Page 123 of The Iron Flower

Sage is trying to be strong—I can see it in her stubbornly straight posture. But after hearing this, the side of her mouth quivers, and her arms tighten around Fyn’ir.

Ancient One, what a horrible state of things.

“He’s a beautiful baby,” I tell her softly. “Completely adorable. He looks like he’s covered in gems.”

Her face softens. “Would you like to hold him?”

I nod with a smile and extend my arms out for Fyn’ir. He’s heavy with sleepiness, and his wings flutter nervously as I gently take him from his mother. He glances back at Sage for reassurance, and I can feel his pull toward her, like a little moon wanting to orbit his Erthia. But Sage smiles at him and coos, and he relaxes into my arms, looking up at me with drowsy curiosity.

“Fyn’ir’s a lovely name,” I tell her.

“It means ‘freedom’ in Smaragdalfar.” Her smile dissipates, her eyes suddenly pained.

I cuddle little Fyn’ir close and give Sage an encouraging smile as one of his tiny hands wraps around my finger. “I’m amazed the Amaz let him in here. Since he’s male.”

“Some of the Amaz ways are incomprehensible to me,” she says. Fyn’ir begins to fuss, reaching for Sage, so I hand him back to her. “The Amaz have been good to me, Elloren, but I just can’t understand them. How can they abandon their sons in the woods?”

I shrug, finding it difficult to comprehend, as well. “Religion and culture are powerful things.”

“More powerful than love?”

“If you let them be, I think so.”

Fyn’ir starts to cry, and Sage pulls him back under her tunic. He gurgles happily and makes a cooing sound.

“They let him in to repay a wartime debt,” Sage tells me. “The Vu Trin fought alongside the Amaz during the Realm War and endured heavy losses because of it. So now the Vu Trin are calling in the debt by having the Amaz temporarily hide us here. It’s...unprecedented.”

“How long will you stay?” I ask.

She shakes her head. “Not long. After we leave here, we might be spending some time with the Lupines, though that’s still being negotiated. The Vu Trin are constructing a rune-portal to get us to Noi lands, bypassing the desert, but it takes time to create a portal that crosses such a vast distance. When they finish, we’ll travel east through it.”

And just like that, she’ll be gone.

A pang of loss cuts through me. It seems like practically everyone I care about is getting ready to converge on the Eastern Realm.

“Trystan wants to join the Wyvernguard, too,” I tell her. “But I don’t think they’ll ever accept him, with our grandmother being who she was.”

“Tell him to find Ra’Ven when he goes east,” she says decidedly. “He’s planning to carve out a subland in the Eastern Realm for his people. We’d accept him there.”

To live under the earth? With the subland Elves?

It seems like wishful thinking on her part.

“Will the Smaragdalfar truly accept a Gardnerian from the Black Witch’s line?” I ask her doubtfully.Or any Gardnerian?

Sage stiffens. “Yes. They will.”

I can sense apprehension in her about this, so I don’t press the issue. “What’s Ra’Ven like?” I ask instead.

A ghost of a smile plays on her lips, a sudden shyness coming over her. “He’s wonderful.” She infuses such passion in the words, warmth prickles along my neck. “He’s kind and caring and intelligent. And powerful.” She pauses, as if overcome by too many strong feelings to rein them all in. “Ra’Ven’s everything I’ve ever wanted.”

There’s an ardent spark in her eyes when she says his name, and it provokes an edge of melancholy envy deep inside me. My friend’s life is fraught with troubles and danger, but at least she and Ra’Ven have claimed each other as their own, despite the odds.

“Remember when we were young girls?” I say, growing nostalgic. “How we’d spend mornings whiling away our time in the meadow behind my cottage, making flower necklaces and wreaths for our hair?”

Sage nods with a wistful smile. “Those were simpler times.”

“I wouldn’t mind having one simple day like that again.” I give her a grave look. “Things are getting really bad, much more quickly than any of us ever anticipated.”

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