Page 81 of Mistress of Bones
“Something for you to look forward to.”
Azul half expected Nereida to turn on her heel at those words andstride away, but she stayed put. Perhaps this little nook of greenery reminded her of home, as it did Azul.
“Your family isn’t from Cienpuentes, is it?” Azul asked.
“I grew up in the northern countryside.”
“Temple school?”
“For three years.”
“Isadora went to one too,” Azul murmured. For the first time since Diel, memories of her sister didn’t induce a pang of grief. Just the bittersweet aftertaste of things once held dear. “One of Mother’s clients’ gift.”
“Not you?”
“I was left behind in Agunción.”
“I wish I had been left behind at home too.”
The words were sour and full of regret, and Azul found them surprising. Isadora had been sorry to be away from Azul, but she enjoyed her time at the Temple immensely. Nereida looked like the kind of person who would have enjoyed her time there—hadn’t she been a star at court? The queen’s very mistress? “Is it because of the queen?”
Nereida frowned in confusion. “The queen?”
“Her death…”
A short laugh. “The queen and I did not last that long.” The words didn’t have any bite to them or any resentment. However their parting had come to pass, it wasn’t the drama Azul had expected given the rumors.
“I was looking for excitement,” Nereida continued, her gaze growing distant, “and she offered me a world as bright as all the Anchor in the continents. I thought I was prepared for the court, but the fever of being chosen caught me off guard.” Nereida shook her head. “We burned like the strongest of flames, but there was no real depth to it. It was never meant to endure. We both knew it, I think, but decided to enjoy ourselves nonetheless.”
“Were you with her when she died?” Azul couldn’t resist asking.
“No. Our affair had been over by then.”
Something in Nereida’s tone told Azul she was done talking aboutthat matter, so she returned to their previous subject. “Then why do you wish you had stayed home?”
“It would’ve given me more time with my family,” she said simply.
“You are young—there is still time to find them. Go visit your sister, go talk to your brother.”
At least you still have them.
“I might.”
“Is your brother still here? Does he belong to the court?”
Nereida’s countenance grew dark, and Azul guessed the two hadn’t parted on good terms, as happened with siblings sometimes. “Is he younger than you?”
“Older by a year.”
“Being a younger sister can be hard,” Azul said. “Sometimes it’s like you are the older one, for they refuse to look after themselves.”
Nereida nodded, her voice strange and wistful as she responded, “You grow tired of checking in with them, so you look away, and when you next glance back, there is nothing to find but razed ground.”
“Yes. A heartbeat away from your attention, and everything you know is gone.” Azul blinked away the sudden burning in her eyes, wondering what had happened to Nereida and her siblings that she could speak Azul’s feelings with so much precision. But she knew Nereida would not share, so she asked instead, “Do you miss being at court?”
“No.”
“You won’t return after we’re done?”
