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

MAREK

I thought I was prepared to see her for the first time since The Moonlit Current.

I wasn’t.

Disheveled, her dark-brown hair pulled off her face with strands escaping everywhere, she was dressed for battle and looked as if she’d just come from one.

Those piercing hazel eyes were trained directly on me, Issa’s expression exactly as I’d imagined it would be.

Her lips, fuller than on any woman I’d ever known, parted, as if she would say something to me.

Instead, she turned to Kael and Mev.

It didn’t matter that it had been my fault I’d lost the right to have her look at me the way she did them. This had been a bad idea from the start. But I had known that all along.

“What,” she said, as Kael rose and hugged her, “are you doing here?”

Mev did the same. For my part, I remained seated. Issa was more likely to stab me than hug me, more’s the pity.

“Have you eaten?” she asked them, the wine goblets Master Edric gave us already filled. He was a fine steward and even managed to be cordial to me. Without knowing what Issa had told him, I’d expected a cooler welcome.

“We have been fed,” Mev said, sitting beside the fire in one of four plush chairs that had been arranged before it, the intricately carved, wooden table at the center holding our wine goblets.

Even without windows, it was a welcoming space, not unlike the rest of Hawthorne Manor.

Issa prided herself on the care she and her staff took to make it a home despite its size.

A fortress nearly as large as any in Estmere, it was one of the first built when King Galfrid carved out a portion of his own Aetherian land for the humans.

“I’m uncertain,” Issa said, sitting back, “if I should ask first if the rumors of the two of you are true or”—she looked at me—“how you come to travel with him.”

“Hello, Isolde,” I said, not daring to give her the same sort of smile I once had. Instead, I willed myself to forget how beautiful a woman Issa was. Forget how her lips felt against my own. Pretend she was simply a human noblewoman whose help we needed. “It is good to see you.”

“I cannot say the same.”

“Well.” Mev put her wine back onto the table. “I for one can’t wait to hear what the hell happened between the two of you. Marek told us squat on the way here.” She added, “Sorry, he told us nothing.”

“Squat. That’s a new one,” Kael murmured. “She’s a constant source of surprise,” he added for Issa’s benefit. “And while I can’t account for which rumors you’ve heard, I can tell you Mev and I are partnered. And I did indeed pledge myself to her father.”

Issa didn’t hide her surprise. “Those are the rumors. Would you care to tell me how that happened? The last time I saw the two of you, Princess Mevlida’s name was Mia, she claimed you kidnapped her and I’m certain,” she said to Mev, “your hair was not white.”

Mev’s side-eye to Kael confirmed part of that as true. “Oh, he kidnapped me alright. Totally rude. Long story short, after we left, I started being able to do strange things and”—she tugged on her hair—“this.”

“Mev knew when she came through the Gate,” Kael said, “that she was King Galfrid’s daughter. And smartly hid the fact from me, for as long as she was able. Hence, Mia.”

“Basically, he fell head over heels for me. An Aetherian noblewoman named Lyra found us and began to train me. The two of them brought me to my father.”

“I’ve heard of her, from Kael.” Issa avoided looking at me, but I couldn’t seem to do the same. Was that blood on her tunic? Had she been injured?

“Prince Kael of Gyoria,” Issa said, her smile to Kael one of warmth, “falling in love with King Galfrid’s daughter. Fate has a way of intervening in mysterious ways. Although I doubt your father appreciates the irony of your current situation.”

“He does not. He sent my brother to intercept me. Took me most of an afternoon to convince him and his men to stand down so that I could follow Lyra and Mev north.”

“I did hear that you battled your brother.”

I’d spoken to Kael about that very battle. Prince Terran was known as a ruthless defender of Gyoria, and some said nearly as strong as his father. From talking to Kael, it seemed he was less bothered by the severed relationship with his father than being at odds with his brother.

“I did.”

“He will never accept you again.”

I assumed Issa spoke of King Balthor. Did she refer to Kael’s brother, Terran, as well?

“No, he will not. Somehow, it took meeting Mev to appreciate how extreme my father’s views had become. Before you say it.” He stopped Issa. “I know you tried to tell me. But he is my father.”

I knew something of complicated father–son relationships myself and could sympathize with him even as I agreed with Issa.

The Gyorian king had never recovered from the loss of his queen to a human disease and all knew his hatred for humans had grown throughout the years.

Did I agree with the king’s decision to kidnap Mev’s mother and close the Gate?

Not many did, outside of Gyoria, of course.

But I could understand well the need for revenge against those who hurt someone you loved.

It was what drove me, and what would probably have been my downfall. Now, it seemed, the Maelstrom Depths would have that honor.

“Interesting you mention the Aetherian Gate,” I said, wanting Issa to give her attention to me.

I’m sorry.

I should have told her that night. After she slapped me, which I deserved, I should have followed her from the tavern and said those words. To this day, I couldn’t explain why they’d stuck in my mouth. Why I remained silent.

“That’s the reason we’re here. What we are about to tell you cannot leave this chamber.”

Issa’s brows raised. “My integrity is not in question, Marek.”

