Page 81 of Valor’s Flight (The New Protectorate #5)

Chapter Fifty-Four

Construction began on the atrium the same day nymphs began to show up at the gates of Drummond Island.

At first, no one quite knew what to do with them.

A single envoy was one thing, but as the weeks since their return to the Draakonriik passed, word had spread through the fine, distant networks of groves that existed in the UTA.

It wasn’t just the nymph congressional representative who showed up looking for an audience with the new Emand.

It was the queens of groves great and small, sprawling and singular.

They traveled at great effort and expense, sometimes on foot and sometimes in vans, luxury vehicles, or even on bicycles.

Nymphs from all walks of life showed up.

The dragons greeted them warmly but with bewilderment, unsure about what would draw so many of the historically shy people to the heart of their territory.

Alashiya herself didn’t quite know what to make of it.

She’d barely begun to settle into the ’Riik, which was so foreign to her it might as well have been another planet.

To suddenly have an influx of nymphs at her proverbial door, looking to her for favors, guidance, or just out of pure curiosity made her vaguely nauseous.

But they were there, and she couldn’t send them away.

A temporary hub was set up on the mainland to house and meet with the visitors.

Alex, who’d recently gotten a promotion in the government’s PR office, was assigned to take over the project.

Alashiya had no idea what she’d do without her.

While she took meeting after meeting, hearing from nymphs of all walks of life and parts of the continent, Alex managed their lodgings, complaints, and other needs.

She also put out memos and ran interference when it just became too much for Alashiya.

It often did.

She had no idea how much power being the Emand gave her until the nymphs came, each one of them expecting her to fix their problems. It wasn’t all land disputes and complaints about taxes.

It was pleas for help finding lost grove members, requests to join hers, and the worn-in sort of desperation that cloaked the lost. Sometimes she felt like they came to her more for a listening ear than for a solution.

It quickly became apparent to her why Taevas wanted to ease her into life as the Emand.

Alashiya could draw on the hyphae for lessons on how to be a leader, how to be a good queen, but managing a modern territory was a different beast entirely.

It took fleets of skilled people to get anything done, and even then, she was amazed at what they were capable of doing.

When she jokingly pitched her idea for what to do with that empty atrium, she didn’t think it would actually be possible. Perhaps, after everything, she should’ve known better.

Within a week, Taevas found contractors, engineers, and specialist gardeners to help achieve her dream.

The floor was torn out, an extensive irrigation system that mimicked natural conditions installed, and several tons of soil, rock, and plantlife moved in.

An artificial creek carved a winding path through the thicket of undergrowth, subtly following the main branch of the paths to the various doors that ringed the room.

Over the months that followed, Alashiya took her meetings with the queens there, tucked beneath the boughs of young birch trees carefully transplanted from her land. It didn’t feel like home right away. Nothing could. Not when her constant companion had been the forest and its ancient heartbeat.

But roots grow in healthy soil, and so did her connection with the ’Riik.

As her own little forest began to flourish, she did, too.

The atrium filled out with verdant ferns, prickly berry bushes, and wildflowers.

A beehive was brought in, and so were rescued birds who couldn’t be rereleased into the wild.

Whenever life in the ’Riik became too strange and overwhelming, Alashiya followed the burbling creek, her bare feet cushioned by the forest floor, and came home again.

Taevas called the atrium her sanctuary, but it was one she was happy to share with everyone.

While Hele and Alex were frequent and beloved visitors who brought joy, laughter, and often something new for her to experience, it was Radek who joined her most often.

She’d heard whispers and less-than-kind jokes about him in passing, but to her he was a kindred spirit.

They both found peace in the little forest, and although they didn’t talk much, they shared what was important: the understanding of impossible loss.

After a lifetime of loneliness, she didn’t take any bit of companionship for granted — even if she still enjoyed her alone time.

When she really needed that, she retreated to her sewing room, which connected to Taevas’s woodworking shop.

Everyone knew to leave her alone when she had her needle in hand.

