done it in so long, his throat had forgotten how. “Make them happy?” It was ridiculous. Juvenile. The words of a child.
As if he could really make them all forget—and forgive—what he’d done, simply by trying to make them happy. How could that ever be enough?
Sparrow nodded gravely. “You don’t just make them happy. You show them you still care.”
When I was young, my sky had three suns: my mother, my father,
and my sister. I thought I would bask forever in their warm glow,
our lives together like fixed points in a never-changing universe.
But it was not meant to be.
- CHAPTER 6 - TRISTAN
IT WAS SEVERAL DAYS before Tristan had a chance to be alone with Veronyka. Not that he would’ve known what to say even if he had been alone with her. Guilt gnawed at him—both for holding back during their sparring match and for finally defeating her. In front of everyone. But Veronyka was far too hard on herself. She expected to be at Tristan’s level after only a few short weeks of training, when he’d had years of practice. No one else asked it or expected it of her; rather, she asked it of herself.
And yet Tristan understood her drive. They were all feeling a bit restless, a bit antsy in the wake of the empire’s attack. Somehow, they had made it through—thanks in no small part to Veronyka’s bravery and quick thinking. Everyone in the stronghold and village had come together to defend this place, and while new camaraderie blossomed, fear and anxiety weren’t far behind.
Like Veronyka, Tristan was desperate to get out there and actually do something after the attack. So far, the Master Riders were only doing patrols and sporadic safety checks at local villages. They weren’t exacting revenge on the empire or planning some grand retaliation.
They were doing almost nothing at all. He hated it, and he knew Veronyka did too. How much worse would her helplessness be when she couldn’t even leave the Eyrie on more than practice runs or training missions? No wonder she was on edge.
While Tristan had gotten his promotion and his own patrol, Veronyka’s position was more difficult to define. She was technically a new recruit, but Xephyra was over three months old, and they had been riding even before she was officially taken on. Veronyka had well-honed bond magic and a strong connection with her phoenix, but she was behind in things like combat and weapons training. She was also Nyk the stable boy turned Veronyka, the new Rider apprentice. She was the same person, yet somehow different, and it seemed that people didn’t know exactly how to treat her, Tristan among them. Even helping her seemed to make things worse—his hesitation during the fight was a prime example.
It was late evening when Tristan found Veronyka sitting on the walkway outside his new Master Rider quarters, the sky a dusky purple as it hung over the expanse of the Eyrie. The rest of the walkways, stacked in tiers like the seating of an amphitheater, were dark and quiet, save for the shuffling of feathers as a phoenix settled in to sleep for the night.
She was hunched over his armor, treating the leather with pyraflora resin anywhere it had thinned or worn off—part of her underwing duties. The smell was pungent, and despite the growing twilight, she worked by the glow of two phoenixes: Xephyra and Rex, nestled on either side of her.
Rex was the first to note Tristan’s approach, shaking out his wings and tilting his head in Tristan’s direction.
Absorbed in her work, Veronyka didn’t look up or notice his presence. “Steady, Rex. You’re making the light dance….”
Something about the way she addressed Tristan’s bondmate, with affection and familiarity, made Tristan’s chest swell.
“Maybe you shouldn’t be working until it’s dark,” Tristan offered after watching her for several silent moments. Veronyka twisted to look up at him.
Her face fell, and she immediately looked away, avoiding his gaze—as she had every day since their last match in the ring. Tristan couldn’t figure out if it was anger or embarrassment or something else entirely, but he was tired of guessing. With a pat on Rex’s rump and a jerk of his chin, Tristan dismissed his bondmate, who ruffled his feathers in haughty indignation, taking to the air only to flutter around Veronyka’s other side and settle next to Xephyra instead. Tristan smiled, knowing Rex’s reaction was mostly a performance, thanks to their bond. He promised candied ginger—Rex’s favorite—tomorrow, and his bondmate