Chapter Five #2
Aleksi grasped her hand and kissed the back of it. “And now? Isa lives again.”
Ulric scratched his beard, studying Zanya through narrowed eyes. “How many people do you have in there?”
“I didn’t know I had any,” Zanya retorted. “I wouldn’t even know how to tell. I don’t have time right now to sit around, trying to figure out how it all works.” She squeezed Aleksi’s hand as waves of exhaustion rolled off her. “But I’m glad I had the one you needed.”
“The look on Gwynira’s face when she told me what Sorin had done to Isa . . .” Sachi shivered. “Even after hundreds of years, the pain was still fresh. Isa means everything to her. Having Aleksi bring her back is a debt she can never, ever repay.”
“So she wasn’t involved.” Ulric leaned forward to rest his elbows on his knees. “Not that the Stalker would have needed help. If she has half of Elevia’s tactical skills, breaking Sorin free would have been simple. No offense, Dianthe.”
“None taken,” Dianthe murmured. “And I agree. Though I shudder at the thought of having to face an Elevia free of morals or compassion.”
Elevia’s jaw tightened. “Truly, you should.”
“It’s worse than that,” Ash said. “Don’t forget that there are hundreds—thousands—of people scattered across the Empire with newly awoken magic, able to access both the Dream and the Void.”
It was a harsh reminder of the trials the rest of the High Court had been facing in the former Empire while Aleksi played diplomat.
Sorin had spent centuries siphoning the will and imaginations of his subjects through magic.
He had usurped their connections to the Dream, and stolen the power those connections typically bestowed to keep it for himself.
When Sachi had severed Sorin’s hold on that magic, it had rebounded through the Empire. Anyone with the potential to bend reality, whether through the Dream or the Void, had awakened to that potential in a heady, sometimes maddening rush.
Just like the woman who had kidnapped Aleksi and his lovers.
Zanya slumped back in her chair. “Sachi and I have found more newly awakened people than we can possibly help. And they have powers none of us have ever imagined. It truly feels as if nothing is impossible now.”
“And if we have found so many,” Ash pointed out, “that means our enemies have, as well. Sorin’s assistance could have come from beyond his existing court.”
“We shouldn’t close off any avenues of investigation.” Nyx drained their goblet of wine, cleaned it with a quick flash of blue flame, and replaced it on the shelf. “Not that we ever should anyway.”
“I believe that Gwynira will protect Aleksi,” Dianthe said. “But what about Naia? Is she safe here? And we know the Empire bears no love for Einar.”
Aleksi almost laughed. “If Gwynira does not protect them, as well, then the entire island stands ready to hold her to account.”
Only blank stares greeted his jest, and Aleksi slowly realized that no one understood his words.
How could they, when they did not know?
Elevia started to hand her glass to Nyx, then reconsidered and topped it up again. “Care to let us in on the joke?”
“Not a joke, exactly.” Aleksi ran both hands through his hair. “This island is where Einar was born. The day it fell to the Empire, he was still an infant. He was spirited away to safety by the Queen’s Guard and raised in the Sheltered Lands.”
“By the Queen’s Guard?” Dianthe stared at Aleksi. Her expression was blank, but shock tinged the space around her an uncharacteristic shade of yellowish green as her hands tightened around the arms of her chair. “His parents ruled here?”
“Yes.” The moment called for absolutes, unequivocal statements of fact. “Einar is the Crown-Prince of Rahvekya.”
Silence. Then Nyx whistled, long and low, and Elevia refilled her glass yet again.
Ulric merely tilted his head. “A prince, huh?”
“Whose parents were killed by Sorin,” Ash murmured. “That does explain a few things.”
But Sachi kept staring at Aleksi, so intently that he could practically see the thoughts whirling behind her eyes, ready to coalesce into suspicions. “And Naia?”
“Also safe,” he assured her. “For more complicated reasons.”
Elevia almost choked on her wine. “More complicated than being the island’s long-lost, uncrowned ruler?”
“In a way. Though we fully expected the locals to respect Naia’s command of water, it’s gone a little further than that.
They had a goddess once, and she . . .” Aleksi hesitated.
There was no way to fully explain the goddess’s fate without placing blame directly on the High Court—and Ash, in particular. “She died.”