She spoke to her ghosts while she worked, just as she always had, but now she pulled silken thread wound with gold through fine fabrics for the pure joy of it rather than the grinding need to survive.

Sometimes Taevas joined her after a long day of meetings, but he knew her well enough to sit in companionable silence until she set her needle aside.

Then they’d retire to their suite for the evening, where they’d cook dinner together — something she insisted on when he had the audacity to suggest they continue to use his chef — and discuss the events of the day.

In the most important ways, nothing had changed from how they spent their time in Birchdale.

Her fears that she wouldn’t fit in his life were unfounded when the only thing that mattered was how well they fit together.

It was while they sat at their kitchen island, sharing a meal and a glass of wine, that she brought up the idea of the Nymph Network.

“I don’t want to rule anyone. Or more people than the ’Riik, I guess,” she explained, sharing a worry she’d been mulling over for weeks. “Not in the way my ancestors used to, anyway. I want to be the… the connection between my people.”

Taevas nodded and took a sip of his wine. He’d always been in favor of her reviving the defunct title of her line, but they’d debated it enough that he didn’t appear surprised by her decision. “What’s the best way to do that, d’you think?”

“I… think I’m going to take their oaths,” she answered, “but not as their queen. I want to take it as their equal.”

Setting down his glass, he asked, “What does that entail?”

“It’s a bit like a marriage ceremony. If the queens of other branches of the hyphae make a blood oath to me, it will reestablish the link between us, with our grove at the center. That’s how Vasileia explained it to me, at any rate.”

Alashiya shrugged. She pushed a spoonful of golden rice and steaming, sauteed vegetables around her plate. “She knows the old stories in a way I don’t. Some things get lost even in the hyphae, and my grandma passed away when I was so young… If she knew it, she never got the chance to tell me.”

Vasileia, the ancient nymph who represented their people in the UTA congress, was full of stories even the hyphae couldn’t tell Alashiya.

She had vague details of a ceremony and ancient gifts given, but it had been at least two thousand years since the last oath had been taken.

Time could bury even the most important memories, it seemed.

But elders often carried knowledge that would otherwise be lost, and Vasileia had given hers as a gift. It was another form of tēq. Another essential form of love.

If the old woman wasn’t constantly complaining about the fact that Alashiya should’ve taken her grandson as her husband instead of “that swaggering dragon” she would’ve said it was a bit like having her beloved grandmother back.

Seeing as Vasileia did complain at every available opportunity, Alashiya viewed her as something like a cross between a meddling aunt and a shrewd mentor.

“It won’t fix everything, but it will help bring us together again.

Make us feel like we aren’t all just floating islands being slowly swallowed by the sea.

” Alashiya set her spoon down and took a deep breath.

Reaching for her mate’s night-darkened hand, she traced the silver scar bisecting his palm with the reverence it deserved. “I’d like to do it at our wedding.”

Taevas’s grin stretched from ear to ear. “You want all the nymphs at our wedding?”

“I do,” she answered, bringing his knuckles to her lips for a kiss. “But only if that’s okay with you.”

A rumble of pure delight emanated from deep within his chest. Tail coiling around her bare ankle, he said, “As far as I’m concerned, the more people there to witness you claiming me, the better.”

Alashiya still felt queasy at the thought of standing up in front of so many people, but she knew how important it was to Taevas.

So when the entire A?daja clan showed up in Birchdale alongside the nymph queens, several alphas from the Shifter Alliance, and the sovereigns of the EVP, she couldn’t exactly say she was surprised.

Despite all the preparation that had gone into the affair — as well as the renovations that had been done to the house and barn — Birchdale wasn’t prepared for the onslaught.

Their wedding took over the tiny town. Every rental property was booked, a fleet of caterers had been assembled, and the wards around her land had been heavily modified to make it easier to find.

The hardest part of the entire process had been convincing the forest to allow so many strange visitors through. In the end, there was nothing to be done for it other than to coax, cajole, and lay out clear signage for all visitors to stay on the designated path.