Chapter 567: Sweet Things and Louder Silences

Chapter 566: Sweet Things and Louder Silences

Sophia’s ankle was better.

The sharp throb from the day before had dulled to something she could work around, and she moved through the compound without limping too badly. The cold air hit her face when she stepped outside, and she pulled her cloak tighter, her breath fogging as she made her way to the medical facility.

She went to Tobias’s room first.

She pushed the door open quietly and stopped.

Sam was asleep beside him, curled on her side, one hand resting near Tobias’s arm.

Tobias looked pale. But he was breathing.

Sophia stood there for a moment.

Then she pulled the door closed quietly and let them be.

---

Rita had told her Joren was being held for observation. Nothing serious — his injuries weren’t critical — but it was his first mission of that weight, and the healers wanted to be certain before they let him go. There was also the fact that he had not been training for long, so they had to be certain. Sophia followed the corridor to his room and pushed the door open.

Joren’s face split into a wide smile the moment he saw her.

Sophia laughed.

She barely made it a step inside before he was already off the bed and crossing the room, pulling her into a hug. She hugged him back properly, genuinely relieved to feel that he was okay.

Then he pulled back and frowned.

"You smell like Alpha Orion."

Sophia released him. "Of course I smell like him, we—"

Joren’s hands flew to his ears.

"La la la la la—" He squeezed his eyes shut, making as much noise as possible. "I can’t hear you. I’m not hearing this. La la la—"

"Oh for—"

The door opened behind her.

Nia and Laia stepped in, took one look at Joren with his hands over his ears making noise, then looked at Sophia.

"What’s going on?" Laia asked.

"I was about to tell him why I smell like Orion, and he—" Sophia gestured at the still-noisy Joren.

"I can’t hear her," Joren announced loudly. "I hear nothing."

Another figure appeared in the doorway.

Dren. His arm was wrapped in bandages, a strip of white running from his wrist to just below his elbow. He took one look at Sophia, then at Joren, then back at Sophia, and his face arranged itself into something that could only be described as thoroughly disgusted.

"I also don’t want to hear it," he said flatly.

Sophia stared at him. "I didn’t even say anything to you."

"I know what you were about to say, and I don’t want to hear it."

Nia turned to him with a slow smile. "Dren. Are you scared of hearing that your sister—"

Dren’s hands went to his ears immediately.

"I can’t hear you," he said loudly. "Nothing. There is nothing happening. I hear absolutely nothing."

Joren stopped making noise long enough to point at Dren with vindication. "See? He gets it."

Nia and Laia dissolved into laughter.

Sophia looked between all of them and shook her head slowly.

"What are you all even doing here?" she asked when the noise settled.

"Visiting Joren," Laia said simply.

"So he doesn’t get lonely," Nia added.

"You all planned this without me?" Sophia asked them.

Dren lowered his hands from his ears, satisfied that the dangerous topic had passed. "It’s a coincidence, really. We all just showed up."

Joren climbed back onto the bed, settling against the pillows with the ease of someone who had been there long enough to get comfortable.

"Cat’s coming too," Dren said. "She stopped at Joren’s home first, picking up food from his mother."

Nia’s hand went immediately to her stomach. A long, mournful sound escaped her.

"Joren’s mother’s cooking," she said softly, like she was paying respects to something sacred.

Joren grinned. "She always makes too much."

"She makes exactly the right amount," Nia corrected.

Joren patted the bed beside him and looked at Sophia. "Come sit."

Sophia hesitated. "I don’t want to inconvenience you."

"It’s not an inconvenience," he told her. "I’m not even in pain. They’re just keeping me here to watch me. I’m perfectly fine." He patted the space again.

She sighed, removed her cloak, and then sat down.

Laia was already moving toward the door. "I’ll get more chairs," she said, already halfway out.

The room settled into an easy quiet of people who knew each other well enough not to need to fill every silence. Dren moved to stand next to the bed. Nia dropped into the one chair already in the room without asking.

Then Micah appeared in the doorway.

He took one look at the room — at all of them gathered, already settled and comfortable — and let out a short laugh.

"I should have known," he said, shaking his head. He stepped inside. There was something in his hands, wrapped in cloth, round and lumpy in a way that suggested it was more than one thing.

Nia sat up immediately. Her nose lifted slightly.

"I smell something sweet," she said.

Micah set the wrapped cloth on the bedside table and began untying it. "You’d be right."

The cloth fell open.

Inside were skewers, each one threaded with fruit — clusters of grapes, individual berries of different kinds, a few larger pieces of something dark and glossy — all of them coated in a hard sugar shell that caught the light.

The sugar had dried clear and shining, cracked in places where the fruit pushed against it, giving each piece a lacquered look like something decorative that was also very obviously meant to be eaten.

Sophia picked one up.

She passed it first to Joren.

He took it with both hands and gave Dren a smug look.

She took another for herself, then held one out toward Dren.

Dren looked at it. Then he looked at Joren. Then he gave Joren a smug look. "You’re not the only brother around," he told him.

Joren rolled his eyes but took a large bite of his.

Micah passed one to Nia, who was already reaching, and kept one for himself.

Sophia bit into hers, and the sound that came out of her was involuntary.

"This is so good," she said.

"Right?" Micah said, satisfied.

"Where did you even get these?" Nia asked, already halfway through hers.

"The stalls." Micah shrugged. "I saw them and thought maybe I’d get some for you guys in case you showed up."

Laia returned then, chairs stacked awkwardly against her body, navigating the doorframe sideways.

Behind her, Cat appeared carrying a pouch so heavy she had both arms around it. She set it on the end of the bed with a thud that made Joren’s legs shift.

"Your mother," Cat said, breathing slightly from the weight of it, "decided to cook for everyone. Her words were — ’just in case it wasn’t only you and Dren who showed up.’"

She turned and took in the room, then nodded slowly.

"And she was right about that."

Then she turned to Dren, who was standing beside her. She reached over and plucked one of the sugar-coated skewers from Dren’s hand and took a bite.

The sound she made was immediate.

"This is so sweet," she said.

Dren stared at his empty hand.

Then he stared at Cat.

Then he looked at what remained of his skewer now in her mouth and back at his hands.