Chapter 11
Cyra
I pulled my cloak tighter around me the next day as I waited for Jaylan to finish his examination of the last row of barrels in the cellar of my new vineyard.
Twenty-two years I’d lived and worked with Jaylan, and I still misjudged his thoroughness.
I’d estimated it would take us forty-five minutes, maybe an hour, to tour the cellar, but we’d been down here an hour and a half already.
My brothers had been out at the market when I’d arrived at the Citadel yesterday with Bressen, so I hadn’t seen them that morning, but I’d gotten a chance to catch up with them in the afternoon.
I probably should’ve told them I was coming to Callanus, but I’d wanted to surprise them.
As such, I’d missed out on seeing them for a few hours, but the tradeoff was that I’d ended up at the Priory and discovered the song with Phaedrus.
Jaylan and Brix had been living at the Citadel since our vineyard in Fernweh was destroyed, and I hadn’t seen nearly as much of them as I would’ve liked.
We’d had time in the afternoon and evening to visit yesterday, though, and I’d peppered Jaylan with questions about the song and anything he could remember about our mother when I finally saw him.
Unfortunately, he didn’t remember much more than I did.
In any case, Jaylan and Brix had agreed to come see the new vineyard in Solandis today. It was a visit that was long overdue.
I’d wanted to get a few things in order before I brought my brothers over because I knew Jaylan would spend a ridiculous amount of time scrutinizing every stave and bunghole in the place.
Brix, on the other hand, had already sampled wine from half the barrels and was now waiting impatiently – and slightly drunkenly – for Jaylan to finish up so we could go outside and walk through the vines.
“It looks like the previous owner did a decent job of keeping his barrels in good condition,” Jaylan said finally as he straightened up from where he’d been crouching.
He opened the stopper of a barrel, dipped a small ladle inside, then pulled it out and poured the sample of wine into his glass. He took a sniff, swirled the contents, then sniffed them again before taking a swig of the liquid. He swished it around his mouth before swallowing.
“Not bad at all,” he said. “It looks like you’ll have a good first vintage.”
“I’m not considering it my first vintage,” I said. “The previous owner did all the work, so it’s still his. He actually ages his wine in the barrels for two years instead of one before he bottles.”
Jaylan and Brix both looked at me in surprise.
“Two years?” Brix said. “Why so long?”
I shrugged. “He swears the extra aging does wonders for it.”
We’d only ever aged our wine for about a year back in Fernweh, but that was because there was a high demand for it in the area. We never had time to let it sit for much longer.
There were quite a few vineyards up here along the Hiraethian coast, though, so competition was stiffer.
The man who’d owned the vineyard before me had been able to let some of his wine sit longer because there was less demand for it, and the extra time had proven to be a boon.
He’d since made it standard practice to age his wine for two years, and people were starting to notice the difference.
Demand had gone up, and I was determined to see if I could continue his way of doing things.
“How many bottles can we take back with us?” Brix asked as he slid off the barrel he’d been sitting on. He swayed before catching his balance.
“You can take what you can carry in one trip,” I told him.
Jaylan let out a deep sigh. “Don’t tell him that or he’ll load himself down with cases, and then you’ll have broken bottles all over your floor.”
I smiled. “Don’t worry,” I assured Brix. “I’ll send you back with a good supply. Let’s go up and look at the vines before it gets dark.”
It was an exaggeration. It was still mid-afternoon and wouldn’t be dark for several hours, but it was a playful jab at Jaylan for how long he’d taken, and he rolled his eyes.
“I’m really happy for you, Cyra,” Jaylan said as we headed for the door. “This looks like a great place.”
“It is,” I said, “and I’m excited to try some new things. I’ll need a lot of help, though.”
I let the thought hang in the air, but neither Jaylan nor Brix jumped in to offer any assistance. I was hoping this tour might convince them to move up here and work the vineyard with me like we’d done together in Fernweh, but they hadn’t taken the hint.
I missed my brothers and wanted them closer than Callanus. More than that, I wanted to work with them again. For all we’d fought and gotten on each other’s nerves over the years, we’d also had a lot of fun and produced wine that had made its way into the Citadel’s cellars.
“There’s something we’ve been meaning to talk to you about, Cyra,” Jaylan said as we finished ascending the stairs from the cellar and emerged again into the tasting room.
