Page 36 of War Bound

“Well, Mongalia isn’t our only option.” Averett turned to Jalissa. “You elves wouldn’t want to take another of my siblings off my hands, would you? Kind of a marry one, get another one free deal?”

Jalissa glanced from Averett to Farrendel and then strangely enough toward Edmund, as if she wasn’t sure how to go about answering this banter. Finally, she faced Averett with her perfectly composed expression. “I believe even free would be too expensive for the chaos it would cause.”

Edmund grinned, and Julien plastered on a wide-eyed, horrified look. “Essie, just how much chaos did you manage to cause in Tarenhiel?”

Essie shrugged. “Not that much, I don’t think.”

Farrendel glanced at her. “You fell asleep on my shoulder. In public.”

“It wasn’t really public. It was just your family.” Essie heaved an exaggerated sigh. “Elves have this weird thing against public displays of affection of any kind. Seriously. You can’t even hold hands more than a couple of fingers. Not even in front of close family.”

“That’s it. I’m moving to Tarenhiel.” Edmund clapped Farrendel on the shoulder. “You have an extra room where I can bunk down?”

“No touchy-feely stuff of any kind.” Essie nudged Edmund’s hand from Farrendel’s shoulder. “Not even brotherly affection. Elves have large personal spaces.”

Edmund grinned, as if she’d just given him the best weapon for brotherly teasing. That wasn’t comforting. Edmund might be the youngest of the three brothers, but he was the sneakiest. She wasn’t sure how he’d decide to use his new-found knowledge.

The train shuddered and screeched to a halt.

Averett pushed to his feet. “Looks like we’re here.”

Jalissa and her guard followed Averett from the train, almost tripping on his heels. Farrendel climbed to his feet slowly, as if any sudden moves could send his stomach lurching in directions he didn’t want it to go. But he strode steadily from the train, marching up the stairs from the underground tunnel.

At the top, guards opened the reinforced doors, revealing a spacious corridor with black and white marble tiled floor and vaulted, arched ceilings soaring high overhead. Sunlight streamed into the hall from a bank of windows overlooking the broad expanse of the river with the other half of Aldon beyond while, on the other side of the corridor, a small atrium held a single tree and a few bushes.

Essie tugged Farrendel in the direction of the atrium. Not that it took much urging on her part. “Avie, while you check if Parliament is ready for us, Farrendel, Jalissa, and I are going to step into the atrium for a moment.”

None of her family questioned her. Maybe, despite Jalissa’s and Farrendel’s best efforts to appear blank and forbidding, some of their desperation showed through the cracks.

As soon as they stepped inside the atrium, Farrendel let go of her hand and sank to the ground, his back to the tree. He closed his eyes, breathing slowly and deeply.

Jalissa glanced around, a hint of a wrinkle on her nose. She touched the tree, her hand glowing faintly green. Moments later, the tree’s leaves brightened. More leaves thickened the canopy overhead while the bushes and grass below filled in to a strong, solid carpet.

Some of the tension left Farrendel’s shoulders. “You humans live far too much indoors.”

With their airy treehouses and pathways along the tree branches, the elves lived nearly always in the open air with nothing but the thick foliage of their forest above them. Coming to Winstead Palace must have been a shock. They hadn’t stepped outside since the brief walk from the train to the palace.

It had been normal to go about her day often never leaving Winstead Palace. Forays outside were brief hours spent in the garden or walking Aldon’s market or doing charity work. Stone walls surrounding her made her feel safe. They didn’t bring panic attacks or dampen magic the way they did for Farrendel.

Edmund stepped into the atrium. “They are ready for you. Which, for Parliament, means they want you to sit in your seats feeling uncomfortable for another hour or so until they finally admit they want you.”

Jalissa brushed off her skirt, even though she’d never sat in the dirt. “They will not keep us waiting.” She swept from the atrium, head held high. Her guard, who had stationed herself at the door, fell into step behind her.

Essie grinned and held out a hand to Farrendel. “I guess if you make a grand enough entrance, no one keeps you waiting.”

Farrendel glanced at her hand, as if he wasn’t sure what to do with her gesture, and rose to his feet without her help. Essie couldn’t put her finger on the exact moment, but sometime between sitting and standing, he had gone from vulnerable Farrendel to the elf warrior Laesornysh. His face hardened, his jaw set.

He held his arm out to her, and she rested her hand on his forearm in the elven manner rather than tuck her hand in the crook of his arm in the custom of Escarland.

She held her head high, her shoulders back. They were about to make an entrance, and she was going to look every inch a princess of both Escarland and Tarenhiel.

At the end of the hall, the guards opened the doors to Parliament’s meeting hall, too in awe of Jalissa to argue.

Averett remained outside. As the king, Parliament’s hall was considered off limits for him, though it wasn’t for Julien, Edmund, or Essie. They all marched in after Jalissa.

Escarland’s Parliament was arranged in several tiers in a half circle facing the center. A podium was in the center where members could address the rest. Unlike the elven council, with its quiet serenity, several Parliament members were already shouting at each other even before Jalissa marched into the room.

At their entrance, several Parliament members shot to their feet. It took a moment for their shouts to solidify into various forms of, “What is the meaning of this?”

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