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“And dacha had a fourth.”

When Farrendel risked a peek at Melantha, she had a hint of a smile back on her face. He matched her smile with one of his own. “A scandalously large family by elven standards.” His existence was destined to cause a scandal even beyond his illegitimate birth.

“Perhaps I am worrying needlessly.” The warmth was back in Melantha’s voice and on her face.

“I can understand that. I worry needlessly all the time.” Farrendel shrugged, then held up the stone. “I appreciate this.”

“Here.” Melantha pulled a leather string from around her neck, tugging another stone out from underneath her shirt. She slid the leather string over her head, then held it out. “Give this one to Essie. I can make another for myself when I return to Kostaria. If your child inherited your weakness for stone, it should protect him or her.”

“I cannot thank you enough, isciena.” Farrendel took the second stone, this one still warm from Melantha’s skin. As he and Essie had no plans to return to Escarland any time soon, it would be a while before they could test if the stones worked. But he was grateful.

Melantha drew in a long breath, letting it out in a whoosh. “Well, now that we have gotten the delicate topics out of the way, there is something I have wanted to ask for a few months now.”

Farrendel set aside the stone for Essie and pulled the other one over his head, tucking it beneath his shirt. “Yes?”

“Would you mind if I joined one of your practice sessions?” Melantha rubbed a thumb over calluses on her palm, calluses she had not had when she had lived here in Estyra. “Rharreth has been teaching me to fight with a quarterstaff and a knife. And…I would like to practice with you. If you would not mind.”

For a moment, all Farrendel could do was stare at her. It had never occurred to him that Melantha would learn to fight. It just was not done for a healer to learn the art of war alongside the craft of healing.

But Melantha was living with the trolls now. Troll children learned to fight while they were still crawling.

Farrendel had enjoyed bonding with Weylind and Ryfon during their practices. Perhaps he and Melantha could continue healing their relationship over a practice bout.

For the first time that morning, Farrendel’s lethargy bled away. He hopped to his feet. “I would like that. Did you bring your staff?”

“Yes.” Melantha gestured to the door. “Your guards had me leave it outside.”

Farrendel headed for the door, his steps lighter than they had been when he dragged himself down there this morning. Perhaps a good fight was exactly what he needed.

Chapter Twenty

Essie strolled down the stairs running along the outside of Farrendel’s workshop from where the lift to their rooms had set down on its platform. Rharreth, king of the trolls and her newest brother-in-law, followed her, trailed by both elven and troll guards. She glanced at him, trying to read his expression in the hard lines of his face. “I am glad the meeting went well, despite the short notice.”

“Yes.” Rharreth’s deep voice rumbled, like ice on a flowing river. “We will make more progress once your brother’s engineers arrive. But we are on track to build the bridge in the next seven months or less.”

“That’s good. I can’t wait until it’s finished.” Essie stepped off the stairs onto the spongy forest floor, thick with dense grass and forest plants. It would be much easier to go back and forth between their home in Aldon and their home in Estyra when a bridge over the Hydalla River connected the two kingdoms.

“It will be a boon for all of our kingdoms.” Rharreth fell into step beside her. His gray skin stood out against the green of the forest while his white hair was bright in the late morning sunlight. He stood a good foot taller than Essie, his muscles so bulky that she felt tiny walking next to him. “Your people will see an example of what trolls can build out of stone. And the trade between our three kingdoms will flow more smoothly.”

A bridge already spanned the Gulmorth Gorge between Kostaria and Tarenhiel, built by Farrendel, Rharreth, Weylind, and Melantha after the Dulraith secured Rharreth’s throne. That bridge had given Averett and Weylind the idea for this one, though the one over the Hydalla was going to be built on a larger scale.

Essie knocked on the door to Farrendel’s workshop, though the lack of guards around it seemed to indicate he and Melantha weren’t inside. When she poked her head in, she confirmed that it was indeed empty. “They aren’t here. I’m not sure where they went.”

From deeper in the forest echoed a shriek, then laughter. Over the laugh came the sound of Farrendel’s worried voice.

After sharing a glance with Rharreth, Essie set out into the forest in the direction of the noise. She made her way around several of the large trees, none as big as the tree palace of Ellonahshinel. As she turned the last corner, she halted, staring.

Melantha lay on her back on the forest floor, her legs propped up against a tree trunk. She shook with the heartiness of her laughter, gesturing toward the tree. “You make it look so easy.”

“I do not know how to explain. I just…do it.” Farrendel’s forehead scrunched as he took a few running steps toward the next tree over, planted a foot on the bark, then launched himself into a back flip. He landed easily and shrugged. “You cannot hesitate.”

Melantha huffed and sat up, rubbing her hip. She glanced over her shoulder at Rharreth and Essie, her mouth quirking. “At least the landing is softer than in Kostaria. I am not sure how I will practice flipping there without breaking my neck.”

Rharreth strode closer, extending a hand to Melantha. “It’s soft enough in the winter.”

Melantha rolled her eyes, gripped his hand, and pulled herself to her feet. “In the winter, I am so bundled in layers I can barely waddle, much less perform feats of agility.”

“I am attempting to teach her to fight like an elf.” Farrendel crossed his arms and frowned at Rharreth. “You taught her to fight like a troll. She does not make enough use of her agility.”