Page 17 of Angel in Absentia
“You have your mother’s heart and your father’s head. Sometimes, watching you, I feel like I see them arguing,” he observed coolly.
Clea laughed, her chest feeling tight, and then she sighed. “Thank you,” she said, even though she wasn’t sure it was a compliment, and wasn’t even sure she was really thanking him. Catagard had been a long-term friend of their family, losing his only son in battle and training up her brothers with the dedication of that grief.
“Catagard,” Clea said, stopping again before crossing her arms.
“Yes?” he replied.
“Helina Hart’s grave. Is it possible to check it?”
“Check it?”
“Yes, to see if it’s empty.”
“Strange request,” he said, obviously puzzled by it, and possibly a bit disturbed. “Normal for you, though, I suppose.”
Clea tried to take that last comment as a compliment as well.
“No, the grave is sealed and buried. Why?” he finished.
Clea scratched her head, taking in another uneasy breath and dispelling it. She felt like her skin was crawling restlessly. There was no chance of checking Oliver Padren’s grave in Virday, but maybe Prince Idan could look into Vanida’s grave in Ruedom.
She stopped herself before considering it for much longer, resolving to mention it to Idan later only if her uneasiness still lingered.
“Nothing,” Clea said at last. “I just—I think the Venennin was trying to get inside my head. Toy with me. Completely expected. Think nothing of it.”
Catagard nodded once, and they turned back into the corridor, Clea glancing back once at the iron cell.
Journeys to Virday, battles at King Kartheen’s castle, mention of the Deadlock Medallion, and now the appearance of Myken. It was all strange, the past repeating itself in a bizarre rewrite.
She played with the pin on her necklace, and though it apparently kept Insednians away, she toyed with the idea of Ryson making another appearance. He was, perhaps, the last missing character. Virday liberated, she a rising queen, Myken the prisoner, Kartheen’s castle a bundle of stones and vines. If she saw him again, she wondered, what new form would he take?
CHAPTER 6
SWORD AND SYMBOL
LEA RETURNED TO her room with a mind overwhelmed by thought. Myken’s words clouded her with a looming sense of danger and reserve, and yet she knew the afternoon would demand her attention in other ways.
Iris’s vague mention of heart exchanges in Dawn Field was now only an afterthought.
She retreated into her bathroom to bathe, discarding her clothes and dipping into the elevated bath that steamed with fragrance. The servants had prepared it in anticipation of her return from the field. They were doting and sometimes mischievous ghosts who often went unseen and yet anticipated everything. Steam had already fogged up the tops of the mirror in her bathroom, and she looked across the water to see her face reflected in it.
She looked at her own reflection critically, her body mostly hidden beneath the water. Curling her arms around herself, she felt the softness of her own skin, her breasts against the muscles of her arms, the callouses of her heels against the softness of her thighs, and in her body, she felt the conflict of her own high council.
Dae’s Aunt, Ivy, shouted in her mind, embodying the critic of her own thoughts:
Not enough. We aren’t prepared. We’re against forces that have laid siege to us for centuries! An alliance? You fool! How could you consider an alliance?
Fillip and Ignat manifested in calm but questioning voices.
Maybe there is a chance they are telling the truth? You didn’t sense deceit. These could be desperate times for them as well. Venennin also do not want to die. We have good news. The Virads have been defeated, and we didn’t have to do it.
Last, she could hear Catagard’s reasoning through her own.
Keep a calm head. You have allies and a strong force with you. You finished your campaign. You continue to exist as a symbol of hope, and your people will do the rest. Do not underestimate their power to carry the conflict forward.
“Clea?” Iris called through the door, startling her. “Clea, are you talking to yourself again? I’m coming in.”
Clea rubbed her face but didn’t object. The door burst open and Iris strolled in, hiking up the stairs to the bath as she pulled her skirt up around her legs. “I can hear you arguing with yourself!” she announced, slipping her legs into the bath on the opposite side. “Oh, this is nice, very nice! I’ve been waiting for you to get back.”
