup beside Ela, then went to answer it. Neither of us were truly dressed for company - Ela didn't have a shirt and mine was old and stained - so I hoped they didn't intend to stay for long.
When I opened the door, I found Anver on the other side. "Hey," he said, flicking a finger inside in a request to come in.
I stepped back to let him through the door. "We need to get you a key, huh?"
"Wouldn't refuse it," he said, but there was no smile to go along with it. "Look - " But he paused when he saw Ela. "Is Wraythe up?"
"Still cuddling with Nari," Ela said. "Why?"
Anver dropped his head and shoved a hand into his hair. "You will not believe who I saw this morning. Ciella. She's not only still in the temple, but in her room, and Tishlie spent the night with her."
"They haven't thrown her out yet?" I asked.
Anver slowly shook his head. "Nope, and it doesn't look like that's happening. I thought Saval was going to take care of it!"
"Wait," Ela said. "Did she have lace?"
"None on her hands," Anver said. "She was dressed, so couldn't tell you more than that. However, she was laughing, which makes me think she's not getting kicked out."
I looked at Ela and jerked my chin toward the bedroom. "Go wake Wraythe. We need to know what's going on."
"Yeah," Ela said, heading that way.
