вlood & peтalѕ [ ĸoтlc - тιana ]

ch. xxviii

And now...! The moment you've all (probably) been waiting for!

The actual Tiana in this Tiana book!!!!

Yay!!!

Linh's grin was a mile wide, and frankly, Biana hadn't ever thought that she'd had in in her. But who could blame her? After resigning herself to the fact that her brother would die, and then being handed the one way to save him?

Biana was almost certain that she'd feel the same for Fitz. Depending on how annoying he was being.

And now that she knew for sure that Tam liked- no, loved her, every pore in her body was tingling, filling her with a feeling of pure exhilaration.

Linh, still grinning in a way that looked likely to crack her cheeks in half, hauled Biana to her feet. "We gotta go tell him! C'mon, c'mon!"

Biana smiled in return and followed Linh as she led them through a corridor, and to a yellow door. "Was this Wylie's old room?"

"Yeah, but since he's living with Prentice now, Tam and I share it. Or rather, we used to." A shadow passed over her face briefly, but she warded it off with another beaming smile. "Let's gooooo!"

Linh flung the door open with enough force to almost crash into the wall. Luckily, her telekinesis caught it just in time, and Biana caught a glimpse of black hair peeping out from under a blanket. The curtains were drawn, casting the whole room in deep shadow.

Linh gestured to Biana to be quiet as she tiptoed over to the bed and lifted the edge of the covers obscuring her twin's face. A second later, she let it drop. "He's asleep. Want me to wake him up? Actually, never mind. I'll wake him up."

Before Biana could say 'shadow', Linh had slipped her hand under the blankets and was shaking her brother's shoulder. "Tam. Tam. Tam. Tam. Tam. Tam. Tam. Tam. Tam. Tam. Tam. Ta-"

"What?" Shade boi grumpily answered, surfacing from under the blankets and stretching. "What's gotten you s-so-" he was cut off by a stream of coughs, which sounded much worse in person when compared to Linh's rather vivid descriptions. Quickly, his sister handed him a tissue and rubbed his back comfortingly.

As he wiped his mouth shakily and tosses the tissue into the bin with one single move, he noticed Biana hovering awkwardly at the doorway. "Uh....hi....?"

Linh stood up, empty tissue box in hand, and beckoned for Biana to enter the room, which she did so. Albeit very nervously. "Hi...."

His silvery eyes didn't leave hers as he asked, "not to be rude or anything... but what are you doing here?"

Linh sighed. "You two are going to take forever to get to it, so I'll do it for you. Tam, she likes you too. Biana, kiss him already."

"W-what?" Biana squeaked. "I-Linh!"

Linh shrugged nonchalantly, but Biana could see the sparkle of mischief in her eyes. "What?"

"You- privacy?"

Linh raspberried. "Psh. You two would have spent at least half an hour saying hi, at this rate. Excuse me for wanting to speed things up a little?"

Tam sighed, flicking his rumpled bangs out of his eyes. "Linh..."

"Hm?"

"Isn't it time to go feed your murcat?"

"Yeah. Yeah, it is." She left the room, grinning and winking at them both all the way.

"So...now what?" Tam asked, a minute after the door swung shut.

"Well, in all the human stories Sophie's told me, this is where the prince kisses the princess," Biana teased. "But I have no clue how long it's been since you brushed your teeth, so...."

Tam flashed half a smile, reaching for one of the various elixirs on his nightstand. "For the record, it was today morning. Linh has to levitate me. And I'm no prince, Biana. I'm no match for you."

As he downed the bright red one, Biana slowly moved closer to his bed. "Tam...look at me."

When he did, she grabbed his nose and twisted it as hard she could. Which, thanks to all the rigorous tackle bramble games with Keefe, Fitz and Alvar, was pretty damn hard.

She let go after a good twenty seconds. "You complete idiot. Thinking that way's what put you in this situation in the first place! I don't need a prince. And I most certainly don't want a prince. You're more than enough for me, Tam. Just by being you. And I wouldn't swap that for anything in the world." The last sentence came out softer than the rest of the little speech, as she lowered herself to sit next to him on the bed.

He looked so vulnerable and lost as he asked "really?" that she wanted to hug him and never let go.

So she did.

Yikes, this was the longest chapter in the book so far.

Tiana!!! Yay!!!

*happy, melodious music*