Page 14 of Between Fear and Favor

“What is wrong with you?” I shouted at her, using Cy’s shadows to push her away from me.

My grandmother stumbled backward, barely catching herself so she wouldn’t fall. Her pursed lips and raised eyebrows did little to explain her motivations.

“Fear and anger.” She nodded, as if confirming something to herself. “We will have to find a way to test more positive emotions.”

Screwing my mouth shut, I could only stare at her as my breaths came too fast. My fingers twitched, my body wanting to do something to punish her for being such anasshole. The worst part was that what she’d been doing had worked. Someone so cruel had no business being correct as often as Shivani was.

Still, though. I couldn’t pretend I wasn’t relieved to figure out an aspect of my siphoning.

“Are we done here?” I asked, and I ripped the leather out of my hair. My head was aching, and the release of tension felt divine.

“Do you still need me?” A shaky exhale escaped me when I heard his voice.

When Cyran turned the corner around the tall hedges we stood beside, his widened eyes betrayed him. He probably didn’t know he’d just walked upon a stand-off of sorts, but his hands clenched at his sides. I’d seen him take the same stance once before—when Declan had come to fetch me at Evenmoor. Was it fear?

“No,” Shivani said. “Leave us.”

A muscle in his jaw twitched, as if he didn’t want to do that at all. “Elora?”

I swallowed a whimper, some part of me in agony over his concern. “We’re done for today,” I said, and my mouth felt like it was full of sand.

“All right,” he said, tilting his head to the side. “Well, Reminy and I found something.”

“Is it about my great-grandfather’s bowel movements?”

“Elora!” Shivani scolded, but I ignored her when a true smile appeared on Cyran’s face.

His cheeks went pink as he grinned, and it was the first time in so very long that I’d seen that kind of joy in him. I tried very hard to ignore the part of me that knew I shouldn’t care, that I shouldn’t take solace in his happiness. If the Supreme had his way, lovely moments might be few and far between; I’d appreciate this one for what it was.

Shivani sighed, and I ignored her footsteps leaving the courtyard as she stomped across the cobblestone.

It felt like it had only been seconds when Cy’s smile faded, but they were the best seconds since we’d been at Crown Cottage.

“Reminy had suspected the prophecy referred to the Bone of the Bane. There is an old record of a summoning, though we aren’t sure if it was to lure Rhia or Hanwen.” He took a step toward me, and he tugged at one of the earrings he wore. It was a nervous habit I’d noticed back in Evenmoor, and I was glad to see his ornamented earlobes once more—he hadn’t seemed like himself without all the adornments. “They used Shika’s husband’s bones.”

“So for Mama and...Rainier to summon?—”

“You don’t know what to call him, do you?”

“Why do people keep worrying about that?”

“It troubles you.”

“Well, I can’t start calling him Papa. It’s not?—”

“I know. Faxon.” Cyran tilted his head, and something twisted in my chest over his realization without me having to tell him. “Father?”

“Too—”

“Formal. I agree. Let me think of the word in my mother’s tongue,” he said, raising his hand to his mouth.

“Where was she from?” I asked, temporarily forgetting about the stupid prophecy.

“A small island east of Skos. The language is similar, but not the same.” He screwed up his eyes in concentration, before relaxing into a smile. “Otya. That was the word.” He gave a soft laugh. “I never had a reason to use it. But you do.”

“I think he’d like that.”Otya. I rolled the word around in my mind, thinking of the man who was my sire, who I’d grown to love and trust in such a short time. The man who loved Mama in a way I couldn’t quite understand, and the man who I could very well lose before I got to know him. “Thank you, Cy. It’s better than everything else I’ve come up with.”

His hand lifted, as if he was going to grasp mine, and I froze. There was so much distance between us. For good reason. After a moment, he dropped his arm, and a crease formed between his brows.

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