Epilogue #2
“Dinyn did,” Elspeth replied. “But he couldn’t exactly say, ‘Hey, my mom is a Sister of the Tribe. You can trust me. I’m an ally.’”
“He can now,” Salyna murmured. “Monique spilled the beans.”
“She had no choice,” Clover stated. “She had her orders. Intervene covertly, unless the danger level was such, exposure was necessary. The danger was such, exposure was necessary. Therefore, she followed her orders to the letter.”
Elspeth eyed Monique where she sat under the shining sun across the open-air oval space on a bench carved in white stone.
“We need to send more Visitors,” Salyna declared.
“Monique seems to be working just fine,” Elleliese, the last member of the Council of Three said.
“And it is my future king who’s on the line. I don’t have to remind you, me, and all my ancestors, have been assigned to serve the Dayrise Dynasty since it emerged,” Salyna said.
Before any of the Council could reply, Calisa’s voice rang out.
“I call a vote on sending more Visitors!”
As the noise of the stamping feet and snapping fingers rose, Clover snatched up her staff and struck its edge against the white stone by her feet.
A great wave of light flashed out from the strike, rushing over the space, and the assemblage went silent.
“It is up to them to fight this battle,” Clover told them what they all knew. “It is a test of the gods they must best on their own.”
“We failed the last time,” Felenia returned.
“It is up to them,” Clover repeated. “As it was the last time.”
“With some help,” Elspeth put in.
“As with the last time, the Visitor was chosen by the gods,” Clover shot back.
“We haven’t exactly stayed tucked safe on this isle,” Felenia pointed out.
“Calisa is Queen of Night’s Fall. I’m a Royal Princess of Land’s End.
Elspeth is the mother of a representative of the Center.
Salyna is an advisor to the crown of Dawn’s Break.
And our lost sister Darynda birthed the current king of Sky’s Edge.
We’re entrenched. We’re involved. And the beings we love, and some of us birthed, are in mortal danger. ”
“Unless the gods speak, those beings will save our blade of realms—” Elleliese began.
“Or they’ll die trying,” Calisa bit. “Yes. Yes. Save the grand clichéd proclamations. We know. What we’re saying is, we were made warrior for a purpose. We are not made simply to watch. We are made to defend.”
“We are made,” Juliliel began soothingly, “to perform the will of the gods.”
The white oval fell silent.
For they all knew this to be true.
Calisa, Felenia, Elspeth and Salyna looked at Monique.
She lifted her chin nobly.
Monique was a consummate sister.
At least there was that.
With another stamp of her staff, Clover declared, “This assembly is closed.”
Once this was done, without another word, the Sisters of the Tribe blinked out of the oval one by one.
But it was Monique who vanished first.
Barret
Being very careful not to be seen, something she excelled at due to years of practice, Barret watched the female confer clandestinely with a male Barret did not know.
Therefore, he was a male who should not be on castle grounds.
But he was.
Further, both of them were in a spot that was not covered by the security cams that were monitored by the castle guard.
And Dyrdyn was speaking to him.
No.
It was the male who was doing most of the talking.
Barret watched as he handed Dyrdyn something. She then watched Dyrdyn quickly hide it in her bag.
The male spirited himself away.
She knew Dyrdyn would be on her guard, so Barret could not follow her.
However, as noted, Barret had this down.
Thus, she scurried to the kitchens.
She picked up the tray of tea and chocolate custard twists she had at the ready.
And she took it to the guard station down the hall.
As the guards drank tea, ate twists and chatted in friendly ways with Barret (because Barret came in there often), she scanned the screens that showed the angles of the castle, inside and out, and watched Dyrdyn tuck something away in a cupboard in the medi-unit.
Of course, being a nurse there, no one would suspect anything untoward.
But Barret knew it was untoward.
All right, she didn’t know.
But with the odd way King Riland had acted, especially in his last days, when he did not seem physically sick at all, so much so, she was shocked to her bones he’d died (and as such, she was perhaps the only one in the realm who was not surprised to find out he’d been murdered), she knew something was happening.
However, in those last days, behind his eyes was panic.
And rage.
Such rage.
That wasn’t the first time she’d seen that from the king.
But it had been the strongest.
She wished she had the courage to go in that medi-unit after hours and see what that was.
However, the medi-unit was not her province. They had specialized cleaning staff for the medi-unit. Unless she was hurt, there was no reason for her to be there. And the guard would see her in there and wonder why. Especially after the news of what befell King Riland.
This had, for years, stymied her.
