Page 34

Evelina

Daimon took off with Zephyr just as Evelina walked out of her cabin. She only caught sight of Zephyr’s tail as they disappeared on the horizon. Evelina walked over to where Brielle was sitting, lacing her boots.

“I’m not riding with Daimon back?”

Brielle looked up at Evelina and then at the sky. “Daimon, Ranick, and Elias are taking point in case we encounter any danger.” She finished her laces and stood. “You can ride with me. Keir, Willow, and Aster will fly with us. Besides, I think Vero likes you.”

Evelina could hear wings flapping behind the cabin and the small chatter of the wyverns preparing for a flight. “The entire fleet is going?”

Brielle nodded and led Evelina to the back of the cabin. “We shouldn’t be away for long. They want us to patrol villages near the palace while we’re there.”

Evelina nodded vaguely, a sense of unease in her stomach.

The ride back to the palace was quiet. Even with the sky clear and open, Daimon, Ranick, and Elias were far enough ahead that she couldn’t catch a single glimpse of them. They landed near the palace after the sun had set, leaving the wyverns next to an open cavern and making the short trip on foot.

After the few weeks she’d been gone, the forest felt…different. The trees that normally stood tall were drooping slightly, their leaves browning on the edges when they should’ve been a vibrant green. She studied them as they neared the palace, her mind distracted up until the doors closed behind her.

All her siblings were waiting just inside the entrance. Ren looked as if he had just arrived from the coast, still in dirty navy leathers. His usually bright smile wasn’t on his face. Lyria ran to Evelina, pulling her into a tight hug. Carwyn stood behind Lyria with her hands folded behind her back, her face blank.

“What’s going on?” Evelina asked.

Ren and Lyria looked on the verge of breaking down into tears—Lyria had just started to cry—but Carwyn was calm.

“Daimon and Keir have begun briefing the council on your latest fights,” she said evenly. “I wanted to see you before joining them.”

Something bad was coming, Evelina could feel it. The air was too tense. She braced herself.

“Mother has taken ill.”

Lyria’s cries fully let loose, and Ren pulled her into a hug.

Everything clicked into place for Evelina—the odd summoning back to the palace with no real explanation, the uneasy feeling in her chest, and the usually green and lively trees looking as if they were dying.

Her vision blurred as the words sunk in.

“When?” she squeaked out.

“Just two nights ago,” Carwyn said with a frown. “It happened so quickly, like her body couldn’t withstand the strain of darkness bearing down on the land. It started as a cough shortly after you left. She was better yesterday for a time… But then she started sleeping more and more, and now she’s unable to leave the bed.”

Her words felt clinical—cold. Evelina supposed she wanted to keep it together as the next in line for the throne. Even now, in their mother’s absence, it would be left to Carwyn to pick up the torch in her stead.

Carwyn turned to Lyria. “Why don’t you take her to see Mother?”

Lyria nodded, her tears slowing, and reached out to grab Evelina’s hand. They left their siblings at the entrance, a quiet tension in their wake as Lyria guided them through the corridor. She was squeezing Evelina’s hand so hard she had lost feeling in it. But it was also the only thing holding her together.

Everything was too bright—too much of the same. Nothing had changed in the weeks she was gone, down to the paintings on the walls and the warmth that enveloped the halls. But somehow, it felt different, more empty and too shiny.

Lyria gave her hand a squeeze. “I’ll wait outside while you visit,” she whispered.

Even with Evelina’s emotions threatening to bring her to her knees, she didn’t miss the way Lyria spoke. There was something broken and hollow in the way she said it, so much so that Evelina quickened her step, eager to prove that her mother was just as she’d left her. That everyone was wrong, and when she opened the bedroom door, her mother would be fine.

They stopped in front of her door and Lyria hesitated. She hugged Evelina swiftly. “Evie, you should prepare yourself.”

Evelina’s focus blurred, her mind turning fuzzy. She didn’t know what to do. She reached for the handle, her hand frozen and unable to move once she touched it. Lyria placed her hand over Evelina’s and pushed the door open with her, bringing her face-to-face with a pain she wasn’t certain she could deal with right now.

“I’ll be here if you need me.” Lyria’s voice wobbled. She left Evelina in the doorway, holding herself together much better than Evelina would have guessed. Evelina had always felt like she was an older sister to Lyria, but in this moment, Lyria was being strong for her in a way only older sisters could .

She took a deep breath and tentatively stepped into the dimly lit room. A few candles flickered on the walls, but the shades were drawn and Evelina could hardly see her mother in the bed. She crossed the room, passing the chair she used to sprawl out on and complain to her mother about Carwyn getting on her nerves. On her left, she passed the small wooden vanity with an intricately carved frame that she would sit at while her mother brushed her hair.

It wasn’t until she got to the foot of the bed that her resolve began to falter once more. The blankets were perfectly fluffed, not a wrinkle in sight. Her mother’s eyes were closed, her mouth relaxed as she slept. She looked peaceful—not exactly the image Evelina had in her mind when Lyria told her to prepare herself.

