X V I V

                                    

                                          

"SO, WE never got to actually talk." Andorra shot Ero a glance as she sat at the long, expansive dining table. In front of them sat plates piled up with food, so much so that it made Andorra a little overwhelmed. Like Thanksgiving, almost. It made a distant part of her ache from the memories.
	Ero pushed food around on his plate. "Little we can discuss with listening ears," was his cryptic response. He looked a little bit more fatigued than earlier, his body tense and his eyes weary. He wasn't looking at Andorra; wasn't looking at anyone.
	"There will always be listening ears, Ero. But I'm feeling charitable towards your spying cause, so why not just ask me what you want to know. We don't have to be enemies."
	Ero stabbed a piece of meat with his fork. Eyed it for a moment, spinning it in his hand slowly as if trying to identify the animal from which it had come from. He didn't take a bite, but rather set it back down.
	"Tell me what it was like. To defeat the Flayre."
	Andorra felt her heart stutter in her throat and get stuck there. Not once had anyone asked her about this, not so outright. Nohx, for all of his demands and desire to know the truth, hadn't pushed her. Even Callum had kept quiet.
	Andorra forced herself to swallow. She was so very aware of the ears that listened at the table, and while she wasn't ashamed for them to know, it was nerve wracking to be the center of attention.
	"When the Flayre was in charge, I had no memory of what was happening. It was like I was asleep. But, when it came time to battle, I was aware of it all. But... it was like a dream state. I wasn't battling the Flayre out in the front yard. It was all happening inside my head.
	"It was... strange. There were two other people in my head with me, and one of them was Maia. The other was the Rabium Bellua. And I knew I had to battle the Rabium Bellua in this weird state of mind, and so I did. It wasn't all that interesting, not really.  I battled her and the Flayre with my powers. And I was powerful enough to bend it to my will."
	There. Enough to sate his thirst for knowledge without really sharing the true horror of what had happened. Without sharing the face of the girl who was supposed to be next. Without sharing the fear that had thrummed in Andorra's bones, or the moments when Andorra was so sure she would be killed.
	But, to Ero, she smiled. "It was a little anticlimactic for anyone watching. When I woke up, I was myself again. And Pyatt was in my head."
	"Where I will always stay." Pyatt seemed content to be her Rali, it seemed. And for that, Andorra was thankful.
	"And it listens to you? Fully?" Ero's voice didn't shake, but he also didn't look over at her. His grip on his fork became tight. "You truly captured the flayre? The same creature that only Cornomous could capture?"
	"It's a shock to me too." Andorra softened her voice. "But, you'll find I am unlike those who came before me. My past lives were different. Held different values. I'm not them."
	"Yet, Lark Frost is here somewhere, just waiting, right? I know how the story ends, Queen Andorra. Your soulmate is destined to come for you and end your life."
	This time when Andorra turned to look at Ero, he was staring back at her. Something warred in his expression, and it dawned on Andorra, hard and fast, and she nearly dropped her fork. Because what he was insinuating...
	"Are you suggesting you're my soulmate?"
	Ero did drop his fork. It clanked against the plate, the sound seeming to echo in the dining room. The temperature dropped so fast, Andorra whipped her head around to look at Nohx. His dark and deadly gaze wasn't trained on her, however.