Because Dyrdyn wasn’t the first.
It broke her heart. Camaryn adored her. They were planning a happy future together. And since Barret watched, she knew Camaryn had no idea.
He could even be a front for Dyrdyn, and not her beloved new husband at all.
Yes.
That broke her heart.
But now, there was Catla Truelock.
Thus far, it seemed Barret could trust that female.
It seemed that female had nothing but the king’s best interests at heart.
And it seemed this king had the best interests of Sky’s Edge at heart.
So maybe she could tell them.
Tell them and hope she was not wrong.
Tell them and hope they weren’t in on it (whatever it was) too.
Tell them and not cast suspicion on herself.
It was early days, though.
It frightened her, whatever Dyrdyn put in the medi-unit.
But she had to be sure.
Therefore, she had to wait and see.
Catla
Three weeks later…
I stood in the closet in the citadel, putting away my new citadel wardrobe.
Or it was a room that was now a closet.
Before, it had been the king’s dressing chamber.
Through a newly constructed open double doorway was Tanyn’s closet, a space that had once been the king’s valet’s room.
I wasn’t a big fan of our closets being separated. I’d grown accustomed, on occasion, to getting ready with Tanyn around.
I liked it.
Then again, I liked anytime my male was around.
Of course, that doorway was big, and I’d been told, if they removed the wall, the entire citadel would fall down.
So there was that.
It still sucked.
I finished with putting the last sweater on a newly fitted shelf, moved to the double doorway to peek in at my efforts with Tanyn’s clothes that had been moved from his old room (and new ones I’d purchased besides), then I walked into the bedchamber.
Zyra was there, fluffing the gold-fringed bolster pillow on the tester bed.
I had to admit, with no humility, the room was smashing.
Thick, richly colored rugs on the refurbished wood floors.
Fabulous bedclothes and hangings in a coffee, burnt orange, burnished gold and sap green paisley.
Two big, slouchy armchairs angled toward the fire with a carved footed table between them, wide enough both Tanyn and I could set down our drinks, our books, tablets, whatever.
Old-fashioned plug-in lamps scattered for illumination, but also to create a mood.
Tanyn had seen our efforts, and he’d approved with a long, juicy kiss (that was for me, the one for Zyra was on her cheek and it wasn’t long or juicy).
Now, Cormac would sleep in Tanyn’s old room.
Gayle was in mine.
And three other rooms had been completed so we could all be there. One for Aleksei and Laura (where my parents would stay during Dead Winter), the other two for Aleece and Bain.
Zyra noticed my arrival in the bedchamber, turned her head and smiled at me.
“We done good, didn’t we?” she asked.
“We sure did,” I replied.
She placed the bolster and straightened from the bed. “I knew this was going to be fun, but watching it all come together, it’s a lot more fun than I thought it would be.”
She was correct, and I could see she was glad to be home.
“And now you get to watch it all come to fruition in person,” I noted.
Her smile turned radiant. “I will. I love having this many beings here. It’s never been like this. It’s so…” She was at a loss for words.
“Alive?” I supplied.
More radiance. “That,” she agreed. The glow faded as a shadow crossed her face when she went on, “Darynda would have loved this, especially that Tanyn has it.”
I’d never met the female.
I still knew Zyr spoke true.
I went to her and gave her a hug, we held on tight, and when she stepped away, she was swiping the scarlet tears from her face.
“I think I have something to do in the kitchen,” she muttered her lie.
I let her have it and I let her go.
After she’d gone, I walked into newly refinished solar that Zyra and I had outfitted with an intimate table where Tanyn and I could eat if we wanted to do so upstairs, and not do it holding our plates in front of our faces.
This was joined by a chaise longue gracing one window, and another seating arrangement of two comfortable chairs facing out in the direction of the chunks of ice floating on the surface of the Borea Sea.
I walked to the windows, looked down, and an unexpected giggle rolled up my throat and through my lips.
This was because, in the snow at the base of the plateau, a gorgeous pink dragon was cavorting in the powder, rolling, prancing and sending up great sprays of flurries.
Sitting in the blanket of flakes beside her was a large, proud beast of black and purple, webbed wings, claws and spikes, watching her with a terrifying expression on its face.
Laura and Aleksei.
Or, more to the point, their beasts.
Lex’s beast’s expression wasn’t alarming. It had RTF (resting terrifying face). Actually, it was more aptly described as PTF (permanent terrifying face).
However, I saw in the swish of his powerful tail he was enjoying Laura’s show.
My Palm buzzed in the back pocket of my jeans.