Page 5 of Fate of Echoes and Embers
I thought I was prepared to see her for the first time since The Moonlit Current.
I wasn’t.
Disheveled, her dark-brown hair pulled off her face with strands escaping everywhere, she was dressed for battle and looked as if she’d just come from one. Those piercing hazel eyes were trained directly on me, Issa’s expression exactly as I’d imagined it would be. Her lips, fuller than on any woman I’d ever known, parted, as if she would say something to me.
Instead, she turned to Kael and Mev.
It didn’t matter that it had been my fault I’d lost the right to have her look at me the way she did them. This had been a bad idea from the start. But I had known that all along.
“What,” she said, as Kael rose and hugged her, “are you doing here?”
Mev did the same. For my part, I remained seated. Issa was more likely to stab me than hug me, more’s the pity.
“Have you eaten?” she asked them, the wine goblets Master Edric gave us already filled. He was a fine steward and even managed to be cordial to me. Without knowing what Issa had told him, I’d expected a cooler welcome.
“We have been fed,” Mev said, sitting beside the fire in one of four plush chairs that had been arranged before it, the intricately carved, wooden table at the center holding our wine goblets. Even without windows, it was a welcoming space, not unlike the rest of Hawthorne Manor. Issa prided herself on the care she and her staff took to make it a home despite its size. A fortress nearly as large as any in Estmere, it was one of the first built when King Galfrid carved out a portion of his own Aetherian land for the humans.
“I’m uncertain,” Issa said, sitting back, “if I should ask first if the rumors of the two of you are true or”—she looked at me—“how you come to travel with him.”
“Hello, Isolde,” I said, not daring to give her the same sort of smile I once had. Instead, I willed myself to forget how beautiful a woman Issa was. Forget how her lips felt against my own. Pretend she was simply a human noblewoman whose help we needed. “It is good to see you.”
“I cannot say the same.”
“Well.” Mev put her wine back onto the table. “I for one can’t wait to hear what the hell happened between the two of you. Marek told us squat on the way here.” She added, “Sorry, he told us nothing.”
“Squat. That’s a new one,” Kael murmured. “She’s a constant source of surprise,” he added for Issa’s benefit. “And while I can’t account for which rumors you’ve heard, I can tell you Mev and I are partnered. And I did indeed pledge myself to her father.”
Issa didn’t hide her surprise. “Those are the rumors. Would you care to tell me how that happened? The last time I saw the two of you, Princess Mevlida’s name was Mia, she claimed you kidnapped her and I’m certain,” she said to Mev, “your hair was not white.”
Mev’s side-eye to Kael confirmed part of that as true. “Oh, he kidnapped me alright. Totally rude. Long story short, after we left, I started being able to do strange things and”—she tugged on her hair—“this.”
“Mev knew when she came through the Gate,” Kael said, “that she was King Galfrid’s daughter. And smartly hid the fact from me, for as long as she was able. Hence, Mia.”
“Basically, he fell head over heels for me. An Aetherian noblewoman named Lyra found us and began to train me. The two of them brought me to my father.”
“I’ve heard of her, from Kael.” Issa avoided looking at me, but I couldn’t seem to do the same. Was that blood on her tunic? Had she been injured?
“Prince Kael of Gyoria,” Issa said, her smile to Kael one of warmth, “falling in love with King Galfrid’s daughter. Fate has a way of intervening in mysterious ways. Although I doubt your father appreciates the irony of your current situation.”
“He does not. He sent my brother to intercept me. Took me most of an afternoon to convince him and his men to stand down so that I could follow Lyra and Mev north.”
“I did hear that you battled your brother.”
I’d spoken to Kael about that very battle. Prince Terran was known as a ruthless defender of Gyoria, and some said nearly as strong as his father. From talking to Kael, it seemed he was less bothered by the severed relationship with his father than being at odds with his brother.
“I did.”
“He will never accept you again.”
I assumed Issa spoke of King Balthor. Did she refer to Kael’s brother, Terran, as well?
“No, he will not. Somehow, it took meeting Mev to appreciate how extreme my father’s views had become. Before you say it.” He stopped Issa. “I know you tried to tell me. But he is my father.”
I knew something of complicated father–son relationships myself and could sympathize with him even as I agreed with Issa. The Gyorian king had never recovered from the loss of his queen to a human disease and all knew his hatred for humans had grown throughout the years. Did I agree with the king’s decision to kidnap Mev’s mother and close the Gate? Not many did, outside of Gyoria, of course. But I could understand well the need for revenge against those who hurt someone you loved.
It was what drove me, and what would probably have been my downfall. Now, it seemed, the Maelstrom Depths would have that honor.
“Interesting you mention the Aetherian Gate,” I said, wanting Issa to give her attention to me.
