Page 52 of Elemental Affections

“Very.Thirty,”Eunny said. She laughed when Dae tried to stomp on her foot.

“Ahh, ancient.” Ezzyn set the finished vase on the table and indicated the now-empty box. “Done.”

“Show off,” Eunny muttered.

Ezzyn bowed. Offering to return the pottery to its owner at the university, he left soon after.

“Okay,” Eunny said as they watched him disappear in the street. “I can see why you’re so gone for him.”

Dae’s hand jerked, breaking her thread. “I’m notgonefor him.”

“Oh, but you are.” Eunny flapped a hand at her. “That’s not a complaint. He runs circles around Brint.”

“When the bar is Brint, it’s rather low.”

“True. But look at you, leveling up. Going for royalty.” Eunny laughed. “Maybe HNE will name a ship after you two.”

“We’re not— Rhell’s monarchy isn’t—” Dae said, refutations piling up in her head.

“I’m kidding,” Eunny said. “You seem happy with him. I couldn’t ask for more for you.”

Dae gave weak smile. “We’re just … it’s not serious.”

Eunny’s look was full of amusement and pity. “If you say so.” She got up again to check on a pair of aspiring woodworkers hacking away at a bowl.

Dae gazed down at the second mitten in her hands without really seeing it. Eunny may have said it in jest, but there was an inkling of truth. Ornamental or not, Ezzyn was a prince. Inroads with Helm Naval would be useful to Rhell, setting her up to be overshadowed and used once again, even if for a more noble cause than Brint’s ego or Dae’s fear of disappointing her family.

But … no. Dae gave herself a shake, picked up her sewing needle, and started in again on her design. Ezzyn had never mentioned Helm Naval to her, never so much as hinted at the possibility of favors for Rhell. Not once, and they’d spent countless hours in the lab, searching for ways to help his homeland.

She told herself those things—those facts—as she finished up at the café and walked back to campus. But she was unable to banish the sinking feeling in her chest, until she rounded the corner toward her room and saw a vase nestled against her door. A bouquet of silver primroses with blue speckling peeked up around a nest of glossy green foliage. The Rainshadow cultivar, bred to enhance ice enchantments. The wordsFor my favorite senior citizengraced the small card tucked in amongst the flowers.

Smiling at the sight of his deplorable handwriting, Dae forced the shadow of doubt that refused to die to the back of her mind.

Chapter 19

TheeveningofDae’sthirtieth birthday was a quiet, awkward affair. Notterrible,as Calya pointed out. Not as bad as the shouting and threats and slammed doors of the last time Dae had set foot in her parents’ house. It occupied the space between progress and marginal gains.

“My studies are going well,” she offered as they ate dinner in silence.

A fire crackled in the hearth, a string of the season’s fashionable glass ornaments twinkling in the window as they caught the light. Small bowls of red beans were tucked near the entryways in observance of winter solstice traditions in the Radiant Isles. Incense sticks burned in the miniature shrine to the Empyrean Court set up on the mantle over the fire. It all made for a warm, inviting setting, one not reflected by the house’s inhabitants.

Her father grunted and changed topics, launching into a tirade about in-fighting amongst the various divisions of the Council of Standards and how it was delaying a bill he’d been working on.

Dae and Calya exchanged careful looks across the table. Her younger sister gave a tiny shrug, a contemptuous twist to her mouth. Resigned, Dae listened politely and made a few bland comments in agreement with Andrin Helm’s rant. She didn’t bring up her studies again. Nor did she engage when her father mentioned Helm Naval and some disgruntlement Raoul Avenor had mentioned, which got Calya riled up. Dae wondered why she’d bothered to come back at all. Perhaps Eunny had been right to stay in the Valley, incurring familial disappointment by letter. It wasn’t much of a gamble; neither of their parents would have come to chastise their children in person. She hadn’t even been back a full day, yet staying under the same roof as her parents when they would be in full holiday social mode for the rest of the week put a sourness in her stomach.

The meal disintegrated into a snappish argument between Calya and Andrin that didn’t resolve so much as break off in a jagged, taught silence. Andrin departed for his office while Calya went up to her room to sulk.

Dae watched her mother sip her wine. She didn’t speak, leaving it to Dae to murmur thanks as the housekeeper cleared away the dishes and left them with a fresh pot of tea.

“Do they fight like this often?” Dae finally asked.

Mina Helm sighed, fingers massaging her temples. “It’s been worse since you left. Your sister … lots of ideas, but she’s too headstrong. Doesn’t understand pace.”

Dae ignored the barbed comment. “From what she’s told me, it sounds like she has a vision for HNE. You’re both focusing more on Papa’s work with Transpo—”

“She can’t run HNE on her own.”

“She wouldn’t be on her own,” Dae said. “The department leads have been there for most of our lives. What about the office manager? All of the workers? Maybe don’t give her the whole company now, but why are you fighting her moving up? It’s what you two always wanted.”

---