Page 42 of Fate of Echoes and Embers (Heirs of Elydor #3)

MAREK

“He’s alone,” the commander said as we walked through camp. Adren and I followed as the others remained with Kieran to continue formulating the plan of attack. One I disliked heartily. “He refused to come any further, insisting we meet him here.”

“Could it be a trap?” I asked.

“No,” Adren said. “Terran is many things, but he is not dishonorable. When he fights, he will do it with fair warning.”

Very little comfort since, according to Kael, his brother was the “only one, besides my father, who could best me, on a good day.”

I saw him clearly, lights from the Aetherian tents behind us offering enough illumination to make the night appear almost day. They didn’t know the meaning of subtlety, I would give them that, at least.

“So it’s true,” Terran said, his voice similar to Kael’s in inflection. Though they were twins, Terran was slightly larger, his hair, shorter. Other than that, it was like looking into the face of my friend. Except, Terran was not a friend. Not to me, and not to our cause. “Defected, again.”

He spoke to Adren.

“Never,” he responded to his prince. “My loyalty has always been to Kael.”

Terran’s harsh laugh sent chills through me. “Loyalty to one who doesn’t know the meaning of the word. Kael is a traitor to our clan.” He shot me a look. “Who are you?”

Disliking his tone, I considered not responding. Better to defuse than instigate. So instead, I smiled.

“Marek of Thalassaria.” I bowed with a flourish. “At your service.”

“I’ve no need of a water-wielder in my service.”

Prince Terran’s demeanor tracked with his reputation. I shrugged off the insult, waiting instead to hear his purpose for being here.

“My grandmother was a Hawthorne.” Adren’s bark matched Terran’s, reminding me why I spent so little time in Gyoria. “I will not see its lady’s inheritance stolen from her. I mean to help her defend it.”

Terran clearly wasn’t prepared for that explanation. His dark eyes narrowed.

“You are?—”

“Half-human.”

Awareness dawned, Adren’s ever so slight aging, an anomaly among full-bred immortals, likely now clear to the prince. His jaw flexed as Terran ground his teeth together.

To his credit, he remained silent, taking in the new information before speaking.

“I would ask why you are here,” he said finally to Eirion. “But Aetheria has always been the bitch to humans.”

Eirion stepped forward.

Adren stopped him. “Do not let Prince Terran’s hate affect the outcome here. He merely does the bidding of his father.”

That didn’t please Terran, though I supposed it wasn’t meant to. If anyone was the bitch here, it was the prince to his king.

“But you?” He turned his attention to me. “What business does Thalassaria have in human affairs?”

The truth would not do. In fact, no answer would be acceptable to one with such hatred in his heart, so I appealed to the one thing Terran apparently loved.

“As a favor to your brother.”

It was well-known Kael and Issa were friends and that was a partial truth. Terran didn’t question my explanation, but his nose flared in anger at the mention of Kael.

“Lord Draven executed Lady Isolde’s commander and several of her men,” Adren said, “with the aid of Gyorian mercenaries. We are not butchers, Terran.”

If my words angered the prince, Adren’s incensed him.

“Who?” he demanded.

Adren offered names, not improving Terran’s demeanor. I watched as the two spoke, wondering how Mev was able to turn Kael so firmly to the side of justice if he was even half as brainwashed by King Balthor as his brother.

“Help us,” Adren finished. “How many do you have with you?”

“We do not… aid humans.”

“You would allow them to be butchered? Hawthorne decimated? For no cause but one man’s ambition?”

Eirion and I watched the exchange, silent. I knew what the King of Gyoria’s response would be. He had made his stance clear by cutting off humans from their loved ones without remorse. But his son? Was Terran redeemable?

“They will be dead soon with or without our aid. And you would all do well to remember it. You are no longer welcome in Gyoria, Adren. Tell my brother the next spy he sends will not be met with mercy.”

With that, he turned and walked away.

We watched him leave. I, for one, considered it a victory.

If Terran wished to interfere, he could have easily sparked a war here.

One that would likely occur eventually. If not today, then the day King Balthor realized his stolen Crystal had been taken.

Or when Kael attempted to retrieve the Stone of Mor’Vallis. A reckoning was coming, either way.

Adren sighed. “That was his father speaking through him.”

Eirion snorted, a very un-Aetherian sound, to be sure. “Maybe it was once, but those words came from Prince Terran. He is not who Kael believes his brother to be. Not any longer.”

“Perhaps.” Adren sighed. “He will not interfere, either way. Terran is a man of his word.”

You are no longer welcome in Gyoria. That’s what he had said. If Terran was a man of his word, Adren was as without a home as Kael.

And that’s when it hit me…