Page 24 of Fate of Echoes and Embers (Heirs of Elydor #3)

ISSA

“We have a plan,” the king said, our dinner meeting with him seemingly at a close.

After being trussed up by Mev, who seemed to take great delight in my “makeover,” I’d been forced to confront Marek, still thinking of what he’d said to me in front of the palace.

I regret leaving at all.

His words played through my mind all eve, but now was not the time to dwell on them. Or how good he looked in his formal attire. Or the way he glanced at me throughout the meal.

Take care of them.

My father’s final words, uttered repeatedly as he lay on his deathbed, my mother newly gone and buried. It was my duty to Hawthorne Manor that needed my attention, and Mev had promised to raise that very topic at this meeting.

“A solid plan,” Mev responded. “We will discover the meaning behind Rowan’s warning and send word to you at The Siren’s Rest.”

“I will recruit every scholar and mage and the Committee of Elders,” the king said. “Do not,” he added to Marek, “attempt to enter the Depths before we can fully understand them.”

“I’m not certain we will ever truly understand the Maelstrom Depths,” Marek said, but at the king’s stern glare, he conceded. “I will wait for word, your majesty.”

“I should go,” Kael said, not for the first time. “It’s my clan, my land. Adren?—”

“Will meet up with Marek and Issa,” Mev concluded. “You will bring too much attention, returning home, as it were. Attention Marek does not need.”

Kael’s scowl deepened.

“Trust Adren,” she said. “He discovered the Crystal’s location and will take care of Marek and Issa.”

“I trust him with my life, but Gyoria and its people are…”

He stopped.

We waited.

I understood his frustration, feeling helpless to protect people you loved.

“Your father’s and Terran’s responsibility.”

That, from the king.

“He is poisoning their minds,” Kael said in response.

“King Balthor,” Lyra asked, “or Prince Terran?”

“Both.” Kael crossed his arms over his chest, clearly agitated.

“We’ve another matter to discuss.” Mev looked pointedly at me. Perhaps it was to distract Kael from what was, I agreed, a bad idea. “In joining our mission, it seems we’ve made things complicated for Lady Isolde.”

Though Marek and Kael knew of Draven’s plans already, the others were clearly confused.

“In Valmyr Port, she and Marek learned,” Mev said to her father, “a noble named Lord Draven may be making a play for Hawthorne Manor. He has apparently been lobbying for support to use his status at Hawthorne, and as a border lord, to be named Estmere’s first Lord Protector.

And in coming with us, Hawthorne Manor is more vulnerable to his machinations. ”

King Galfrid was clearly displeased at such news.

“I take full responsibility,” I added, “for leaving him in command. He was a trusted ally of my father’s, and I had no cause to mistrust him. But it seems, I was na?ve to place such trust in him.”

“Draven,” Galfrid murmured. “I’ve heard the name but know little of him.”

“I sensed ill intent,” Mev said, “the first time we met, when Kael took me to Hawthorne before I knew of my abilities.”

“After he kidnapped you.” Lyra’s secret smile nearly made me laugh, despite the seriousness of the situation. It seemed she was not ready to allow Kael to forget the circumstances of his and Mev’s first meeting any time soon.

“Aye, Lyra,” Kael said, his voice making Lyra outright smile. Mev joined her. “Many thanks for reminding the king of the circumstances of his daughter’s arrival in Elydor.”

“I need no reminding,” the king said, making Lyra and Mev burst into laughter at Kael’s expression. I glanced at Marek, and not surprisingly, he smiled too.

After the laughter at Kael’s expense died down, I addressed the king myself. “My fear is that he will use my absence to seize control of Hawthorne.”

“I will not allow it.” The king turned to Commander Eirion. “Send a contingency to secure Hawthorne in Lady Isolde’s absence.”

I worried he might say as much. “I am grateful, your majesty. Though I fear the presence of an Aetherian force so close to the border may agitate the Gyorian raiders, who have increasingly sought reasons to engage with us unlawfully. I would not wish my personal circumstance to push us into a full-scale war.”

The king sat back and glanced around the table. He rested his eyes on Kael, as if to convey something privately to him before speaking. The hairs on my neck stood straight, though I could not give a reason why, if forced to name it, at the look that passed between them.

It was not contention. Nor mistrust, as their past disagreements ran deep.

Something else. A shared resolve, perhaps, that I wanted to be a part of.

“War has been brewing for nearly thirty years,” he said finally.

“If it comes now, so be it. We’ve all known this storm was coming.

We’ve seen the signs in the shifting tides, felt the tremors beneath our feet.

Those around this table who risk all to unite our lands are the echoes of those who came before us, the embers of a fire that has never truly died since I first opened the Aetherian Gate.

Those who fight for a just cause, for more than their own personal gain and for those weaker than us,” he said, a clear nod to the humans, “do not yield. We do not bow.”

I understood their look now.

