Page 83 of Fate of Echoes and Embers
I wasn’t surprised when a knock at the door was followed by it whipping open. I’d left it unlocked, expecting the precise reaction from my friend as I received. Nerys ran toward me and tossed her arms around my neck.
“You’re alive. Marek, I was so worried. When did you get back? Did you make it to the Depths? I can’t believe you’re alive.”
Untangling her from my neck, I smiled at the now-queen.
“Are you simply planning to stand there, grinning at me? Marek, answer my question.”
“I would but am uncertain which one you’d like for me to answer first.”
“Uh.” She jumped back. “You are impossible. I honestly thought I might not see you again. So you didn’t make it to the Depths? Did you come here first? Mev sent word and mentioned some sort of problem.”
Making my way to the door which Nerys had left wide open, I closed it and turned to her, laughing. “Queenhood has not settled you, I see.”
“Marek,” she warned.
I held open my hand, the Crystal inside. Nerys rushed forward, staring at it. And then me.
“Impossible.”
“And yet, possible. The Wind Crystal. Retrieved from the Maelstrom Depths, as your majesty requested.”
Nerys shook her head in disbelief. “How did you…? You did it. Marek, you really did it?”
“Take it,” I said, offering the Crystal to her.
“It is not mine to take.” She closed my fingers. “That Crystal belongs in Aetheria. Will you take it there? Deliver it safely to Mev and her father?”
I’d expected the request.
“Of course. But I have a favor to ask of you first.”
In response, Nerys hugged me once again, both laughing and crying at the same time.
“So little confidence in me,” I said, hugging my old friend back, glad to be home, even if it was temporary. “And much to tell you.”
33
ISSA
I opened the door. Sure enough, Master Aeolis stood there, waiting for me, as he’d instructed. I hesitated. Though the garment I’d been given fit perfectly, it was unlike anything I’d ever worn before. Form-fitting breeches, soft, knee-high boots, and a teal fitted tunic with silver thread in wave patterns were capped off with a wide, leather belt, adorned with pearlescent inlays.
“I look Thalassari,” I said, realizing I did so aloud when Aeolis grinned.
“You would not be the only human in the palace to do so,” he said.
I pulled the door of my chamber closed. “A human king of Thalassaria. I never thought to see such in my lifetime.”
As we made our way through the corridors, water flowed everywhere. Beside the walkways, cascading waterfalls like the one in my bedchamber were oddly comforting.
“Times are changing,” Aeolis said. “More believe in the human cause than cling to the old ways.”
“I’m glad to hear you say as much,” I admitted. If only Hawthorne bordered these lands and not those whose king continued to poison his people with hate.
“A meal will be delivered to Captain Marek’s quarters,” he said, stopping before one of countless chamber doors.
I glanced at the guard.
“The queen is inside,” Aeolis explained. “She may enter,” he said to the guard. “On orders from the captain.”
