Yarima had meant to start putting together her plan to be rid of her mother and the entire court. However, her brother had been worrying her, which kept distracting her. And if she couldn’t be there for him now that she was back, what kind of sister would she be?

The only problem was that he seemed hesitant to share what was bothering him. Aside from everything wrong with their country, of course. Yarima was more or less convinced it had something to do with his newly demoted boyfriend, but she’d not seen Oretski since the incident.

But now she would have Denir cornered because she’d managed to get some semblance of Denir’s schedule from one of the servants after a rather long stretch of charming conversation. The man probably thought she was interested in him now. The fool.

She walked down the long palace corridors, eager to intercept Denir in his quarters. He never seemed to be there when she’d tried to visit him, and apparently the reason for that was that their mother kept him rather busy, meeting with random royals and generals.

Yarima wasn’t one for overt theorizing and conspiracies, but she was fairly certain the reason for all of this wasn’t that he—until now—had been the heir to the throne. No, Yarima was certain their mother just wanted to keep Denir as busy as possible so even when Oretski was in Diramisk, like he was right now, they could barely spend any time together.

Though that certainly hadn’t stopped rumors. It made Yarima grind her teeth. She would have a lot of work to do once she took over the throne.

Finally getting to her brother’s door, she looked around to make sure no one was near before knocking softly.

She waited for a moment, wondering if perhaps Denir either wasn’t in his quarters after all or if he was ignoring her. But before she could raise her hand to try to knock again, the door opened a crack.

Denir’s face appeared in the crack, the one eyes Yarima could see growing more relaxed as he opened the door up more.

“Yari,” he said, waving her in as he stepped aside, rubbing the back of neck in the most jerky, nervous way possible.

“Is something wrong?” she asked as she walked in, closing the door behind her. Denir’s quarters looked almost nothing like she remembered, but that made sense. They had both been much younger when she’d run away those years ago.

But with that said, she was not at all surprised by the fact that all the walls of Denir’s bedrooms were lined with full bookcases. She was sure that his study, which was through the door on the far wall in the next room was even more so.

“No, I suppose not,” Denir sighed as he led her to the table on the other side of the room, right by the window. But the sun pouring in through it did little to brighten the gloomy atmosphere.

“Come on, something must be,” Yarima tried to gently prod again. “You look miserable.”

And he truly did. His usually big, bright eyes dull and downcast, his shoulders sinking as he sat down and put his hands around the mug of what seemed to be hot chocolate, pulling it close to himself.

“Well, yeah, maybe,” Denir said, pouting. Yarima wanted to pat his shoulder, but after being separate for so long, she didn’t want to accidentally overstep any boundaries, so she resisted for now. She’d wait until she knew for certain if she could.

“But?” Yarima smiled at him sadly. “This is about Neven, isn’t it?”

Denir sighed, staring into his drink. “Yes. He worries me. Since he was demoted, he…he’s been really mean to himself.”

Yarima shook her head. That sounded about right. She didn’t know much about Oretski, but she had gotten the feeling he liked being the kapetan. And now his role would be diminished, certainly, but he would also lose the respect that came with it.

Being Orinovo’s kapetan was being the general of generals, the shining example for every soldier to follow—or in this case the most fanatic and skilled one. And it had clearly been important to Oretski, though Yarima was truly starting to worry if he truly had taken it this hard.

Surely her brother wouldn’t date one of their mother’s fanatical bootlickers. Simply dating Denir was an act of disobedience against both the crown and just their country in general, so it would make no sense for Oretski either.

“He’ll get over it,” Yarima said, trying to comfort Denir somehow, but Denir just shook his head.

“I don’t know about that. His position, his rank, it meant so much to him. And now it’s gone. Partly because of me, too.”

Yarima scoffed, immediately shaking her head, wagging her finger at him. “No, don’t start that. He just wanted to protect you. Over protecting Orinovo. That means he cares more about you than his rank.”

Denir grimaced, shrugging. “We haven’t really had much of a chance to talk since….” He hung his head, sighing. “I hope he’s not mad at me.”

Yarima rubbed her eyes, unable to accept that her foolish little brother was thinking like this. “Of course he isn’t mad at you. You didn’t do anything wrong. And if he dares to be mad, I’ll break his nose.”

Denir laughed a little, his eyes finally getting some of their usual spark back. Clearly he thought she had been joking, and even though she had not been, she wouldn’t ruin it for him.

“I missed you very much,” Denir sighed again, a sad smile on his face.

Yarima grinned back. “I missed you too, bratrishko.”

Denir’s smile brightened a little, but he said nothing, a deep sadness remaining in his eyes. Yarima sighed, her heart clenching.

“I’m sorry for leaving like I did. I—”

Denir shook his head hard. “What? No, don’t apologize. You did what you had to. I heard our mother….” He shuddered, a horrified grimace on his face, finishing the sentence in a whisper. “Experimented on you.”

