Whisper of War and Storms (Heirs of Elydor #1)

Chapter 29

29

MEV

Before I could ruminate any further, my father dismounted.

“Come,” Lyra said. “Let us get you down from here.”

Scrambling off Lyra’s mount, I wished the clothing Isolde had given me was not so travel weary. That thought intensified as the King of Aetheria strode toward me. His cape flowed gracefully behind him, as if it were commanded to do so. A tunic of fine cream peeked out from under a polished silver breastplate, wind patterns emblazoned in the center. He appeared as if ready for battle, but could just as easily be sitting on a throne in such attire. If I knew nothing of this world, looking at him, I could have easily guessed this was the King of Aetheria.

I had little time for nerves as he marched up to me, and without warning, tossed his arms around me. I was engulfed in a hug unlike any I’d felt before. It was not a mother’s warm embrace or Kael’s protective one. This was the embrace of a father who had lost his daughter many years ago. Before I could stop them, tears flowed down my cheeks as I held onto a man I’d wondered about my entire life.

When he released me, I was surprised to see his ice-blue eyes glistening with unshed tears. He cupped my cheeks, staring into my face.

“You are her mirror image.”

I’d heard as much many times before, but this time was different. “I take that as a compliment.”

“As you should.” He released me and stepped back. I’d been about to wipe my face when a light breeze swept across it, accomplishing the task. I stared down at his hands. They’d barely moved. “How did you do that?”

“I will show you. But first, tell me. Is she well?”

By his expression, I realized my father had no notion of whether my mother was even alive. I quickly reassured him. “Very well. But she will worry about me when she learns about my disappearance, if she hasn’t already.”

His visible relief told me all I needed to know of his feelings for her. “We have much to discuss.” He looked to Lyra then. “Thank you.” And then before she could respond, “Are you being followed?”

“Aye, I believe so.”

He looked past me, toward the path we’d just traveled, and addressed Lyra again. “Take her to the palace. We will remain here.”

Oh boy.

“Father?”

Lyra shook her head, but I ignored her warning. This wasn’t a conversation that could wait.

“May I call you that?” I asked when our eyes met.

“I would not have you call me anything but. What is wrong, Mevlida?”

“Naught that cannot wait until we reach safety.” Lyra had made her way to my side. She tugged on my hand. “Come. We will speak to him shortly.”

“Speak to me of what?” he demanded in a tone that was impatient, though not harsh.

Lyra didn’t flinch. “I will whisper to you when we reach the palace.” The way she said whisper made me realize Lyra was telling me to open my ears to her.

You cannot tell him now, in front of the others. Let us reach the safety of the palace first. Kael will not come before then. Trust me.

Without giving either of us an opportunity to respond, Lyra pulled me back toward her mount, and I allowed it. I did trust her, and Lyra knew much more than I did about the men that had accompanied my father.

I hadn’t noticed, when my father and I were speaking, that the road ahead had begun to line with Aetherians. And lots of them.

As we climbed, at times navigating across bridges of polished white stone and gleaming crystals, I tried not to look down. Though I’d never been afraid of heights, this was something else entirely. Everywhere we went, claps and cheers greeted us. I didn’t know where to look first.

The waterfalls, which seemed to glow, courtesy of silkspore or lumina moss or who knew what else? The masses of white and silvery hair and flowing capes? Some stood on plateaus waving, others on each side of the bridges we crossed. I waved back, all the while urging Lyra to hurry. The sooner we reached the palace, the sooner she could tell my father to return and I could warn him about Kael.

“There it is,” Lyra said, my attention turning ahead rather than behind us.

Built from what looked like pale, iridescent stone, its towers spiraled gracefully toward the sky above us. It had large, arching windows with so many balconies overlooking what looked like floating gardens. I’d wonder how such a thing was possible, but there was no time as Lyra spoke to the guards that stood on both sides of a pathway that ascended upward toward the palace.

After the guards greeted me, we were riding once again.

“This is the Skyway,” Lyra said. “From the guards below to more magical wards than you can imagine, your father’s palace is more secure than any place in Aetheria, maybe even Elydor.”

So that explained why Lyra waved her hand periodically, to get through the wards.

When we reached the top, the stairs of the palace were lined with people, all smiling and waving to me.

It was all too much.

“Are you okay?”

I wasn’t. For the third time in my life, twice here in Elydor, I was going to faint. I tried to warn Lyra, but the words didn’t come out before I felt consciousness slipping away.