It was Nyx who forced his hand. “How, Aleksi?”
There was no way to soften the revelation, so he did not try. “When Ash fought with Sorin, and the world threatened to split apart.”
As Sorin fled the bloody fight, Ash had managed to coax the earth itself into holding together. But in its eagerness to protect the Sheltered Lands from further treachery, the earth had raised the mountain range known as the Western Wall between the two former brothers, separating them.
But entire mountain ranges could not rise in an instant without causing calamity. “The upheaval threatened to wash away Rahvekya entirely. Their goddess shielded the island until the seas calmed . . . but at the cost of her life.”
Ash’s face tightened as he whispered a curse. When Sachi reached for his hand, he grasped it, giving her a stricken look even as Dianthe closed her eyes and bowed her head.
And Aleksi could not alleviate their pain.
“So now they think Naia is their goddess. I suppose that having her arrive with the crown-prince did nothing to dissuade them from reaching that conclusion.” Sachi sighed, seemingly torn between sympathy and relief.
“She will have their protection, but at a steep cost. She will be devastated to disappoint them.”
Inga watched Aleksi closely, with eyes gone bright pink with curiosity. “Do you have any other earth-shattering revelations you forgot to share with us?”
He held both hands out at his sides. “That is everything.”
“Is it, now?” Elevia had drifted back toward the bathing area.
She stood by a chair situated halfway behind the privacy screen, squinting down at it.
Slowly, she lifted a discarded silk camisole from the chair with the tip of her finger and turned to Aleksi, one eyebrow raised in a perfect, questioning arch.
Shit. He fought to sound casual as he answered her questions, spoken and otherwise. “Naia and Einar are staying with me. In this suite.”
“Naia and Einar. I see.” Elevia smiled at him with faux innocence. “Safety in numbers?”
Aleksi groaned. “What do I have to do to make this not happen?”
“Come, now. Fair’s fair,” Ulric rumbled with a feral grin. “You saw what she did to poor Ash while he was busy falling in love.”
Zanya covered her face. “I don’t want to know.”
Nyx almost managed to quell a snorting laugh. “To summarize,” they said brightly, their lips trembling with mirth, “Aleksi has gone on a diplomatic mission, been poisoned and kidnapped, rescued himself, brought a god back from the dead, and taken a lover.”
Elevia tossed the camisole on the bed and raised her hand, wiggling her index and middle fingers in the air. “Two lovers.”
Sachi hid a smile behind the back of her hand. “You have been very busy.”
“Don’t forget,” Inga added, “that he also brought the crown-prince back to this island and possibly started a religious uprising.” She paused. “Are we sure Gwynira isn’t trying to kill him?”
Ash raised both eyebrows, then shook his head. “If Gwynira wanted him dead, there are much quicker methods.”
“Indeed.” Elevia grabbed Aleksi’s shoulders, pulled him down, and planted a smacking kiss on top of his head. “I will advise her on the best ones.”
“I’m glad you’re all so amused,” Aleksi muttered, though he couldn’t help a smile to match those around him.
He had missed this so much. Recent months had separated him from the rest of the High Court in more than proximity.
After the final battle against Sorin, Aleksi’s friends had been so anxious not to add to his pain that they had treated him differently. Carefully. It had not been the same.
However.
“I would appreciate it, though,” he went on, “if we could all remember that there actually is someone, presumably still on this island, who tried to kill me. Even worse, they tried to kill Naia and Einar—and they almost succeeded.” He bared his teeth in a fierce grin.
“I would very much like to not have that happen again.”
“All right.” Elevia slipped her arm around his waist and leaned into him. “Tonight, we’ll all take dinner in our rooms and rest up. Tomorrow will come soon enough, and the work begins.”
The others murmured their assent. When the Huntress deigned to make a suggestion—or to give an order—it was best to follow it. She did not do so lightly, or without cause.
But as they broke apart into quiet conversations, Sachi pulled Aleksi aside. “It’s curious,” she murmured.
“What is, love?”
“This place. It’s starting to feel like them—like Naia and Einar.” She tilted her head as she gazed up at him. “Haven’t you noticed?”
He had not. Then again, how could he?
To Aleksi, the entire world felt like the two of them.