Chapter 42
Rylee
“A payment?” Ivy asks, all but forgetting her half-eaten breakfast. “For what?”
“I don’t know,” I admit, sipping my second mug of coffee. I couldn’t sleep last night, not after the orders from Evaluna and the dream that wasn’t a dream.
“I can’t tell what’s more disturbing, the goddess Evaluna talking to you through your dreams or that there’s something out there Baydel is afraid of,” Layce adds after chomping into a bite of bacon.
“I agree,” Mirren says from where she fusses in my wardrobe. “I’ve been here long enough to know that’s not normal.”
I flash her a look. “You’ve never seen Baydel deal with anyone like that?”
She shakes her head. “All the kings have enemies. That comes with the territory, but . . .” She tilts her head like she’s trying to recall a memory from long ago. “I can’t remember him acting afraid. Ever. Not even when Evaluna would get cross with him.”
My eyebrows rise at that. “She’d get cross?”
Ivy physically shivers. “I can’t imagine angering her.”
“They were mates,” Mirren replies. “Of course they grew cross with each other at times. You’re in the early stages of your mating,” she says to me. “Can you not imagine arguing with any of the princes?”
“Jax and I are practically pros at it,” I admit. “And I’ve argued with each of them. It’s a give-and-take. I know that. But I’m not a goddess. Wouldn’t Baydel be worried about upsetting her?”
Mirren shrugs. “They were mated. He knew she would never harm him.”
“Is that a mating bond thing we don’t understand?” Layce asks, then finishes her eggs and fruit.
“I’m still learning,” I answer, putting my coffee cup down to turn another page in Erin’s journal, careful to not get any crumbs on it. “But the idea of physically harming any one of them is abhorrent.” Just the thought produces a visceral reaction that has my stomach churning.
“The history says it’s in the magic,” Mirren explains. “The Fates choose mates based on compatibility and strength of matching. It would be easy to weave magic into the bond to ensure no harm can come to one by the other’s hand, but I’m not sure if that theory has ever been tested.”
“Weird,” Ivy says. “I don’t like the idea. Sorry, Ry, I’m glad you’re happy, but I’d hate to have my future laid out like that.”
“It was my choice,” I remind her. “I didn’t have to go through the Athanry.”
“If you hadn’t, you wouldn’t be mated to them?” Layce asks.
I shake my head. “A part of me knew,” I say.
“Something inside I can’t explain, but no.
If I’d refused to go through the Athanry, our bonds wouldn’t have been solidified by the goddesses.
It may be the Fates that find the matches, but the goddesses were the ones who played with the magic to only allow their sons to have one mate instead of four, like they had. ”
“But didn’t they choose their mates?” Ivy asks, sipping her coffee. “Not the Fates?”
I turn to Mirren, standing by the wardrobe.
“Legend says as much,” she answers. “But for a goddess to choose a mortal male . . . you have to assume the Fates had something to do with that.”
“At least you chose them,” Layce says. “In the end, like you said, you had the choice. You made it.”
A yearning awakens inside me. “I’ll always choose them.”
Layce reaches across the table and squeezes my hand.
I smile at my friends, grateful for their support. And their presence. If they weren’t here . . . if Mirren wasn’t here with me, too, I don’t know what I’d do.
“So, back to what you saw last night,” Ivy says. “Do you think it’s some sort of bribe? Maybe Baydel buys the alliances he secures?”
“I wouldn’t put it past him.” I turn another journal page.
The sketches are so familiar now, I could probably draw them myself.
“And you know how wealthy Lumathyst is. They cart precious materials in and out of the Ashlands daily. There would certainly be enough to entice other realms to be our allies.”
“Maybe he sent such a payment with Jax to Keleshore?” Layce asks.
My throat tightens. “Maybe. Either way, I’m dying to hear from Jax. The dream . . .”
“That wasn’t exactly a dream?” Layce offers.
“Yes,” I say. “It started with him calling out to me.”
“Maybe that was actually a dream,” Ivy says. “And the rest wasn’t.”
A headache forms behind my eyes. I turn to Mirren. “Should I ask Baydel what he sent over with Jax?”
Mirren’s eyes widen. “Do you need a bigger target on your back when it comes to him?”
“He started it,” I say.
“I wouldn’t push it,” Mirren says, opening the door to the hallway.
“There’s too much at stake. Your main focus should be winning the Royal Authority Council’s support.
You already have Jullian in your favor. That much is clear with his support every time you’re put on the spot.
And now an alliance with Silvac. You’re collecting allies like a queen. ”
“Was that a compliment?”
With an undignified snort, she closes the door behind her.