Page 21

21

ROWAN

For fear she may somehow be listening, an increasing inevitability given what I’d learned about Queen Lirael thus far, Caelum and I discussed everything except Nerys. As we waited for her to emerge from the queen’s chambers, he asked questions about Estmere. About the lost princess and my mission. I told him what was public knowledge, but made no mention of the Tidal Pearl or the exact nature of my mission.

“And what of you?” I asked. “How does one become an Aegis Commander to the palace?”

“Do you know of King Tyreos?”

I knew of all the clans’ histories. It was required of me as a Keeper.

“I do. His murder is the reason I am escorted at all times here.” I patted my waist. “And why I’ve been mostly without my sword since arriving.”

Caelum made no comment, but he had the decency to wince.

“After his death, swordsmanship was taught to all palace commanders. In time, however, the skill was once again lost, in favor of water-wielding magic. The queen, knowing her history well, sought me for the appointment.”

“Because you are an expert swordsman,” I finished, remembering our introduction.

“It was an appointment I…” Caelum stopped, his expression laced with loathing, telling me how he felt about it. He’d not been a willing recruit, and I began to suspect the reason.

Think on it. I am certain you know the answer already.

“You were the young one that Nerys told me about.” And the reason Caelum had taken to me so easily. “You are half-human.”

“Correct, on both accounts. Which is why I know well the dangers of immortal and human partnering.”

I ignored that second part. “And you knew Nerys’s parents well? Were a friend of her father’s?”

“We performed the Stormcaller’s Rite together. He was the most powerful water-wielder I knew until…”

Until Nerys.

The rest, I had to infer and did so quickly. “This,” I said of Nerys, “has been a long time coming.”

Caelum’s slow smile was my answer. “She had to decide for herself. Pushing someone toward their fate, however inevitable it might seem to others, is not the way.”

No, it was not.

“He must have been an extraordinary man, her father. As yours must have been too.”

“He, and her mother, were exactly as you would expect.”

If I was not mistaken, the hardened warrior’s eyes softened as he said it. Whether for their memory, or pride in Nerys, or both.

“My own?” His grin, so uncharacteristic of Caelum, told me all I needed to know. “He was the bravest, most loyal man to have ever walked Elydor.”

“And you? Have you partnered with a woman?”

It was a personal question, but Nerys made no mention of it and Caelum did not seem to take offense. “Once. Many decades ago.”

He said no more, and I did not press him.

When the door opened beside us, all thoughts of Caelum’s family history were momentarily forgotten.

Nerys glanced briefly at us both, and then to the guards who had been inside the chamber with her. As they closed the doors, one looked pointedly at me. When we’d first arrived, he’d initially forbade my presence until Caelum had claimed personal responsibility for me.

Both Caelum and I followed Nerys through the corridor, and when a vision suddenly appeared, I was not only able to process and understand it; I could also make it fade. It was, as my grandfather would say, “A vision of naught and of everything all at once.” Some visions had implications for our entire kingdom. Others, like this one, were seemingly innocuous. It was of Nerys leading Caelum and I through the palace, though we wore different clothing than we did at this moment.

“We leave you here,” she said, turning to Caelum. “Tomorrow at midday?”

Which meant she did not wish to share what the queen had said until then.

Caelum nodded, but it was not the kind of nod that said, “ Very well .” It was deeper, and more reverent. The kind one might give… a queen.

My vision. It was of a future time when Nerys, Queen of Thalassaria, led us through the palace corridors. Except, that was impossible. I would be gone when she became queen.

There were few roaming the corridors at this time, but those we passed always had a smile for Nerys… and a wary glance toward me.

When we arrived at my chamber door, Nerys remained with me on its threshold.

“How did you know Caelum was looking for me?”

“I would break a sacred vow, to my family and my people in telling you.”

I’d disappointed her. It was the first time in my life I wished to be a regular human, a blacksmith’s son. Someone, anyone, other than a Harrow.

“I would not ask for you to break a vow,” she said, surprising me. “But will admit I am very curious.”

“There is a way that I can tell you,” I blurted, and then immediately stopped talking. Had I gone mad? The only way to tell her was to make Nerys a Harrow by marriage. And that would never be. The Keeper could not live in Thalassaria, and the queen of Thalassaria certainly could not reside in Estmere. Even if the problem of my mortality did not bother her, which it did.

I said no more, and thankfully, Nerys did not press the matter.

“What did you feel from me?” she asked. “Back in the garden?”

“A much easier question to answer.” I glanced at my bedchamber door. “And even easier to show you.”

Our eyes met, and held.

You could never dishonor me, Rowan.

Her meaning, and emotions had been clear. We would be temporary. A fleeting affair. And as much as the heaviness in my chest told me that wouldn’t be enough, my mind argued the point. It was that, or nothing. Given those choices, and what Nerys offered, I would take it.

Nerys’s delicate fingers swirled, and with the movement, my chamber door opened. Before I could move toward it, she stepped inside.

I followed.