Page 8 of Earth Dragon
“Fine,” Ewan muttered, considering whether to have some of the soup, though he seemed to have lost his appetite completely.
“I think the time is right for me to issue your first and last trial.”
Ewan turned his gaze to his father, who met it with a solemn expression.
“What?” Ewan said.
“It’s better to get it over with,” the king said. “I can tell it’s weighing on you.”
“You announce this now? The day that the one person who may have a vested interest in me completing the trial has arrived? If you initiate the moment of transference with the lady here…”
“I will not,” the king stopped him. “I believe I won’t have to.”
Ewan frowned at him.
“What are you talking about?” he asked.
“Malcolm did not need the watermagic transferred from his father’s blood to his,” the king stated. “Why should you?”
“But if that is so, then why hasn’t it happened already?” Ewan asked.
“I think only you know the answer to that question,” his father replied.
“We can’t know this is how it works,” Ewan remarked.
“No, we cannot,” his father agreed. “But we cannot wait forever either. The more time we give the people plotting against us to reassemble and rethink their approach, the more exposed we leave ourselves to their next attack. Because trust me when I tell you that they will not stop coming. Not until the balance outweighs the imbalance they seek to cause. When all the four kingdoms have new crowned heads ruling them—that’s when a new era will be ushered in. And those working to stop it will have failed, even if we fail to catch them all.”
“We must catch them all, father,” Ewan disagreed. “I will not rest until we do.”
His father grew thoughtful, observing him for a handful of seconds before he agreed, “I believe that’s very true since you have been uneasy since the events in Fawha. Don’t try to deny it. Which is why your first and last trial will be to find the person who will take the edge off.”
Ewan paused, a small frown creasing his brow. “The person?”
“I wish you to find love, Ewan,” the king stated. “I wish you to open yourself up to the idea that someone can support you, even carry you. You don’t have to take everything onto your own shoulders all the time. You’ve worked hard on providing a sense of security for everyone around you this past year, and even before then, but I fear…” He trailed off, Ewan picking up his fork as the first main course had arrived. He still wasn’t hungry, but he needed something to occupy himself. Chewing the meat provided him with a reason not to speak the protest lodged in his chest.
“I fear that the weight of the responsibility will prove too much for you,” King Ellard finished.
“Because I’m weak?” Ewan asked, putting his fork down.
“It has nothing to do with strength, my son,” the king disagreed. “It has to do with purpose. True purpose. Love infuses everything with it in ways that even your sense of fortitude cannot. Not for centuries. I will not hand the crown over unless I am convinced you will not be crushed by its weight. Having a mate by your side is like a balm during stressful times. Agree to share the burden, Ewan. And let us put an end to this uprising once and for all.”
Ewan sighed, sitting back in his chair and observing the king for a handful of seconds. Ewan’s mind was racing, and the stare he was giving his father was him simply buying time before giving his answer. The trial sounded like an impossibility. Where would he even begin? He would have to get to know someone well enough that he would trust them to sleep in his bed.
They could have separate rooms, he supposed. It wasn’t unheard of.
The better thing would be if they could have separate rooms and he could slip a key in the lock every night. It seemed the only way he would rest easy.
He swallowed, disliking where his mind was taking him.
No. Absolutely not.
“I shall consider it very carefully, father,” he said. “It may take a while.”
“There’s no rush.” The king shrugged, but Ewan sensed that there was a yearning in his father that he hadn’t felt before, to be free of the burden himself. He sat on his throne alone, Ewan’s mother had been gone for the past ten years. Perhaps his father’s speech was as much a plea for release as it was meant to be an incentive.
Ewan felt the guilt wash over him.
He knew the answer to the question he had posed earlier. The reason for why the elemental magics hadn’t settled within him the same way they had Malcolm, rendering the moment of transference unnecessary.
