Page 19 of Fate of Echoes and Embers (Heirs of Elydor #3)

MAREK

Issa hadn’t looked at me all day. She never came up to the quarterdeck for lessons and, when I joined the others for a midday meal, she left without a word.

Fitting, I supposed.

Immortality had many benefits, and one of those was the ability to understand situations because, most likely, you’d been in one similar before. As I thought on it, I couldn’t help smiling now, certain my assessment was correct.

She was not angry with me when I walked her to her room at the inn.

Having no idea I’d slept in the hallway in front of her door, not leaving her safety to chance in a place like Valmyr Port, Issa had come to the docks with Mev and Kael, only moments after I spoke with Cassandra. Since then, she’d kept her distance.

Issa was jealous.

And if that were the case, it meant she still had lingering feelings for me that were not all entirely murderous. Except… my vast experience with women lent very little to helping me navigate this particular situation.

Issa was not like the others. I’d known that almost from the start.

It was the reason I left. Remaining at Hawthorne any longer would have led to a bond that would have been even more difficult to break.

One that would have led to me eventually losing her to an inevitable human’s death. That still mattered. And yet…

Start by making her smile.

It was the advice my mother gave me the first time I confessed my feelings toward a young Thalassari girl in my training pod. Sound advice, to my thinking.

Letting go of the wheel, I first steadied the ship by creating a channel of calming water in front of us for as far as the eye could see. Kael looked up from his position beside Mev, who was in a deep conversation with Issa.

Next, I lifted my hands, twisting them as water lifted all around the ship in ribbons, sunlight catching her in angles and encasing Tidechaser in a celebratory display.

All three turned in circles, watching as the ribbons twisted in place even as our ship continued forward.

Releasing them, I brought my hands back down to my sides, all evidence of the display now back in the sea.

Mev’s hands reached into the air, and as we watched, the wind began to swirl around us.

At first, it seemed as if the air patterns were random, but soon the spiraling gusts began to take shape.

First, as her hands twirled flingwing fitches as they flew around the ship.

Next, the fitches converged into a giant silver-winged deer that pranced beside us before evaporating back into the sky.

It had worked.

Issa was smiling from ear to ear.

Again, lifting my hands, I took Mev’s cue and formed a school of marisol that leaped from the sea into the air beside us as they once again descended into its depth.

Smiling, but not at me.

I waited to see if Mev would counter. Instead, it was Kael who lifted his hands into the air.

Looking toward the small island off our port side, assuming that was what he would manipulate, I wasn’t surprised to see a massive rock outcropping begin to move.

Shifting the rock’s position took more skill than most Gyorians could manage, Kael showing once again the depths of his magic.

As we watched, the rock moved into the shape of… was that… a heart?

Mev’s arms were around him the moment Kael had dropped his arms.

King Balthor’s son. A romantic. I was certain no one would believe me if I told them this tale.

Issa turned toward me.

I beckoned her to come up, not expecting she would. When she took a tentative step toward me, my heart raced. Seeing her bound up the stairs to the quarterdeck, her sea legs firm beneath her, I could not help but be proud even though my contribution had been minimal.

“I’ve seen Thalassari make their way with less ease around Tidechaser .”

I stepped back and gestured for her to take the wheel.

Issa seemed to feel comfortable in the spot, and there was something extremely sexy about seeing here there too. Her tunic and breeches— Issa’s practical clothing serving her well on this journey— tightly fitted, it took every bit of effort on my part not to stare.

As her hands lay on the wheel, she continued. “I will admit, it strangely feels… comforting to me, in a way I’d never have expected, having spent so little time near the sea.”

I let Issa take the lead, waiting for her to speak.

“Did you sleep well?” she asked finally.

“Well enough,” I said. “You?”

The corner of her mouth lifted, as if confused. “Not as well as I expected, despite the size of the bed compared to yours.”

Hearing “bed” and “yours” in the same sentence did little to keep me focused.

“I dreamed of Draven,” she said, hesitant. “That he refused to allow me entry to my own home.”