Unlike our vineyard back in Fernweh, where we made the wine then sent it elsewhere to be consumed, this vineyard had a social space where people could come and drink.
It was almost like a vineyard and tavern in one.
It was on the outskirts of Solandis, but it was located close to another town, so it provided a convenient halfway point between the two places for travelers to stop and have a drink.
The previous owner had always planned to build up this part of the business but had never quite gotten around to it.
Once we took care of the threat from Magdalene and Sandrian, I hoped to pick up where he left off.
“What did you want to talk about?” I asked as I led Jaylan and Brix through the tasting room and out back into the rows of vines.
My heart fluttered faster in anticipation that maybe they were ready to take me up on my offer to have them work here after all.
Jaylan fell into step beside me as we headed down one of the rows. It was almost Spring, and some of the vines had started their bud break after the last week of milder weather.
“Brix and I have given this a lot of thought over the last couple weeks,” Jaylan said, “and we came to a decision.”
“Oh? A decision about what?” I asked pretending ignorance.
“We can’t stay at the Citadel forever,” Jaylan said. “We’re grateful to Bressen and Aidan for letting us stay there while we decided what to do, but we’re starting to overstay our welcome.”
“I’m sure that’s not true,” I said.
“You wouldn’t say that if you saw the relief on the faces of the kitchen staff after every meal when Brix finally leaves the dining room.”
I smiled. Brix had always had a prodigious appetite, and he’d been given access to a limitless amount of food while staying at the Citadel.
When he’d worked on the vineyard, he’d burned off whatever he ate quickly, but I’d noticed recently that between his lack of activity and the abundance of food at meals, he’d gotten softer in the middle.
“So what did you decide?” I asked.
Jaylan was quiet as we walked a ways. “It’s time for us to go back to Fernweh,” he said finally.
I jerked to a stop, and Brix swore as he had to sidestep to keep from crashing into me.
“Fernweh?” I asked incredulously. “Why?”
Jaylan stopped as well and turned to look at me. “Cyra, Fernweh is our home.”
“People can move,” I pointed out. “And the last time you were there your so-called neighbors burned our vineyard to the ground and beat you bloody. It’s not safe for you to go back.”
“We don’t expect you to understand-”
“What’s that supposed to mean?” I cut him off.
Jaylan sighed. “I’m not trying to dismiss what you went through when the Triumvirate took you away from us,” he said, “and I know it wasn’t easy for you to leave Fernweh and move up here, but you had a reason to move. You have Bressen.”
“And you don’t have a reason?” I argued. “The townspeople almost killing you isn’t enough reason? I’m not enough reason?”
My voice had grown a bit hysterical, but I couldn’t help it.
“Cyra, you’ll always be our family, and you’ll always be important to us,” Jaylan said, “but Brix and I can’t build our lives around you. We need to find our own way. We need to build our own families.”
Understanding struck me. “You want to go back to Maeve,” I said.
Jaylan had been seeing Maeve for almost two years before the incident at the vineyard. He’d planned to marry her, but she’d cut ties with him when people had learned I was perimortal and turned on my brothers.
Jaylan inhaled deeply. “That’s one of the reasons,” he said. “I have to at least try to see if she’ll give me another chance. Then there’s the house and the vineyard. We can’t just leave them to rot.”
“The vineyard is gone,” I said, more brutally than necessary.
“Much of it is,” Jaylan said, “but not all, and it can be replanted. The land is still there. It will be a lot of work, but it’s a chance to start over and maybe do something new. Plant different grapes.”
“The vines need to mature for a few years before you’ll be able to make decent wine,” I said. “What do you plan to do until then?”
“Whatever we can,” Jaylan said. “We haven’t figured everything out yet, but we need to go back and see if we can start over.”
“And what if the people in town decide to burn the vineyard again?” I asked, desperate to talk him out of this. “What if they come after you, try to hurt you?”
“You think they’d dare after what you did last time?” Brix asked, chiming in for the first time. “They’re all afraid-”
“Brix!” Jaylan interrupted him. “Nemesis take you!”
“What?” Brix asked, oblivious to the look of horror I wore. I’d nearly killed three men by trying to make them walk into a burning building the last time I was in Fernweh.
“Between Bressen and Cyra, they’ll be too…” Brix trailed off as he finally noticed how pale I’d gone. “Cyra, are you alright?”