Chapter 34
34
KAEL
It was the same round table I’d walked away from on that fateful day. I was not fully prepared to be here as a sworn man of King Galfrid.
Since yesterday, everything and nothing had happened.
I was installed in a bedchamber as far away from Mev as possible, and when I’d sought her out last eve, the king had stopped me.
“She is asleep.”
I had been inclined not to care. Nothing would keep me from her.
“Also, I wish to speak with you.”
Except that.
Mev had searched for answers about her father her whole life, living without him, and I would not force a choice between us. That meant the only way forward was a truce between me and the Aetherian king.
So I went with him. We’d talked about Mev, the current state of affairs in Elydor, and the reason I’d left the Summit. We spoke into the morning, reminding me of the years I’d served on the Council. None, even my own father, doubted King Galfrid’s character, but our opposing views on the impact of humans on Elydor had never seen us on the same side. Until now.
“Is it not strange to be sitting here?” Adren whispered after Galfrid welcomed everyone.
We’d both been surprised my friend was invited. “Strange is one word I might use.”
“Father is looking at you,” Mev whispered to my right. In response, I reached below the table and rested my hand on her leg. If the king was looking, which he indeed seemed to be, I’d give him a reason to do so.
Instead of moving my hand, Mev laid hers atop mine.
I dragged my attention away from Mev. From having served on the Council, I knew everyone around the table. In addition to our crew—Mev, Lyra, Rowan and now Adren—the king had brought Eirion and two of his other close advisors. All were briefed on Mev’s failed attempt to open the Gate, a vision of which I needed no reminder.
It would haunt all my days to come.
Seeing her lift a hand, saying nothing but wanting to bring down the entire Temple to prevent her from leaving me, had been one of the hardest things I’d ever done.
“Our shared goal,” the king said, “is reopening the Aetherian Gate, allowing Princess Mevlida to pass through at will. To bring back the Queen of Aetheria and reunite the humans in Elydor who wish to return.”
“The same goal we’ve had for many years,” Eirion pointed out.
He was not wrong.
“There is a difference now.” Mev spoke up, her voice strong and clear. “I might not have been able to return, but the fact is, that portal did open for me at The Crooked Key.” Mev’s chin raised as she looked squarely at Eirion who was, in turn, glaring at me. “I would reiterate my father’s wishes for the past to remain as such when it comes to Kael and his companion. He brought me safely here, and I will not accept animosity toward him.”
I smartly resisted smiling.
All three looked to the king.
“While she remains in Elydor, the princess speaks with my authority.”
After that, there were fewer glares my way. And because of her words, I kept my own at bay as the king spoke once again.
“I would ask for your vow, on the spirit of Elydor, to reveal none of which I am able to tell you.”
Silence.
To Mev’s confused expression, I whispered, “The spirit of Elydor is our land’s essence. Breaking such a vow could disrupt the balance necessary for the magic we wield. Only a king or queen can ask for such a vow. It is rarely requested, or given.”
One by one, each of those present offered their vow. Returning Mev to Aethralis, battling Terran, kneeling to the Aetherian king, and now… this. I would be dead to my father when he learned of it.
When it came to me, I paused, sensing Adren’s unease. He knew the stakes as well as I. But the die had been cast the moment I’d decided to bring Mev here instead of to my father.
“I vow it,” I said. Unsurprisingly, Adren did the same.
“More than eight hundred years ago,” the king continued, “I opened the Gate to the human world using the most powerful relics from each of our three clans. After years of studying the ancient texts, it became clear we could only connect to the human realm with the support of all three clans. It took many years to determine the use of the Wind Crystal, the Stone of Mor’Vallis, and the Tidal Pearl were the embodiment of that support. I was not the first to attempt to open a portal to the human realm, but I was the first to wield all three relics without forfeiting my life doing so.”
His explanation came as a surprise only to Mev and Lyra. It was clear the king’s advisors knew how the Gate had been opened already, the same knowledge my father spent hundreds of years trying to learn himself. He’d told both Terran and me, of course, as we’d helped him accomplish the Gate’s closing. We, in turn, told only those who’d accompanied us on that fateful day.
Most interestingly, however, the news did not appear to surprise Rowan. Though Galfrid had asked if I trusted him, the king had revealed little of his own relationship with the royal emissary. It was clear the two knew each other, but that the king had asked him here, asked for his vow and now revealed the biggest secret in Elydor’s history to him? I’d always known there was more to Rowan, and this solidified my belief.
“King Balthor devoted his life, those many years, to gaining the same knowledge I once had. He gathered the relics?—”
I winced.
“And closed it.”
Mev squeezed my hand when, in truth, it was I who should be comforting her. It was clearly a painful memory for the king, and I could never properly atone for the role I’d played. I would try, though, by helping to reopen it.