Yarima sighed. This conversation had been coming for a long time, she knew that, but still she didn’t feel ready to tackle it. “She gave me the power to steal the powers of others. She made me take….” Yarima shook her head. “I just had to run. I couldn’t wait around to see what else our mother would do.” Then she frowned at Denir with worry. “She didn’t hurt you, did she?”

“No,” Denir replied, letting Yarima breathe more easily. Leaving her brother behind was bad enough, but leaving him to go through the same things she had? She’d never have forgiven herself. “I think she was afraid I’d use whatever priori power I’d get against her. Like you did. And I was the last heir.”

Yarima huffed. That made a lot of sense. Of course their mother wouldn’t risk it a second time.

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Denir leaned closer over the table, his eyes trained at the door. “Can I tell you a secret?”

Yarima blinked at him, raising an eyebrow. “You have more, bratrishko? I really missed a lot.”

Denir chuckled a little, but it came out sounding strained and nervous, his eyes still trained on the door as if expecting it to open any second now. “I’m an otselovret.”

Yarima’s face immediately turned absolutely shocked as she gaped at him. “You…you’re a priori? A natural one?”

Denir nodded, sighing. “It…I haven’t told anyone except Nev.”

Yarima tried very hard not to smile at the nickname. The feared kapetan, the successful, ruthless general, Nev. It was simply a little funny, but very sweet as well.

As if wanting to prove it, Denir twitched his index finger, making his mug—which Yarima had only now noticed was actually made of painted metal—change shape, turning into a goblet instead, still just as red as before, but now very ornate looking, if a little uneven.

She stared at it, impressed at Denir’s control over his powers considering he would have to hide them. The son of the queen couldn’t be a priori. Not without being given those powers by the crown. It would mean that their ancestors were priori, and that would be unacceptable in a country that abhorred them.

Though that truly did bring up some questions. Yarima had no idea they’d had priori in their family.

“I always knew I could do this. I just….” Denir sighed again, shaking his head as he turned his mug back to its original form. “I never dared explore what I could actually do until you…left.”

Yarima nodded, getting up so she could walk around the table and hug him tightly. He clung back immediately. Yarima could actually feel him relaxing a little the longer it went on, the muscles in his back stretched less taunt.

“You won’t tell anyone, right?”

Yarima felt as though Denir had punched her in the stomach, out of breath for a second before she managed to pull herself together and away from him, her hands on her hips. “Yeah, of course not! I would never do that, Deni.”

Denir nodded with a grimace, likely at the offended tone she had used. Yarima immediately felt guilty because she hadn’t meant to sound like that, but it was too late now.

“Your secret is safe with me,” she assured him again, smiling as she patted his shoulder. Denir smiled back at her, getting up to embrace her properly.

“I’m sorry. I just…I needed to hear it, I think,” Denir said as he pulled away again, his eyes shining with tears. But he was smiling at her still, no sadness to be found.

“Of course.” Yarima chuckled a little as she patted her brother’s head. “You got so tall.”

Denir shrugged, laughing a little, too. “I grew.”

“You sure did.” She grinned, though her smile ebbed quickly. “I’m sorry I left you like that. I just—”

“It’s okay. I’m just glad we’ve reunited. That you’re safe and unharmed.” Denir grimaced then. “As safe as you can be in Orinovo.”

They both sit down again, Yarima looking around curiously, trying to read some of the titles on her brother’s books’ spines. None of them looked familiar, though, aside from a few books they’d liked as children. She couldn’t even really figure out what genre he liked, though she did wonder if some of these books were about priori.

She had missed out on a lot with her brother, but she was determined to catch up. Speaking off….

“So, you and Oretski. How did that whole thing happen, anyway?”

Denir blushed, smiling shily, though there were still worry lines around his eyes. He really must have been concerned about his boyfriend, not that Yarima was surprised.

“Well, I…I’ve liked him for years,” Denir admitted, blushing harder, his eyes trained on his mug. “We never really spoke but….” He blushed even more somehow, his face deep red as he fiddled with the mug. “I read this book. And it…made me notice him whenever he’d come report to Mother.”

Yarima gave him a bemused sort of smile. What did any of this mean? “A book?”

Denir rubbed the back of his neck as he got up, walking over to the bookshelf closest to window, apparently immediately locating the book he had been talking about and bringing it over to the table.

And as Denir put it on the table, Yarima frowned, understanding even less. The book was titled The Geography of Orinovo, its title in large, golden lettering written on the cover.

“What does that have to do with—”

Yarima didn’t get to finish her question, pausing when Denir took the dust jacket off the book, revealing the actual cover with a completely different title underneath—The Shaft of Light.

