Page 114 of Of Empires and Dust

“Why are you laughing?”

“Because,” he said, “you are meant to ask before you crack my heart open, not after.” He shook his head, still laughing. “You may ask anything. I denír viël ar altinua, sond’ayar. Laël diar.”

In this life and always, dear one. I am yours.

“Are you all right?” Faelen finally turned to meet Therin’s gaze, her golden eyes glistening with tears. “When Aeson came to my door talking of you, I wanted to throw him out the window.”

“He has that effect on people,” Therin said, his laughter returning.

Faelen’s own laughter caused her tears to fall. “But he told me that he was worried about you. Worried about what being here was doing to you. You hold everything deep inside and lock it away. It’s how you’ve always been. It’s how you were when the Healers could do nothing for Mother’s illness. You walk around as though nothing breaches your walls. I don’t know how to help, but I want you to know that I’m here. I’m still angry, but I’m here.”

Therin nodded, finding himself short of words. “I just really wish your mother was here right now.”

“Me too.”

As Faelen whispered those two words, something happened that broke Therin completely: she hugged him. His daughter wrapped her arm around his shoulder and buried her face in his neck, squeezing him tight, and for a moment it was like she was a child again.

After a time that could never have been long enough, Faelen pulled away, wiped the tears from her cheeks, and stood.

“Where are you going?”

Faelen reached out her hand and pulled Therin to his feet. “We’re going to where she was returned to the earth. I don’t forgive you. Not yet. But I can.”

Chapter 26

Found Fire

10thDay of the Blood Moon

Aravell – Winter, Year 3081 After Doom

Aeson readthe letter for the fifth time. A piece of his soul ignited at the sight of Alvira’s name, at the smooth ink of her script. She had written this letter, of that he had no doubt. And yet, his heart broke a little more knowing he would never again lay eyes on her, knowing that even before The Fall she had realized something had been wrong and she had not told him. She had not trusted him.

He reached his hand up and slicked back his rain-soaked hair.

Along with Calen, Erik, and the others, Chora, Harken, Thacia, Atara, Arden, and Asius were all crowded around the table in the common room of Aeson’s house on the plateau in Alura. The room’s white stone ceilings were so high even the Jotnar did not need to bow their heads.

“It’s just what Kallinvar said.” Calen rested his hands on the table, looking to Aeson. “The Heart of Blood. Rokka’s Riddle. Ilnaen. Alvira. It all makes sense.”

“And this riddle.” Chora placed one hand atop the other on her lap. “Where did you hear it again?”

Aeson gave her a sideways glance. She was well aware of the riddle’s origin.

“We already told you,” Calen answered. “From?—”

“Yes, from an old man in a hut north of Kingspass. Not the most reliable of sources. Why is your confidence in him so high? There are many old men in this world, and I’d wager you would not march to Ilnaen so willingly on their word alone. What makes this… Rokka, any different?”

“Because it makes sense,” Erik said. “Even if we didn’t trust him. The riddle matches with everything. The pendant was a key, a glamour. Alvira said ‘in the shadow of what was lost, we can find light anew.’ Ilnaen. It cannot be a coincidence.”

“Coincidences are more common than you would?—”

“He’s a druid,” Calen interjected. “A Seerdruid.”

“Ahhh, so now he’s not just an old man. He’s a crazy old man who thinks he can see the future. Much better.”

“I believe they’re right.” Aeson placed the letter on the table. “This letter is in Alvira’s hand. You know Eluna Faviril, Chora. She and Alvira were inseparable, until they were not.”

“Yes,” Harken agreed. “Some years before The Fall, Eluna left Ilnaen. I’d heard she’d had a row with Alvira, but it never made sense. She took up a position as The Order’s emissary to Vindakur – a position far below her station. I thought it strange at the time but never questioned Alvira on it.”

---