“I will retrieve the Stone of Mor’Vallis,” I said.
A bold claim as it resided, as all knew, in plain sight. Embedded in my father’s crown which he wore at all times, one which was locked inside his bedchamber at night.
“Unfortunately,” Galfrid said. “Even with the Stone of Mor’Vallis, the Gate cannot be reopened.”
“I am confident,” Rowan said, “Queen Lirael will cooperate and offer the Tidal Pearl for such a use.”
He knew the inner workings of the Thalassari too? My eyes narrowed, but Rowan ignored me.
“I am not as confident,” one of the king’s advisors disputed. “She may not hate humans, as Balthor does, but neither has she mourned the Gate’s closing.”
“I know as well as anyone.” Rowan sat back in his seat, the epitome of calm. “How little the queen has aided my people these past years. But neither has she been hostile to us, as you said. And there is a faction within the Thalassari, a growing one, pushing for a closer alliance with us. I believe the tides have been changing for some time.”
“Tides.” Mev smiled. “Well spoken, Rowan.”
“It was unintentional,” he teased her back.
Damn human. “How is it you know the queen’s thinking?” I asked.
“It matters little,” the king interrupted. “Even with the Tidal Pearl, we cannot open the Gate.”
Every head in the room turned toward him.
“We also need the Wind Crystal.”
I was not the only one confused. Even the all-knowing Rowan appeared perplexed at the king’s words, as did his own advisors.
Galfrid sighed heavily, looking in my direction.
“Your father still has it.”
Everyone began talking at once, but my eyes never left the king’s.
“Impossible. I handed it to you myself.”
“Which is how I knew, despite your part in the Gate’s closing, you were not complicit in your father’s deception in the Wind Crystal’s negotiation.”
His hand went up for silence. All others quieted.
The king waited, apparently for me to unpuzzle his words. I thought back to that day. After many months of negotiations, my father had sent me north to return the Wind Crystal. In exchange, King Galfrid once again allowed the free exchange of goods across our borders which had been cut off when the Gate had closed.
Adren had accompanied me, but he’d not been allowed into the throne room when I handed the encased Wind Crystal back to Galfrid. The king took it, I remembered now, looked at me and said nothing. I turned and left, the deed completed.
“There was a human with you that day,” I said, remembering.
“Indeed. One with similar abilities to my daughter. He is now deceased, but at the time, served as an ally to me and Aetheria.”
Similar abilities to my daughter.
Mev sensed intent. Could see pieces of the future. If the king’s human advisor sensed intent, but mine was solely to return the Crystal… a knot began to slowly unfurl in my stomach. One of disbelief. And yet, when it came to thwarting King Galfrid, was it surprising? My father had kidnapped a woman with child, separating her for eternity, or so he believed, from her husband.
“It was fake.”
King Galfrid nodded. “I know not how he created such a replica, but I could immediately sense its lack of power.”
I ignored the collective gasp around the room.
“A power I would have no knowledge of.” The Wind Crystal was nothing more than a pretty gem to a Gyorian.
“How could we not have known?” Lyra asked. “There have been instances, these past years, when the Wind Crystal was used.”
King Galfrid’s smile was a sly one. “Some of those instances, merely rumors of its use. Other times, I did indeed rely on other relics to intensify my magic. But it was never the Wind Crystal, as it’s been lost to use for many years.”
Stunned silence.
“There is only one who knows of its disappearance,” Galfrid said. “And she ensures me that it still resides within Elydor and has not been destroyed.”
“Salvia,” Mev blurted. “The old keeper of artifacts.”
“Aye. Even the new keeper does not know of its disappearance. Which”—he shrugged—“convinces me she is not as capable a keeper as Salvia.”
I thought back to Salvia’s insistence that there was a disturbance in the Wind Crystal. None knew, at the time, it was not with King Galfrid. But the Aetherian woman had known. What did it mean, that there had been a disturbance? And where was the Crystal now?
“My father knows of its location,” I said. “We will find it.”
“He will no sooner reveal that location than offer up the Stone of Mor’Vallis,” the king said. “I’ve been searching for it for many years.”
The king had obviously not been in Gyoria these past years searching for the Wind Crystal himself. There were few Aetherians who roamed freely in Gyoria. So who had been doing the searching for him?
Rowan.
His expression revealed nothing, as always.
Mev let go of my hand and put both of hers on the table in front of us. “So we recover the Wind Crystal, get the Stone of Mor’Vallis, and reopen the Gate. How shall we begin?”
My father’s treachery did not matter. Rowan’s secrecy did not matter. That I was now King Galfrid’s man did not matter. Only one thing mattered at this moment, and it was the woman beside me. The beautiful, determined Princess of Aetheria.
My princess.