Hearing my name from her, even in that tone, was something I didn’t realize, until now, I craved.

“No,” I agreed. “It is not. I want you to know,” I said, “the woman you saw me with is my friend Nerys.”

Issa’s hazel eyes flashed. “Nerys, the woman who just challenged Queen Lirael? The new queen of Thalassaria?”

“News travels fast, even among humans.”

Issa’s chin tilted upwards. “We have our ways,” she said. I’d not meant it as a slight but should have realized Issa would take it that way. She truly did hate me.

“Yes, that Nerys. As you may have also heard, she partnered with a human by the name of Rowan of Estmere. My shared mission with him and Nerys, along with Mev and Kael, is the reason we’re here. We need your help.”

Issa’s laugh wasn’t at all like her. It was harsh, and bitter.

“You are the very last person in Elydor I care to help, Marek.”

“Then do it for us,” Kael said, leaning forward, elbows on his knees as if prepared to pitch our plea. “Though we still don’t know how Mev was able to pass through the Gate, she’s been unable to return.”

Issa’s eyes widened.

“You tried?” she asked Mev, who nodded.

“Kael and I were… not in a good place. I did try, and I am still desperate to get back to assure my mom and my friends that I’m okay. But as long as the portal… the Gate… stays closed, I can’t do that. How much do you know about how my father opened the Gate? Or how Kael’s father closed it?”

Issa looked back and forth between them.

“As much as most others, which is not a lot. They say both men relied on the elders and their deep knowledge of Elydor’s magic.

I know your father had attempted to create a pathway to the human realm for hundreds of years before he was successful.

And that it took King Balthor nearly thirty years to close it.

I assume the fact that the two of them are the most powerful in their respective clans isn’t a coincidence? ”

No one who knew me would believe it, but that was what most attracted me to Isolde. I heard her voice, appreciated her intellect, before I even saw her face. A brilliant strategist, Issa was as smart as she was beautiful.

“It is not,” Mev verified. “But neither of them, as strong as they are, could have done it without their clan’s most powerful artifact. And not just their own but all three.”

I watched as Issa took in that bit of information. Her eyes narrowed.

“I suppose… that makes sense. To open such a gateway… having the artifacts from all clans would symbolize an acceptance of Elydor for such a thing to come into existence.”

I never thought of it precisely that way myself, but it did make sense.

I could tell Mev and Kael were equally as impressed.

Also, if Issa was going to look so extraordinarily beautiful when deep in thought, it was probably a better idea that I perish in the Maelstrom Depths than have her accompany me on this voyage.

“There is more to it, of course,” Mev continued. “But essentially, to reopen the Gate and reunite my parents, along with all other humans who were separated when…” She cleared her throat. “Someone’s father closed it…”

Kael’s expression nearly made me laugh, but I didn’t dare. Issa was fully invested in Mev’s story and would not appreciate my levity.

“All three artifacts are needed. My father believes my ability to come through, even though the portal is closed, means it is entirely possible to reopen.”

Issa looked at me.

It was as if I’d just successfully smuggled enchanted crystals past a contingency of Gyorians. At least, until her neutral expression turned into a frown.

“That’s why you are involved. Your friend, the queen, has offered use of the Tidal Pearl. And now you seek the Stone of Mor’Vallis?”

Impressive. “Close. Nerys has indeed pledged use of the Tidal Pearl when the time comes. And getting the Stone of Mor’Vallis from King Balthor will become necessary as well.

But that’s his job.” I nodded to Kael and reached for my wine.

Taking a sip, I relished Issa’s attention on me.

“In the meantime, we need to find the Wind Crystal. Apparently, when King Balthor stole it to close the Gate, he returned a fake to Galfrid and still has the original.”

Her eyes darted to Kael. His grimace confirmed my words. “I returned it to King Galfrid myself,” he said. “After a long, drawn-out negotiation, having no knowledge that it was not the real Crystal. Mev’s father knew immediately but never acknowledged it.”

“King Galfrid has been without the real Wind Crystal since…” Issa’s eyes widened.

“Yep,” Mev said. “Apparently, he’s performed enough extraordinary feats since, on his own accord, that no Aetherians suspected it was missing.

He’s been unable to locate it, until now.

It’s another long story, how the Wind Crystal was discovered, but it has been. And Marek volunteered to go get it.”

“Where is it?”

“Deep within the Maelstrom Depths.”

Issa’s jaw dropped as she turned her attention back to me.

“And you’re planning to… go get it?”

“I am.”

“Marek. You will be killed.”

I couldn’t resist asking, “Would that displease you, Issa?”

She opened her mouth, but closed it. And glared at me.

Clearly wanting to say, “Nay ,” something held her back. She hated me. Despised what I had done to her. Obviously wished I was anywhere but in this solar chamber with me. But she didn’t want me dead.

That was at least something.

The thought of not surviving this mission wasn’t one I relished, but it was one of those things that just had to be done. Dying with Issa still angry at me? Not the way I wanted to go. And it seemed like I might just have an opportunity to turn those tides before our mission.