The tides curse Draven and his ambitions.

“As luck, or Thalassa, would have it, my half-sister arrived in port this morn.”

Her head whipped toward me, Issa not bothering to hide her surprise. I was careful not to smile.

“Cassandra? The woman on the docks… that was your sister?”

Do. Not. Smile. Marek.

“It was.”

Cassandra was raised on the opposite coast of Thalassaria where her mother lived. I told Issa about her at Hawthorne when we’d spoken of our families but still was amazed she remembered.

Perhaps I should not be.

Willing my expression to remain neutral, I told her of our conversation.

“She is headed south and will port at Valewood Bay and track the movements of mercenaries arriving by sea, identifying which ships are loyal to Draven. She will also keep an ear to the ground for whispers of supply lines, bribes, or weaknesses we can exploit.”

Issa’s mouth dropped.

“You were… she… she is helping me?”

“Cassandra is family and would do anything I asked of her, as I would do the same.”

“But… I thought…”

Finally, I broke, unable to resist the small smile. “What did you think, Issa?”

“I thought she…” Her eyes narrowed. “Marek?”

“Aye, sereia?”

So much for the smile. “You knew?”

Never would I admit as much. “I know very little compared to what I do not know.”

“Riddles,” she murmured. “Always riddles.”

I crossed my arms and leaned back against the railing.

“Thank you,” she said begrudgingly. “For speaking to her on my behalf.”

“You are most welcome. Issa?”

“Aye?” she asked as I gestured for her to steer us slightly to port. She did, expertly.

“We will not allow Draven to take Estmere. Or become Lord Protector of Estmere, for that matter.”

Her chin raised defiantly. “No,” she said. “We will not. Though I do appreciate your assistance.”

“My network may be unsavory, at times, but it is vast and connected.”

“I’m learning the truth of those words.” She sighed, looking up to the sky, as if content.

At least, more so than when we first began to talk.

I knew she was worried about Hawthorne Manor and her people.

She’d admitted more than once that she felt it was her duty to ensure her parents’ legacy endured.

They had committed themselves to keeping the southern border of Estmere safe from Gyorians who had no wish to live so close to humans, a feat that would be much easier if King Balthor were not so openly hostile to her kind.

But… it was not Issa’s calling. A duty? Aye. But not her dream.

“I have a question for you.”

“Just one?” I asked.

She laughed. “Many, in fact. But one I thought of this morn as I woke.”

“You thought of me as you woke? Interesting.”

“Marek,” she chastised, her eyes not matching her tone.

They were teasing, bordering preciously close to flirting.

So close, in fact, that I did not hold back my own appreciation of her.

One that was always simmering beneath the surface.

In fact, I let my gaze wander at will, paying the price when it lifted to once again meet hers.

“Aye, sereia?”

“Why do you call me that?” she said, her voice barely above a whisper.

“You know why, Issa. Now, was that your question?”

“No. My question was, why did you have those trade routes written down, as if knowing you would need them?”

Not what I was expecting, but perhaps I should have. Issa was observant.

“I expected to use them in some capacity,” I admitted, “though not precisely as it happened. I’ve been trading in information for many years, and would find it difficult not to think in such ways, even if I suddenly had all of the answers I sought.”

“Do you worry, with Nerys as queen, that you will compromise her position? With your ‘unsavory’ practices, as they are.”

A good question.

“No more than I’ve always worried about how my dealings might negatively impact those I care about. Thankfully, the list is small and thus far, I’ve avoided any lasting consequences. My turn.”

“To ask a question?”

“Aye.”

If Issa was wary, it was with good reason. If I were more cautious, I’d ask her about any number of things… except this.

“If you despise me so, not that I blame you for leaving as I did,” I began.

Issa’s head slowly spun toward me, her soulful eyes narrowing.

“Why were you jealous of Cassandra?”

Issa looked as if she would throttle me.

Instead, she jerked her hands from the wheel and clasped her chest. Something was wrong.

Very wrong.