Page 123 of To Scale the Emerald Mountain

I immediately recognized Rahleigh, even through the lengths she took to hide her identity.

“Ceivise? Really? I wouldn’t expect it from her. But Rahleigh was scary. How long has it been since you’ve seen Ceivise?”

Muttering the incantations required to open a hidden safe in a bookshelf, I spin the knob when the mechanism clicks. “I have not seen Ceivise since poker night in Bokhaii.”

Kraeston laughs. “Good times.”

A smile breaks across my face as I recall the memory myself. The Emperor of Bokhaii hosted a multi-day celebration honoring the birthday of a favored concubine. Prominent names from around the world were invited to the celebration. Even Mhaylene was able to pull herself away from Crane Hills to attend. It was there that she mentioned to me that her granddaughter had just turned five in the early hours of Samhain.

Rahleigh spent an evening of the celebrations draped over Ceivise while they gambled and drank the night away. She made no effort to hide her glances in my direction to see if I was watching.

“Anything from Rahleigh since she tried to win you back after that night?” Kraeston asks.

“No. I have heard nothing of her.”

Rahleigh returned to The Capital about a month after the party in Bokhaii, practically begging me to reconsider our relationship. It was as catastrophic as the night I ended our engagement.

She had made her desire for me known from the time we met when we were young, first meeting when she accompanied her father to The Capital to secure trading deals. The same trip that her father bought the house Ellya just destroyed. Although beautiful and charming, I never developed the same deep affections she held for me throughout our time knowing each other.

After I became king, and duty required marriage and producing heirs, I succumbed and asked for her hand. Rahleigh had never inspired passion in me; but neither had anyone else.

I procrastinated committing to a wedding day for a year before I could no longer ignore it. The wedding was to finally take place in a few weeks time when Ellya was born. I was endlessly relieved that night. Not only because my heart found the vibrancy that life had been missing, but I had a legitimate reason to break off a wedding I did not want. Running through the streets of the Vahnsing District—barefoot and shirtless—in my excitement to set myself free from the chains of an undesirable future, I thought I would be setting Rahleigh free as well, free from a marriage I could never truly fulfill her in. She did not see it that way and I had to compel her to stop her screaming that would have bled the brains of everyone on the street.

A Syren’s Scream can be a catastrophic gift in a temperamental person, and that often proved to be true in the case of Rahleigh.

“I will have my way, Alec,” she told me with vehemence both that night and the last time I saw her.

“Speaking of poker,” Kraeston begins, breaking me from my memories. “Are you aware of where Elly is right now?”

My teeth grind as the possibilities race through my mind. “I would imagine it is nowhere good.” I place the two bags on the desk, leaning forward against it with both hands, staring down at a map unfurled on the surface.

Kraeston drums his fingers on the side of his chair, watching me curiously. “I was informed on my way in here that she was seen at a gambling house, drinking heavily and getting plenty friendly with several men.”

Making a large circle on the map, I dig my pen in deeper than is necessary. My head lifts to find Kraeston watching me with amusement. “That sounds about right.”

His raised brows nearly touch his hairline. “And you’re just okay with that?”

I scowl at him. “Of course, I am not okay with it. My skin is on fucking fire wanting to go to her, to rectify whatever situation she has put herself in.” I clench my teeth again, my nerves becoming more stretched and tangled with each passing moment.

“I wish I had been there to see her throw a brick at you,” Kraeston laughs.

“If you see Cescily on the way out, ask her to show you. I am sure it is much more entertaining from her view.”

“Shall I go find Elly?” Kraeston asks.

“No. I will go retrieve her myself after I have given her the opportunity to taste her own lies.”

He takes stock of my weapons, eyes shining with glee. “I see that you’re prepared.” He chuckles at my overzealous arming of myself before his tone turns serious. “What do you need from me?”

“I need you to track down theHannya.”

“Was there any indication when this meeting may have taken place? Do we know where Ceivise and the ship were last seen?” Kraeston asks, grabbing the two bags off my desk as he stands.

“No,” I answer, tracing a finger over a possible route from the point of Ceivise’s meeting with Rahleigh, a poor coastal town on the southeastern corner of the Langshore Territory.

Legal trading between the two continents only takes the route through the Great Trench, connecting the Bay of Quinndohs and the Ruby Shore peninsula. But illegal traders and pirates—such as Ceivise—brave the creatures and unpredictable weather patternsof the more treacherous open sea. I mark the map with a pen in several spots before rolling it up and handing it to Kraeston.

“Would you like me to see to this personally?”