Page 48 of Steeling Light
He says, “Where is Vesta, Maerlix?”
Maerlix makes a strange chittering sound that is strangely similar to laughter for a few moments before speaking.
Vesta and her book are waiting in Draenyth. I spoke to her in dreams and requested that she wait for you there. You’ll find her at a certain tailor’s shop.
I shake my head in frustration. “How long has she been waiting there?”
I spoke to her after your first talk with Vellith. I wouldn’t have wanted to be unable to fulfill my part of the bargain.
“You’re telling me I could have already gone to Draenyth and taken Vesta and the book back to Maeve and Cole. You could have told me through dreams. All of this could have been wrapped up in a few days, and we’d be even closer to defeating Gethin. Instead, I’ve wasted a month in Selithar.”
And the God of Nightmares would have escaped his prison. Your mother would still be the Countess of Light. You would not have had time to re-acquaint yourself with the Prince of Strength. And more than anything, you would not have the spark that you need to Steel the Light when the time comes.
I blink again. “Wait, that whole ordeal with Morvael wasn’t what you were talking about?”
Maerlix turns his whole head nearly sideways, making him look comical.No, that was not the darkness we have spoken of. That was… a taste. Morvael was a speck of dust in the whirlwind that you’ll soon see. No, Lady Ainslee, the darkness will be all-encompassing. But you have learned the true power of Light now. You have learned what can be done, and you have found your spark. Let us hope it will be enough.Your time in Selithar is done for now. May the web guide you, and may your strands forever shine silver.
Then, without another word, he walks to the web that coats the cavern’s walls, and with the grace that only a spider has, he scurries into the dark recesses beyond the torchlight.
“Let me escort you out of the Nest, Lady Ainslee and Prince Rhion,” Vellith says from behind me.
Why is it that everything to do with silkies and weavers is always so confusing? Rhion and I both take Vellith’s hands, and she pulls us through the webs dripping with silver into the main corridor.
Cadence is standing just outside Maerlix’s chamber, waiting with a grin on her face. She’s wearing a single shoe, and her shirt looks like it’s covered in metal shavings. “Ainslee! You did it! I am so, so, so proud of you! You listened and learned and grew. I never doubted you would. Not even when you ran out of the Nest like we were trying to kill you. Or make you eat salad. I even asked Vellith if she’d threatened you with salad.”
In this place of giant spiders and silkies and weavers talking about confusing and convoluted ideas about the future, there’s this girl so young that I can barely believe she’s allowed to be away from her parents. “I apologize for that, Cadence. I was… I was afraid of what you told me.”
She nods, her eyes going wide. “How were you scared of talking to me? You just fought a god! Maerlix told me all about it. You were so strong and brave! Vellith always tells me I shouldn’t be jealous of other people, but I’m jealous of how brave you are, Ainslee. It’s a good thing you’re the one who will help all those people instead of me. I don’t think I could do it. It’d be too much.”
I don’t know how to respond to her. I’ve never thought of myself as brave, but I was willing to face down an actual god. I’ve never thought of myself as strong, but I did beat back Morvael. Rhion saves me from the conversation, though. He squats down and meets Cadence’s gaze. “Being brave is doing something that seems impossible. For some people, it’s making a dress that no one else has made before. For others, it’s going into battle against uneven odds. And for others, it’s trying to help a wonderful woman understand things that are confusing and scary. Being brave is doing the things that are hard even though they’re hard because they’re right, and I think trying to convince Ainslee of anything is very high on that chart. She’s a very stubborn woman.”
Cadence stares at Rhion for several moments as if she’s trying to decide if he’s telling the truth. Then she nods slowly. “It was hard making Ainslee’s web. She likes to hide from her dreams, so I had to dig deep to unravel the lines.” She turns to me and smiles. “You are a very interesting dreamer. I think you will have even more interesting dreams soon, though.”
She smiles one more time and takes my hands in hers. “Please come back when you understand your web more. Maybe then we can both be brave and work together.”
I nod to her. “I will. There are too many things I need to learn. I promise not to run out of the Keep of Webs this time.”
She giggles. “I’ll make sure that Vellith doesn’t make you eat salad, so there’ll be no reason to leave.” Then she turns and runs back down the corridor.
Rhion stands back up, and Vellith leads us out of the Keep of Webs. This time, it doesn’t feel like I’m running away from anything. Instead, I’m running toward the future. I can complete my mission now. I’ve learned what I needed to learn from Selithar.
There’s only one more thing that needs to happen before I leave this place. I turn to Rhion as soon as we’re outside of the Keep, and I take his hands in mine.
“Tonight, when the moon is low in the sky, I want to bind my soul to yours.”
Chapter 26
The Fae do not love easily. They are trained to avoid it. They are shown the weaknesses it exposes them to. But the Fae are humans that were altered with magic. Love is as instinctual to them as it is to the farmer’s daughter. They simply avoid it at all costs. It’s too bad because true love is one of the most powerful forces in Nyth.
~Maeve Arden, The Future of Magic and Dragons
Rhion
The moon is full tonight, but I barely notice it. Instead, I can’t stop staring at the woman in front of me. Those beautiful dark green eyes that I’ve seen in my dreams for my entire life. The angles of her cheeks, of her eyebrows, of her chin. The way her lips part just enough that I wish I were her breath whispering past them.
I take it all in because I’m probably never going to see it again.
“I won’t do it,” I say. I’d tried to convince myself to bind myself to her all afternoon. At the little café where we ate lunch. During our walk through the Keep of Calm. While we sat on the ramparts of the Keep of Light and told stories about the years between our childhood and now.