Evelina turned, not wanting to wake her.

“Evelina, darling, is that you?” Her mother’s voice was hoarse, crackling and ending on a cough.

Evelina slowly rotated to face her mother, too scared to move any closer than where she still stood at the foot of the bed. “Mother,” she said softly.

Her mother’s eyes were hardly open. The queen lifted her head off the pillow, only to let it fall back as if she didn’t have the strength to hold it up. “Come closer,” she rasped. “I need to know it’s really you.”

Evelina started to shake, willing her feet to move but unable to make them comply. “It’s me, Mother.”

Queen Embry held out a hand to Evelina, her fingers shaking as she reached for her. Finally, Evelina forced herself forward. She sat at her mother’s side on the edge of the bed. Her mother lifted both of her hands, cupping her cheeks.

Evelina leaned forward so her mother didn’t have to reach as far. She felt her face, tracing her nose and her ears. Her eyes were fixed slightly left of Evelina, over her shoulder.

“Ah,” she whispered with a smile. “There’s my girl.”

Her arms dropped back by her side and Evelina immediately grabbed one of them. She studied her mother’s face, still noting the way her gaze didn’t focus directly on her. Dread slithered into her stomach as she realized what was happening.

“You can’t see me?” Evelina breathed.

Her mother’s smile faded. “One does not always see with their eyes.”

Evelina shook her head, the frustration and anger of the past few days starting to claw at her chest. She’d felt hollow since the cavern, like a piece of her died there. But it was hitting her now—the unfairness of it all. Of seeing the strongest woman she had ever known fading before her eyes.

“Carwyn said you were sick.” Anger stirred in her chest, an accusation sprouting from misdirected anger. “You’re the queen. You can’t be sick. ”

Queen Embry let out a long sigh, the sound crackling like she had water in her lungs. “The land is weak, Evelina.”

The image of the browning leaves and drooping trees flashed into her mind. She didn’t want to believe— couldn’t believe it.

“It can’t be,” she gasped. “There has to be a way to heal you before it’s too late.”

She jumped up, prepared to run to the infirmary and bury herself in mixing as many tonics as she could think of. But her mother squeezed her hand—a small twitch of her fingers.

“The crown I wear is heavy. My body will not weather it for much longer.” Acceptance filled her voice. “Darkness has invaded too much of our world. The land needs a stronger ruler to bear the weight of this crown.”

“Then abdicate,” Evelina demanded. “Before it kills you.”

Her mother coughed, the sound wet and raspy. “It’s too late for that. If I abdicated now, I wouldn’t survive it anyway. This way I can hold the darkness off a little longer…and sort my affairs.”

Evelina stared at her mother in horror, the reality that there was nothing to be done sinking in. Her mother was preparing for her death, not for a solution—not for salvation.

“Immortality is not all it’s made out to be, my dear,” she whispered. “I will not grieve an early return to my true home in Caelum.”

Just when Evelina thought her heart couldn’t break any further, an irreparable crack splintered down the middle of it. Tears slid down her face as she looked at her mother, the brave queen who had always been the picture of strength.

Her own land, which she loved so dearly, was slowly draining the life out of her.

“What can I do?” Evelina asked, though she knew it was a futile question.

Her mother patted her hand. “You can sit with me awhile.”

But something had to be done. There had to be a way to fix this.

“I can’t let you die,” Evelina whispered. “Perhaps the Keeper knows, or we could go to the temple and pray for a council with Eurydice.”

Her mother shook her head. “There is only one possible answer now.”

Evelina sat up straight, her heart quickening. “What is it?”

She would do anything for her mother, weather any storm or fight any opponent to get her what she needed. She was a healer , for goddesses’ sake. If anyone could find a remedy to prolong her life long enough for them to find a real solution, it would be Evelina.

“Carwyn is already ruling in my stead, preparing herself to take the crown.”

“That doesn’t help you,” Evelina snapped. She took a deep breath, forcing herself to stay calm. “That doesn’t save you,” she tried again, softer this time.

Queen Embry frowned. “There is no saving me. Even if the land was saved, it has already taken too much of a toll on my body. My Essence is close to being entirely drained, feeding into the land to keep it alive.”

Another bone-rattling cough abruptly shuddered through her chest, cutting her words off. She pointed to the small bedside table with a shaky finger. Evelina fumbled for the glass sitting there, bringing it to her mother’s mouth and holding her head up so she could drink. As her mother caught her breath, Evelina glanced out the window, noting the way dark clouds had gathered in the once-clear sky.

“This is Moros’s doing,” Evelina hissed.

He was leading the rebellion, raising an army that had invited the darkness into their land. She had lost so much in the past twenty years. Her father, her best friend, a countless number of her people. And now she was supposed to sit by and watch him take the one person who was supposed to lead them through it all.

It was all his fault. And yet she’d always felt entirely hopeless to stop him.

Queen Embry drifted to sleep, no longer able to stay awake. Evelina held her mother’s hand, her grief turning quickly to a silent rage.

When she left this room, there would be only one thing on her mind.

Vengeance.