Page 31

A week. They’d hoped to have more time. Two weeks. Maybe even three.

Essie swallowed back the hard lump, shoving it aside with a deep breath. “All right. I guess we need to make the most of our time while we are here.”

“When I am called back to Tarenhiel, you do not have to return with me.” Farrendel met her gaze, then reached out and rested his hand on hers. “If the negotiations are not finished, you and Jalissa will need to stay here to finish them. You will be safe here, whatever the war brings.”

Behind her, Averett cleared his throat. “Bad news?”

Essie hadn’t realized she and Farrendel had been speaking in elvish.

“It seems our new brother-in-law might only be able to stay a week. I guess it’s a good thing you moved the meeting with Parliament to this afternoon and the other meetings to this morning.” Edmund, of course, had understood every word. It was rather hard to have privacy when one of her brothers was a spy. When Essie glanced over her shoulder, Edmund’s gaze switched from Averett to Farrendel, and he spoke in elvish. “She is our sister. We will make sure she is safe.”

Farrendel held Edmund’s gaze for a long moment, before he tipped his head in a small nod. Some sort of understanding acknowledged between him and Edmund.

Essie wanted to huff and roll her eyes at their over-protectiveness. As if she was something breakable to be passed between them, always surrounded by guards.

But this was war. It wasn’t something to be laughed off flippantly. In wars, whole towns were overrun. Innocent people were slaughtered. Being able to use a musket to defend herself might not be enough. Not in a war fought as much with magic as with guns.

Nor did she truly want to be in that position to have to take a life yet again. She bit back the surge of bile at the memory of the jerk of the gun in her hand, the troll falling before her.

A part of her wished she was an elven warrior so that she could run into battle at Farrendel’s back, protecting him while he protected her. She wanted to declare she’d carry her gun into battle at his side.

But her presence would distract him from doing what he needed to do. He couldn’t go into battle worried for her.

Besides, she could do more good for all of the elves if she stayed here. Even if Escarland didn’t go to war on Tarenhiel’s side, it might be persuaded to offer aid. Perhaps food or supplies. Maybe a safe refuge for those fleeing the war.

Essie gave Farrendel a nod to let him know she understood.

Averett heaved a sigh. “This is worse than when you and Edmund made up a secret language so you could pass notes to each other the rest of us couldn’t read.”

“Oh, come now. At least they are talking out loud. That’s less strange than when you and Paige do your whole eye and facial expression discussions.” Julien tipped his chair back on two legs, which earned him a glare across the table from Mother.

As he set his chair back on all four legs, Paige gave him a swat on the arm for good measure.

One week. That’s all the time they had before the reality of coming war came crashing down on them once again.

ESSIE SCRAPED the lastof her cheesecake from her plate. Mostly because the cheesecake was excellent, and it would be a shame to waste even a crumb. But partly to delay the inevitable when this mid-morning desert turned into a political discussion. It was the reason they had come. Still, it wouldn’t be pleasant.