The Bane by Bautsch Maranda & Bautsch Maranda

Author:Bautsch, Maranda & Bautsch, Maranda
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Maranda Bautsch
Published: 2023-12-21T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter 26

Bursts of pink and purple lined the horizon as a dark cobalt sky settled over Tauroben. Cota hadn’t approached Adresia since he’d found her sitting on the stone ledge and gazing out the open window several minutes ago. Her unbound hair gently billowed in a salty breeze. She looked so content; so contrary to the tense concentration he’d seen her fall into these past weeks.

He was just about to leave her in the tranquil silence when she turned her head and spotted him. She patted the space beside her. Glad that she didn’t mind his presence, he took the seat. She peered at the community over her shoulder and said, “It amazes me how much you can see at twilight,” she said. Her feet swung back and forth, heels tapping the stone. “The sun is completely gone, yet it’s still bright, like it’s trying to prove how much light can remain amidst the darkness.” He marveled at her imaginative, beautiful mind. She looked at him. “Are you ready for tonight?”

“Are you?”

“I don’t know. I don’t want things to go bad if they deny our offer.”

“I’m not worried. You have Caspian, me, and Fox watching your back; we’ll be fine.” He bumped her shoulder with his own. The corners of her lips rose. “Besides, it’s too good an offer to pass up. The rebels are better off with us on their side.” She nodded, but grew quiet again. “Do you remember when our parents found us slipping out of our bedroom windows to see each other after they’d grounded us from skipping lessons?”

“They had us doing laundry for a month,” she recalled with a smirk.

“More like two,” he affirmed with a roguish grin.

“They were always getting onto us!”

“Only because we were rebellious children.”

“Do you remember that time we hid a dozen sparrows in Miss Juerand’s cabinets? You would’ve thought she found a body by the sound of her scream. And we had to cover each other’s mouths to keep from laughing as we watched from the window!”

“Our fathers separated our punishments so we wouldn’t distract each other,” he said, “but you still snuck out for a week—until you got caught!”

“I spent three months shoveling the stables!” she said with a laugh. Her stormy eyes shone in exhilaration, and her smile didn’t leave as a comfortable silence settled over them.

Not wanting to spoil the calm but wanting to hear her voice again, he asked softly, “What are you thinking about?”

She looked at her lap, huffing a soft breath through her nose. “Our lives before this." She stood. "Everything that seems like a distant dream in comparison to what is now our reality.” He slid from the ledge too, and despite what he’d been warned against, despite what the Queen had threatened, he couldn’t resist the urge to grab her hand. Now. He should tell her now. Their eyes met, and he swore she knew what he was thinking as she started, “Cota—”

Adresia wrenched her hand back as a guard marched past the alcove.

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