Oh sun. She’d never read it, nor did she know what it was about exactly, but she did know it was a romance novel with many, many sex scenes, written by none other than Ainreth Tyr-Naralyn.

It might have no had his name on the cover, but everyone knew that Sycker Tyr-Cockin—which was an incredible pen name—was the Daybreaker. All of the man’s main characters were lightweavers that looked like him. It didn’t take a genius to figure it out.

But while Yarima still had no idea how this related to Oretski, she took a brief moment to thank the moon that Denir hadn’t fallen in love with Ainreth.

But wait. She hadn’t even realized.

“This book has an Orinovan translation?”

The book was, after all, about the romance between two men, which wasn’t something that would ever be outright sold in Orinovo. Though this did please Yarima. She was sure it made their mother grind her teeth.

“You know it?” Denir asked in surprise.

“I know of it.”

Denir nodded. “R-right. Well, in it, one of the main characters is…the Orinovan kapetan.”

Yarima’s eyes went wide. “The Daybreaker wrote about himself getting with Oretski?”

Denir cringed at her exclaiming, shushing her, and Yarima quickly put a hand over her mouth. “Sorry, sorry. I just…. Sunder. That vo is a menace.”

Denir pursed his lips, looking down at the book. “This was written by the Daybreaker?”

Yarima nodded, still reeling from this revelation. “Not officially, but everyone knows it.”

Denir nodded, frowning pensively, but he said nothing. The implications weren’t something either of them probably wanted to discuss, Yarima thought.

“Right, so, anyway,” Denir said, clearing his throat. “After reading it, I started to realize I…liked Nevy.”

Yarima had to fight with herself not to grin like a fool at the nickname. That was far too adorable.

“One day he was assigned as my bodyguard because an assassin was supposed to be in the palace. And….”

Denir played with his mug, blushing bright red as he stared down at the table, Yarima blinking in impressed shock.

“Really? Just like that?” Yarima chuckled. “Good job, bratrishko.”

Denir tilted his head at her, frowning in confusion this time before his eyes bulged out, his face turning mortified. “W-what? No! We, um, we just talked. A-and…a-after a few days of him guarding me, we…kissed.”

Despite his blushing, Denir smiled then, a sort of dazed, love-struck smile that Yarima had never seen on his face. It was a welcome change.

“That’s really cute.” Yarima was now grinning at him, genuinely happy for him, even if she didn’t understand how Oretski ticked.

Denir smiled, his shoulders relaxing visibly. “I’m very happy you…don’t mind.”

Yarima narrowed her eyes, not liking the sound of this. “Don’t mind what?”

Denir fiddled with his mug harder. “You know….”

Her fears confirmed, Yarima sighed, rubbing her eyes. “Deni, I like women.”

His eyes go wide in surprise. “Oh!” Then he smiled, his eyes sparkling. “Okay, that’s great. I just…you know….”

“There is nothing wrong with any of this,” she said firmly, to which Denir nodded, his eyes big and vulnerable. “Aside from your boyfriend being a bit too into being our mother’s good little soldier.”

Denir sighed, his lips drawn into a sad little frown. “I’ve been trying to help him with that. But….”

“It’s hard to unlearn these things, I know,” Yarima said, shaking her head. It had taken her a while of living in Lys-Akkaria to realize a lot of the things she’d been taught weren’t the absolutely truth or even good in general. “I’ll tell him to calm down when I have the chance. Chances are we will see each other on a battlefield eventually.”

Denir blinked at her in concerned surprise. “You think you’ll have to go out there? To fight Lys-Akkarian soldiers?”

Yarima shrugged, taking a breath. “Well, I’ve collected many priori powers. And I know how to fight. Eventually our mother will get desperate enough, I think. Not to mention that I alone can take the Daybreaker’s power.”

Denir nodded slowly, worrying his lip. Clearly he didn’t like this, but what could he do about it? Sure, sending the heir to the throne to battle wouldn’t be a smart decision, but if Yarima didn’t take the lightweaver’s, the shadowforger’s, or both of their powers, Orinovo was doomed.

One semi successful ambush wasn’t going to save them.

“I’m never leaving you again, bratrishko,” she promised, putting her hands over his, squeezing gently. “Everything will be fine.”

She said it to assure him just as much as it was meant to assure her. Because she had no idea how things would develop. But she knew for a fact that she would do her sundering best to fix things.

“Yeah. Yes, everything will be fine,” Denir repeated after her, shutting his eyes and taking deep breaths. Yarima didn’t let go of his hands just yet, just holding him.

She had a lot to make up for. And getting herself killed was the last thing she would allow to happen.

No, she would fix everything, one way or the other. If there was no fixing how broken their home was, she’d just bring Denir to Lys-Akkaria, so he would be safe and happy with Oretski.

This she swore.