49. The New World #2
He stumbles back, as if involuntarily, and collapses onto his knees before his body slumps with a thud to the floor. His long leather coat wraps him like a shroud.
FIs, shocked to their senses now, are screaming.
Meg winces, but looks away.
Rike is staggering towards me. As if to protect me from this very thing that I had a hand in initiating.
But Drake is already slotting his fingers in mine. I don’t think we will ever let go of each other again now.
And I can feel it. His magic, pulling towards mine.
Instinctively, I let it.
Our power becomes one entity. Because it always was. It never should have been split.
But the love that will grow between us will keep it together. Keep it strong, stable, beautiful, like this, forever.
You will forget what you have just seen, we will them all.
Dezeeves left the ship in the evacuation. Drake and Meg steered the ship.
Dezeeves was never here at all.
I even know where we will take him and leave him, when we have the right moment. The brig is longing for a prisoner it deserved.
We step around him and exit the hatch, the others following, and it feels a lot like the procession my neighbours and I used to make on a Provision Day. I realise that, ironically, today is Seventh Day. If my village hadn’t been destroyed, my neighbours murdered, they’d be doing exactly that.
As we emerge, the Queen’s court cheer and an orchestra begin playing. A wooden ramp has been erected for us. Drake and I lead the way, as we should, my arm in his.
The air smells sweet from the flowers in the gardens around us, but also from the compounded magic in the air. I can recognise that distinct, vaguely citrusy scent now. It lingers over Drake sometimes.
Enormous butterflies and bees flutter through the air. Swans upon swans huddle or strut by the Queen’s Lake to our left. The rose garden is directly on the right of the courtyard. The maze is just beyond it. And the spires of the palace up ahead are sharp and gleaming.
A group of people are standing at the foot of the ramp.
I would recognise the Queen anywhere with her imposing stature and height and dark, edged, solid features that are so much like Drake’s.
Her emerald gown, complete with traditional long sleeves and a high lace collar, swallows her.
My gaze lands on my mother next, beside her.
She’s beaming at me. I can’t help it. I smile back.
The whole time we descend the ramp, I keep my head held high, and my steps slow and steady.
“My boy,” the Queen gushes in her melodic voice, her arms out wide. He begins to bow to her, but she stops him, enveloping him in a hug. “My boy. Home at last.”
She turns to her court.
“My son,” she declares. “My heir. Has returned to us from his years of training in Lartos, and then serving his country.”
The court are beside themselves.
She turns to me.
I curtsey to her, deeply. I keep my gaze averted from hers until the very last second when I’m standing again.
“Sisters,” she says, black lidded eyes roving over my face, my dress, my braided hair, which I’ve tied with a beautiful silk ribbon I found in a pocket. It’s just like one I had when I lived here, but lost at some point in Hevalla. “Ara. You are exquisite.”
Her gaze moves to my arm, which has found Drake’s again.
She gasps. “We have been successful? You have found love in each other?”
“You did well, Mother,” Drake says. “Ara is everything I would choose in a life partner.”
She faces me, glowing. Her crown and jewels shimmer. “And you, Ara? Is my boy everything you would choose?”
Everything I would choose.
The Card of the Choice.
Accepting the union should have been an easy choice. I can’t think why once, it wasn’t.
It’s strange. It’s like my head is buzzing again.
I ignore it.
“Yes,” I reply smoothly. “And more.”
“Then we will set the wedding date at once. Today is a day of celebration!” she calls to the court, who cheer again. The orchestra play louder. It startles the swans.
The Queen looks around, then, as the other Rhavnans descend the ramp, also bowing or curtseying to her.
“Where is Dezeeves?” she asks Drake.
“He couldn’t make it,” he replies, without missing a beat.
She bats her long, full lashes. “Explain.”
“His services were no longer required.” Drake’s gaze becomes iron. “Our alliances will be chosen by us, now, Mother. And alliances with questionably sane religious fanatics won’t factor into that.”
Her dark eyes smoulder. “We will continue this conversation elsewhere.”
As I step off the ramp, my mother hugs me.
“You have done everything correctly, Darling. You will be a great queen.”
“Yes,” I say. “But we lost Old Mother. And Eric.”
But she’s still beaming. Shaking her head. “Eric is here. And Junara was ready to pass.”
“Eric is here?”
“He preferred not to be part of the welcoming ceremony – you know how he gets with crowds. But yes. He is waiting for you inside.”
“But, how?”
“The terms of the exchange were met. Your exile would only last until the time came for you to meet the Prince. Vikemy arranged for his transfer by sky ship the same day you arrived on The Emperor, I believe.”
I feel choked.
This is a new world, and I am not alone in it.
My family are here.
I look over at Drake, still with the Queen. He is too far from me now. Our magic is pulling at me like a tether. I can’t wait to be back by his side.
He catches my eye. He smiles at me.
And I’m happy.
So happy, I could be on a desert island.
What a strange thought to think.
But it’s true.