“Unused to the air.”

“So many people.”

“Take the salts away.”

The softest bed I’d ever been in cushioned me, its bedding like lying on clouds. The ceiling above me was painted with constellations that appeared to be alive, just like the ones in the portal in The Crooked Key. As I turned my head toward Lyra’s voice, it was a man who grabbed my attention first. He sat beside me, smiling.

Perhaps as old as my father, though it was hard to tell since Elydorians aged differently, his long silver hair was pulled back into a low ponytail. His eyes, unusual for an Aetherian, were a shade of light brown and not blue.

“Your eyes?” I blurted.

“My mother was Gyorian, before such a name even existed.”

“Galindre is valieth,” Lyra said. “He has lived here since before the clans emerged.”

“Wow.” I tried to sit up, but he stopped me.

“Rest. Your father will be along soon. I’ve asked for food to be brought to you. Lyra, it seems, forgot how often humans need sustenance.”

Lyra gave the man a look. “Perhaps I should have arranged a picnic when she fainted?”

It was clear by their camaraderie the two were close.

“Where is she?”

I hadn’t even heard him come in. A moment later, my father sat beside Galindre. He took my hand, a kind and loving gesture. My mother’s love language had always been touch. She told me once that a hug needed to last ten seconds to count, even though thirty was preferable, and that human beings needed at least ten hugs a day. I still had no idea if this were true.

“She is well,” Galindre said. “The air and lack of food and water?—”

“As well as the entire palace coming out to greet her,” Lyra added.

“The palace?” I asked, remembering. “All of Aethralis, it seemed.”

“Word has spread,” my father confirmed. “It is a day many thought would never happen. That I thought would never happen.” He squeezed my hand. The bed shifted. Galindre had risen and was leaving the enormous bedroom, with Lyra by his side, through an equally enormous double door.

“He seems nice,” I said, rather lamely.

“Galindre is the palace’s high steward. He tends to it, and the people of Aethralis, and has been doing so for longer than I’ve been king. There is no better man, or healer, in all of Elydor.”

A steward and healer. Made sense. And was also my opening. “He said his mother is Gyorian?”

My father shrugged. “She has long passed, but aye. She would be called so today. Back then, the clans were just beginning to form.”

“So it’s possible for an Aetherian and Gyorian to be together?”

His expression revealed nothing.

“Lyra has been teaching you of our ways?”

I nodded, but waited for my own answer before responding.

King Galfrid, my mother’s partner and my father, sighed so heavily that I knew what came from his mouth next wasn’t something I’d want to hear.

“It was possible, once. Now however…”

He didn’t seem inclined to continue. And if I wasn’t so worried about Kael being turned away, or worse, attacked, I’d have waited to give him the news. But this had to be said.

“Father.” I sat up, still holding his hand. “I don’t know how much Lyra told you.”

“She whispered to me that you’d arrived at the palace safely, but said nothing else.”

The coward part of me wished Lyra had broken the news to him, but it wasn’t her duty. That fell squarely on my shoulders.

I’d survived falling through a portal into an immortal world. I could survive this too.

“It was not only Lyra who escorted me here.”

His eyes narrowed. “I know well who intercepted you from the Gate and am sorry for it. By the time we learned someone had come through?—”

“He did not harm me,” I rushed out. “Kael kept me safe and allowed Lyra to find us and train me. He escorted us until we realized we were being followed and stayed at the base of the mountain to slow them down while Lyra brought me here.”

His eyes darkened with each word. I could not stop now, though. It was true. Kael might have claimed we were enemies, but his actions proved the exact opposite. By not taking me to his father, he’d made a choice that, until now, had not truly hit home. I might not have been able to break down all of his walls, but thinking back to the way he looked at me, held me, kissed me… how could I have been so blind?

“I am in love with him.”

There. Now I was done.

Everything I knew about my father, including the way he’d treated me since I arrived, told me not to panic. He would listen. Understand. Talk this through. Together, he and Kael and I, with Lyra’s and Rowan’s help, would figure out how I’d come through the Gate, how to get back, maybe even how I could get my mother and bring her here, if that was something she wanted.

“I would give you”—my father’s words were calm and measured—“anything. I would learn to harness the very stars themselves for you. Every day since your mother was taken from me, with you growing inside her, I prayed to the gods for her return. Worried for your safety, and hers. I thought of what you might look like. Wondered if you had her curiosity and determination. I would give you anything, daughter.”

My heart soared.

“But that.”