Page 128 of Across an Endless Sea

“And me—for what it’s worth,” Bram adds.

I chew at my lip, but Florian doesn’t notice the weight of the pressure his words have added to my shoulders. If I don’t charm Caed, those knights will have to come with us, leaving the city less defended than before.

“When you reach Pavellen, Bram will introduce you to our brother, Madoc. He’ll help you convince Aiyana to pledge her allegiance and her army to our cause. Then you’ll be taking a ship to Siabetha,” he continues. “The captain I’ve chartered is an old friend, and she’s agreed to stick close to the shore—not that there are many Fomorians to worry about in the southern seas, anyway. Once there, you’ll have to deal with Eero…”

“We can worry about him later,” Kitarni adds. “There will be plenty of time on the road for us to go over the minor royals and our strategies for dealing with them.”

That doesn’t sound promising. If I need a strategy to get these kings and queens to give me an oath that they’re supposed to offer freely, then this trip is not going to be anywhere near as simple as they’re making out.

To top it all off, I have to travel between all of these courts, knowing that while I’m happily blessing shrines, the Fomorian army will be choking the life out of Elfhame.

“Do we have the time?” I ask, grimacing. “It’s got to take… weeks, if not months, to cover all of those towns and shrines. How long can Elfhame hold out?”

Florian grimaces. “Once the coronation is over, my plan is to begin temporary evacuations of children and residents through the secret tunnel to Lake Orvendel,” he admits. “The inner city may fall in your absence—we’ve accepted that much and planned for it—but the Palace is impregnable, thanks to the ancient magics with which it was blessed. Myself and a small contingent of knights will hold it until your return. Then we’ll coordinate a counter strike and together we will break the siege.”

So our plan is to let the city fall? My gut sinks, and Jaro releases my thigh in favour of dragging me onto his lap. I let my head fall against his chest, absorbing the comfort he’s freely giving me and sending it back to him.

He still hasn’t forgiven himself for losing the outer city, despite Florian’s calm reassurance that it wasn’t his fault, but I won’t let him shoulder the burden alone.

“And what do you plan to do with my cousin while she’s off traipsing across the realm?” Prae asks, drawing everyone’s focus back to her.

The atmosphere goes from warm to frigid in the space of seconds. Even the heat of the fire at my back can’t fix it. Bram accidentally shifts again, and his fox bolts for the door this time. My gut clenches, and so does Jaro’s hand on my hip.

“You haven’t told her?” I mumble. “But I told you, I trust Prae. Why wouldn’t—”

“It’s none of her business until she’s accepted a place in your court,” Florian answers, taking the defensive.

I free myself of Jaro’s hold and stand, picking up the scrolls I was practising reading with before the magic disaster, then head towards the door. It’s childish to hide from the brewing conflict, but given the day I’ve had, I just don’t have the strength to argue with Prae when I’d give anything to not have to go through with this plan.

Sometimes, you have to save your energy for the fight you know you can win.

“Tell her your plan,” I order, already on my way out of the door. “She deserves to know.”

I don’t like it. In fact, I hate the very idea of charming Caed. But what I want can’t matter when there are people outside the palace gates fearing for their very lives. So I turn and walk down the hallway towards my garden, pretending not to hear Prae’s roar of anger or Florian’s answering snarls as their argument echoes from the library behind me.

And if a single burning tear escapes the corner of my eye and drops soundlessly onto the soft carpet and no one sees it, did it ever really fall at all?

Thirty-Nine

Caed

Iknow something is up when the knights start to file into the dungeon at the crack of dawn and drag me out of my cell to hose me down. For the past week, I’ve been incarcerated in a six-by-six box with only Prae’s daily visits to tell me about the outside world. After my ‘bath’, I’m shoved into a larger jail, with a small window that streams daylight.

They’ve even given me a bed. Oh, theluxury.

The change of scenery is welcome, but anticipation drowns out my gratitude. I know what this means.

Rose is finally coming to see me, and her precious knights don’t want her to know how they’ve been treating me.

An hour passes. Two. I stop pacing my new cell and flop onto the bed instead. The mattress is lumpy but better than the floor, so I twist until I’m sitting with my back pressed against the cold stone wall, arms loosely hugging my knees as I wait.

Maybe I was wrong. Perhaps Rose meant it when she said she was leaving my fate to the rest of the Guard, and they just felt guilty about leaving me to rot in my own shit.

There’s no way that Drystan or the redcap have felt remorse in their overly long lives. The wolf might’ve changed his mind—or concluded that maltreatment of someone on death row is beneath his honour. Or perhaps it was the púca. He’s harder to get a read on than the rest.

After the third hour, my curiosity fades. No one is coming. Perhaps Prae just managed to convince Rose to intervene on my behalf, but it’s clear she still wants nothing to do with me.

Without the anticipation of a visitor to occupy them, my thoughts turn back to the fucked-up series of events that led me here.

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