Kael had not just taken a stand with Mev when they partnered. If it came to war, he would be fighting against his people. His family. The king had been asking for Kael’s silent permission and Kael had given it.

I had no wish to be the catalyst for war. And yet, it seemed there was little other choice.

“Thank you, your majesty,” were the only words left I could offer.

He nodded, and stood, an indication the meeting was over.

“I would speak with you,” Marek said before I rose in my seat.

“On the morrow?” I asked, knowing we sailed out in the morn.

“No,” he said, his eyes holding mine.

He was asking permission to seek me out this eve.

My mouth dry and apparently unable to form a response, I instead found myself nodding.

“I will find you.”

* * *

Mev brought me back to my chamber, easily the most beautiful one I’d ever seen.

Its pale, stone walls were etched with delicate silver filigree.

A four-poster bed, draped in silk the color of twilight, sat in the middle of the room, its plush, celestial, embroidered pillows stacked as if they were rarely touched.

My favorite feature, though, was a large, arched window with a latticed balcony that overlooked the sea. The full moon’s glow lit the room with a soft luminescence as I entered.

“I had a night rail brought,” Mev said, entering with me. “Please keep it, and the gown too.”

“I cannot?—”

“Issa,” she said, sitting on the edge of the bed. “Please take them. You’re sacrificing so much to be here.”

I sat beside her, watching as the gossamer drapes billowed inside from the sea breeze. Some said the beauty and magic of Aetheria was unmatched anywhere else in Elydor, and at that moment, I tended to agree.

“What we’re doing,” I said, having realized as much this eve, “is bigger than me. Than Hawthorne, even. There are so many like you, and your father, who have been separated from their loved ones for far too long. If there is a chance the Gate can be reopened, I am happy to be a part of making that happen.”

“My father will protect your lands, Issa. Together, we’ll make sure Draven’s ambitions remain nothing more than a pipe dream.”

Mev said the strangest things. “Pipe dream?”

She laughed. “An expression. Honestly, I have no idea where it comes from. Basically, he can go fuck himself.”

That I understood.

“I’ve never told anyone this before,” I blurted before thinking it through, but trusting Mev completely.

“I love my people. Many of them are like family to me but.” I swallowed, feeling as if I were a traitor to my parents’ memory.

“It was never my dream to remain there. As an only child, it was, of course, my duty to inherit. And I knew that, but… I begged my father for any opportunity to travel outside Estmere. And then they got sick.”

I stopped, remembering. Wishing I could forget.

“Tell me, what is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life?”

Her question snapped me back to the present.

“Not my quote. Mary Oliver, but still a good question.”

My one wild and precious life?

“I… I do not know. There is only what I should do and what I wish to do.”

“Okay then, what do you wish to do?”

That was easier. “See all of Elydor, and beyond.”

“Could someone else inherit Hawthorne Manor?”

“Draven?” I asked, appalled.

“No, someone worthy. And competent.”

“Sir Warren Calder,” I said, without having to think on it.

“He was my father’s commander and has served Hawthorne well.

He is respected by all but it is customary for a family member to inherit.

And I’m not certain he would want the position.

But also, what would I do? Where would I go?

Hawthorne is my home. Has always been my home. ”

“Boston was mine,” Mev said softly. “I never imagined being anything but a museum curator, or living anywhere else. But here I am. In Elydor. An Aetherian princess. Go figure.”

She smiled; a look of understanding, and sympathy, passed between us.

“You are always welcome here.”

“Thank you,” I said. “Although I will admit to a more pressing problem than my future.”

“What could be more pressing than that?”

I glanced at the door, knowing the knock would come at any moment. “Marek.”

“Ahh, I see.” She followed my gaze. “He is coming here?”

I nodded. “He asked to speak with me about something.”

“That couldn’t wait until tomorrow?”

“My thoughts precisely.”

Mev stood. “I’m probably not one to give relationship advice, being I’m married… or partnered or whatever… to a guy who kidnapped me. Literally. And I don’t blame you for being cautious. What Marek did was really shitty. But…”

“But?” I asked, anxious to hear what she had to say.

“Sometimes, people make mistakes.”

I sighed. “I swore never to let myself get hurt like that again. Especially by the same person who did it the first time.”

“I get it. But I also see the way he looks at you. There’s something there, Issa.”

I didn’t deny it.

But whatever else she might have added would have to wait. A knock meant our time was up. I stood, heart racing, and walked Mev to the door.

“There always has been with us,” I admitted, “which is the problem.”

“Only if you let it be one,” she said, pulling the door open. “Oh look. Marek. Who would have guessed?”

Laughing at her own jest, Mev pushed past him, waving a hand in the air and calling out, “Goodnight,” leaving me standing there alone.

With Marek.

Against my better judgment, I stepped aside, gesturing for him to enter. We’d been in closer quarters than this, and would be again tomorrow. But somehow, him being here felt… different. More meaningful.

“You wanted to talk?”

He took my lead, came into the chamber and closed the door behind him, smiling.

“Among other things.”