Page 38 of Elemental Affections

He sighed. “It used to feel like … spring. Brighter than here, less gray. Less wet.” A tiny smile traced across his lips.

Used. Before Eylle and its targeted poison and the assault on Rhell’s wellspring. Dae felt as if she should apologize for asking something so painful, but Ezzyn went on.

“Nowhere else is the same as the Valley’s claim, but Rhell used to feel alive in its own way. Has its own sense of belonging.” His laugh was more of a hoarse exhale. “Being here feels like betrayal, because it feels like home now. Untouchable. Healthy.”

She didn’t know what to say in response. Everything felt too simple, empty words that were little more than platitudes. Nothing he hadn’t heard before, could do anything with. But she could listen, encouraging him with a small nod.

“My brother—Garethe in this case, though I know Jeron is of similar mind … I know they want the best for Rhell. They’d love the poison gone as much as the rest of us. But they’re thinking like statesmen. Talking about slower, more cost-effective approaches tomanagingthe spread. They want to bring in more researchers from outside, as if we haven’t tried that before.” He let out a harsh breath. “Maybe they’ve forgotten how some members of our vauntedAlliancesuggested the land was a lost cause. That it was more realistic to strategize on what to do with a bunch of refugees instead.”

“They didn’t,” Anadae exclaimed, both horrified and incensed. “That was said to the Lower Council?”

“A few years ago. Informally, but it was a member of the Council of Standards. Borders division,” Ezzyn said.

“That’s horrible,” Anadae murmured. “But clearly that person is a fool and thinks only of politics. If your brothers are talking of new research, wouldn’t that be a more scholarly approach? That’s different.”

Ezzyn’s mouth twisted in a sneer. “They’re calling it the Rhell Accord, as if that makes it better. A plan that’s built around coping with the poison rather than curing. As if we aren’t already forced to do that.”

“Your research already uses the work of other schools of magic,” Dae said. “Would better incorporation be so bad?”

“Maybe not, but—” He paused, blinked.“Betterincorporation?”

“You do like to burn things first.”

“It’s most efficient.”

“Maybe. But your research trials are divided into so many separate steps. We get pre-treated soil from the Grove, you burn it, we implement earth magic, you burn it again,” Dae said. “This Accord could be a new way to bring in collaboration.”

Ezzyn turned away, but not fast enough for her to miss his grimace.

“You want to work alone that much?” she murmured.

“No,” he admitted. “But shifting focus to a plan built on management rather than eradication is akin to accepting defeat. Your family is in both business and politics, surely you know how such a plan will take over. The slow approach will become the only one, and all belief of curing the poison will die.”

“You wouldn’t let it,” Dae said. He looked unconvinced, a bleakness on his face. She pressed on. “You wouldn’t, and neither would so many others. When was the last time you actually looked in the Grove’s greenhouses? Bioremediation isn’t a passing interest.”

“I hope you’re right,” he said. He tipped his head back, eyes closing for a brief moment. “I feel … safe, here. Like I can finally rest. And sometimes I hate everything for it, because it makes me not want to go back.”

Then don’t,she wanted to say. But the words remained safely kept behind closed lips. It wasn’t her place. Was a selfish thought, one she didn’t entirely understand for the intense emotion that welled up in her chest at having thought it. Or perhaps she was starting to fathom it, the nascent feelings trying to plant themselves into her heart when she thought of him. Things that could never be allowed. Third-born prince or not, of a kingdom that moved further from a monarchal legacy every day or not, Ezzyn was still a son of Rhell.

When Dae looked at him, she saw a bone-deep weariness wrapped around a fatalistic, determined core. An interior that didn’t need words to say how there was no room for anything else.

A gust of wind kicked up, bringing with it a fresh bout of rain. It startled Dae from her melancholic thoughts, making her wobble, arms flailing for balance to keep from falling into the lake.

Ezzyn caught her hand, pulling Dae clear of the water’s edge. She took a stumbling step into his chest. His arm went around her shoulders to keep her from falling. It remained there even after she’d regained her balance, lingered several beats longer than mere courtesy warranted.

“Are you all right?” he said, slowly letting her go.

Dae stepped back with similar reticence. “Yea. Thanks.”

Her pulse ticked up, the sound building in her ears, heart thumping against the cage of her ribs. She wouldn’t have been surprised if he could feel it through both of their cloaks.

His hand flexed, as if he’d fought an urge to reach out. Touch her arm. Instead, he stuffed it into his pocket. “Shall we?” He jerked his head to indicate the path back to the university.

Dae started to agree, when a pulse emanated from the lake. Subtle, just a flicker at the back of her mind, but unequivocally there this time.

Without pausing to question the strange urge, she spun around and went back to the lakeshore. She squatted down and pressed her palms to the water’s surface. For the briefest of moments, it felt as if the lake pressed back. Held her hands in its own watery ones.

And then the moment passed, the icy embrace of the water and reality of her cloak hem getting soaked reclaiming her attention. She reached out with her magic, casting her awareness out like a net. Nothing caught. Everything felt as it had before, uniquely the Valley but not …more.

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