Page 25 of Ties of Legacy

“No,” Avery said indignantly, “I’m not. I never asked to have a traveling companion forced on me!”

Elliot winced. “No, you didn’t. Which makes my reaction worse. It’s just…” He sighed and looked into the banked fire. “Ever since I can remember, my mother has drummed into me that if anyone found out my secret, they’d use it to control me. And when I finally told someone, it was like all my worst fears immediately came true.”

Avery’s remaining resentment drained away. The force of his reaction had concerned her, but when he put it like that it made perfect sense. The situation was inconvenient for her, but it was far worse for him.

“Bolivere is the last place in the kingdoms I want to go,” he added. “But you have no reason to know that. You’re not going there because of me. It’s just—it’s bad enough that I’m forced into further travel at all, but it makes it worse to be going backward. I’ve spent years traveling, and I’m sick of it. I want to settle down. To have a proper home and neighbors. That’s where I was headed when I was robbed. I was going to move to the Sovaran capital.”

Like Olivia,Avery thought pointlessly. Would the two meet there?

She pushed the thought aside. It didn’t matter where Elliot settled or who he met. It had nothing to do with her.

“That’s unfortunate,” she said softly. “But I can’t delay my return to Bolivere—even if it is in the opposite direction to the Sovaran capital. And a delay wouldn’t ultimately help you anyway.”

She hesitated, her brows pulling together. “I can’t give you the lamp, but perhaps the townsfolk of Bolivere will. Once they’ve finished using it, that is.”

Elliot looked into the fire, his expression tight. “Or maybe they’ll run me out of town,” he murmured.

Avery frowned. When she had last met the people of Bolivere, they had been desperate, but even that hadn’t dented their usual consideration. She’d always found it a pleasant town.

“I’m sure they won’t do that,” she murmured, wishing she sounded less uncomfortable and more comforting. But it was obvious Elliot had some sort of issue with Bolivere and its inhabitants. She couldn’t ask him to tell her about it, though, not when she was refusing to talk about her current mission for the town.

Elliot pulled off one of his boots, wincing as he did so. A stab of guilt hit Avery as she remembered he’d been forced to follow her wet and barefoot.

“Even if Bolivere does give you the lamp,” she said slowly, “it’s only a temporary fix. What if it gets stolen again? Or someone else finds out about your tie to it?”

“I’m aware of the problem,” he said dryly. “I have literal nightmares about the possibility.”

“So we shouldn’t be convincing Bolivere to give you the lamp,” Avery said, warming to the topic. “We should be finding a way to cut your tie to it completely.”

Elliot froze halfway through taking off his second boot. “Is that even possible? I’ve never heard of someone breaking their tie to their birth kingdom, so I don’t know why my tie would be any different.”

“I’ve heard of it happening,” Avery said cheerfully. “My ancestor.”

Elliot’s eyebrows rose. “The first roving merchant? I always thought he was born without a link to any of the Legacies. I guess I assumed he came from over the mountains or something.”

Avery shook her head. “If that was all it was, his children would have been tied to whichever kingdom they were born in. According to family tradition, our ancestor was born in Halbury, but he managed to cut his tie to the Halbury Legacy at some point in his adulthood.”

Elliot leaned forward, his painful feet forgotten.

“How did he do it?” His blue eyes were fixed on Avery with painful intensity.

She pressed her lips together. “I don’t actually know,” she admitted.

He slumped back, disappointed. “Are you sure it’s not just a family legend?”

Avery straightened. “If it was just a legend, how do you explain how every one of his descendants can travel freely through the kingdoms?”

Elliot finally pulled off the remaining boot, standing it carefully next to the first one.

“I don’t know why I haven’t put more thought into it before,” he said. “If there’s a chance of cutting my tie to that lump of brass, I’d willingly cross all six kingdoms again to manage it.”

“I’ll help you,” Avery said impulsively. “You travel with me to Bolivere and let me give your lamp to the townsfolk there. And then I’ll help you find a way to break your tie to it. We’ll find and interview every member of my extended family if we have to—even the ones I’ve never met. Someone has to know what happened.”

“It was a long time ago,” Elliot said warily, but he looked hopeful.

The hope in his eyes wormed its way into Avery’s heart, making it thump painfully. She couldn’t abandon someone who was so desperate he’d cling to any tendril of hope he was offered.

“My parents were never interested in the family history,” she said, “but one of my distant cousins is the family historian. I’ve only met Matilda once, but she has written records of every generation of roving merchants. She has to know more than I do.”

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