Page 7 of Fate of Echoes and Embers
Her eyes darted to Kael. His grimace confirmed my words. “I returned it to King Galfrid myself,” he said. “After a long, drawn-out negotiation, having no knowledge that it was not the real Crystal. Mev’s father knew immediately but never acknowledged it.”
“King Galfrid has been without the real Wind Crystal since…” Issa’s eyes widened.
“Yep,” Mev said. “Apparently, he’s performed enough extraordinary feats since, on his own accord, that no Aetherians suspected it was missing. He’s been unable to locate it, until now. It’s another long story, how the Wind Crystal was discovered, but it has been. And Marek volunteered to go get it.”
“Where is it?”
“Deep within the Maelstrom Depths.”
Issa’s jaw dropped as she turned her attention back to me.
“And you’re planning to… go get it?”
“I am.”
“Marek. You will be killed.”
I couldn’t resist asking, “Would that displease you, Issa?”
She opened her mouth, but closed it. And glared at me.
Clearly wanting to say,“Nay,” something held her back. She hated me. Despised what I had done to her. Obviously wished I was anywhere but in this solar chamber with me. But she didn’t want me dead.
That was at least something.
The thought of not surviving this mission wasn’t one I relished, but it was one of those things that just had to be done. Dying with Issa still angry at me? Not the way I wanted to go. And it seemed like I might just have an opportunity to turn those tides before our mission.
4
ISSA
I despised Marek of Thalassaria, Navarch of the Tidebreaker Fleet. Charming opportunist. A smuggler who was as reckless as he was daring. As ruthless as he was charismatic. It should not surprise me that he’d volunteered to retrieve the Wind Crystal from a place none were known to have ventured to and survived.
But neither did I want him to die, a certainty than none but me in this chamber seemed to appreciate.
“No one has made it out of the Maelstrom Depths alive,” I said.
“That we know of,” Marek quipped.
“You will allow him to do this?” I asked Kael and Mev.
“None are more qualified to attempt it.” Kael sat back in his seat, wine in hand. Mev appeared as worried as I felt, but she said nothing. For her, the stakes were higher than most, and it seemed she was willing to risk Marek’s life to reopen the Gate. And maybe I could not blame her for that, but neither could I so easily accept it.
“It is a death sentence.”
That smile. The same one that had so captivated me the day we met. He was unmistakably Thalassarian, the sun-bleached hair and tanned complexion only part of his clan’s giveaway. From his clothing— a loose, linen shirt and leather boots, more than one dagger ever-present at his hip, that he hardly needed courtesy of Marek’s water-wielding abilities— to his carefree attitude, he embodied the free spirit most Elydorians associated with his kind.
It was much more than just a smile. The combination of Marek’s strong jawline which emphasized an internal determination he kept closely guarded and his easy manner made it difficult not to be drawn in.
Never again.
“Not wanting to see you dead does not mean I wish you well.” I addressed Mev and Kael. “I am sorry you’ve come all this way, and I sympathize with your plight. I too wish desperately that those who travelled to Elydor, thinking it would be a temporary journey, could get back to their families. I want you to be able to reunite with your family and friends,” I said to Mev. “And for your parents to do the same. But, as you may have surmised, there is a history between us that makes it impossible for me to bear his presence.”
“Ooh, that hurts, Issa.”
“It’s honesty,” I shot back. Without going into the details of our situation, I tried to explain to Mev and Kael. “Some wounds never heal. Instead, they change you, and not always for the better. Some might argue that even deep pain teaches us something, but the mark Marek left the first time we met is one not easily erased. It was a lesson I could have done without.”
No one spoke, at first. If my words were dramatic, there was no help for it. Each and every one was true. Willingly going on a journey with Marek would be akin to opening the gates to an enemy force who intended to overtake you.
