Chapter One Fenlia #3
‘Yes,’ Elician replies. ‘We are joining our houses. All of our houses. The House of the Unwanting is very much wanted by me.’ He snarls the last few words, the fingers of his free hand flexing and tightening in a vicious fist. ‘And under our banner we will lead our nations, separate but together.’
‘And no one has to pretend or hide any longer,’ Cat adds on, quiet yet sincere, oblivious to the disbelief around him.
Fen blinks at him, then realizes for the first time: there is no bell on his wrist. Reapers are meant to wear bells that ring whenever they move, alerting any nearby to their presence.
Cat is still wearing black. He still wears gloves.
But the hooded veil is gone from his shoulders, and there is no bell. Her heart pounds faster in her chest.
She opens her mouth to say something, but Elician is talking once more.
‘We made a vow before the gods last night to bind ourselves to this cause. It’s done.’
Fen tries to speak again, a question burning her tongue. Because that sounds very much like—
‘Did you have a witness?’ Adalei asks, faster than Fen can manage.
‘I will make you one now if you prefer,’ Elician retorts, reaching for Cat’s gloved hand where it rests on the table.
‘I don’t, actually,’ Adalei says. ‘But I do want to know when you intend for an official wedding ceremony to take place.’ Official. Because making vows in the night may as well be an unofficial declaration. Fen’s stomach aches with anxiety.
Elician, what have you done?
‘We’ll have the ceremony with the coronation,’ he says.
‘That’s too soon,’ Adalei responds. ‘Your parliament will want the coronation sorted within the month, but a royal wedding will—’
‘Be far too much of an expense and an extravagance to do separately. If the whole country is going to gather for the coronation, why bother with a secondary ceremony? It’s better to get both done with at the same time.’
‘How utterly romantic.’
‘It has nothing to do with romance,’ Elician snaps back. ‘This isn’t about romance.’
‘Oh? Did you manage to impregnate him last night?’ Adalei asks sweetly.
Lio sputters – useless in light of the two most important people in his life taking turns jousting with each other.
Cat, too, seems horrified by the turn the conversation has taken, pulling his hand from Elician’s grasp and hiding his face in it.
Fen can’t blame him in the least. She couldn’t imagine being informed publicly that his betrothed not only has no romantic inclinations towards him in the slightest but also that the only reason for getting married would be something he isn’t even physically capable of doing in the first place.
But Adalei presses onwards, ignoring the sharp discomfort settling across the room.
‘Because, unless we’re expecting a royal heir within the next nine months, there is no reason to marry him that fast.’
‘Don’t be crude,’ Elician grinds out.
‘I’m being practical. You’re about to march back into the capital city, after being presumed dead for over a year, insisting that you are bound to the alleged heir of our people’s ancestral enemy.
If you were in love with him, it would be one thing.
I could sell that to your people. But this?
Give me one good reason to take before your government that will convince them that this is the action of a man in full possession of his faculties.
Because your marriage won’t even bring about the end of a war, it just guarantees the perpetuance of another. ’
‘Adalei.’ Lio says her name like a curse, but she ignores him.
She ignores everything that is not Elician himself.
Fen has never seen her like this: argumentative, brusque.
Adalei has always followed proper etiquette, protocol.
She has always known her place. And she may be Elician’s heir, but Fen cannot bring herself to believe that this is Adalei’s place.
Elician glares at her. His jaw is clenched, his nostrils flaring. ‘Queen Alenée had terms in the agreement she was to sign with your father that would have seen Gillage and Fenlia married.’
‘What?‘ Fen blurts out.
‘This war has gone on long enough. If we want it to stop, if we want to let our soldiers finally go home, then we need to make amends and we need to form unbreachable alliances. And if we are to do that, then I will satisfy the spirit of her intention and marry the true heir of Alelune in penance. Can you sell that to the government?’
‘Can you?’ Adalei retorts.
‘Yes.’ Then, with a savagery Fen is not used to seeing from her brother, he says, ‘My people love me. I fought that war with their brothers and sisters, I read the names of their dead into remembrance. I have suffered just as they have and they know that. But despite every agony and loss our people have faced – I am willing to open my heart and home to the son of my enemy. But the longer I wait, the longer I call this a betrothal and not a marriage, the more doubt will sink into their minds over whether I do actually mean for this alliance to be binding. If I marry him at the coronation, then there is no doubt, no confusion, and my will and determination is set.’
‘And yet, he still has no power,’ Adalei reminds him. ‘And he will need an army to reclaim that power.’
‘No,’ Cat says, interrupting the dispute so sharply that Fen startles.
She glances awkwardly at the others. Lio, still grimacing at Adalei’s side.
Marina and Zinnitzia, quiet and observing to their left.
Elena and her husband lurking to their right.
Everyone melted away during Elician and Adalei’s argument.
Now, there’s a general shuffling. People sitting up.
Refocusing, readjusting. ‘If we march into Alelune then no one there will ever follow me,’ Cat continues.
‘If I marry Elician, one way or another there will be no invasion into Alelune. Any conflict or fighting will be self-defence alone.’
‘Then how will you get your crown?’ Adalei asks. Cat wilts under the question. He casts a furtive look at Marina, as if she might have an answer for him.
The wizened Reaper only sighs, shakes her head and says: ‘You’ll need support from inside the country. Someone who would recognize you as heir.’
‘Is there anyone in Alelune that would vouch for you?’ Adalei presses. ‘Anyone who could recognize you as Stello Alest?’
‘People knew I was alive,’ he replies, biting his bottom lip, ‘but I don’t know if they’d vouch for me.’
Adalei frowns. ‘What about the Blue Lands?’
‘Where they mine the blue stones?’ Fen asks.
Those stones are Alelune’s most precious resource, capable of emitting light and serving as a power source, and they only come from one region of the country.
Soleb has always longed for access to those mines and the stones within, only ever making do with stealing the stones from Altas whenever they have managed to retake control of the city.
It has always been a source of irritation in Cat; Fen never fully understood why it mattered, but now she cannot help but wonder.
‘Didn’t you say you grew up near the mines? ’
‘His father was their master,’ Adalei replies for him, not bothering to turn to Fen as she speaks.
‘How do you know that?’ Fen asks. Cat has never said such a thing to her.
‘It’s my duty to know such things,’ Adalei replies.
‘As an ambassador in Glaika, I spoke frequently with the Alelunen ambassador, Demaintain. She was from the Blue Lands. She said the Blue Lands were passed to the care of a Captain Partho de Rus following Prince Marias’s death.
She said the captain was once your father’s dearest friend, and that he took the title of steward rather than lord when the lands were passed into his care.
Given that those lands should have been yours by birthright, I find his actions a curious choice.
Were you close to this Partho?’ Only a few hours ago, Fen called Cat her best friend in front of Elician.
Now, she cannot help but wonder just how much she does not know about him. It’s a realization that hurts.
Zinnitzia scoffs. ‘A better question would be: would this dear friend of your father’s hold it against you that you were forced to kill your father?’
‘I don’t know. I never saw him again after the…after the execution. He was there…he saw it happen but…’
‘Ambassador Demaintain seemed to imply that since Partho took over the Blue Lands there seemed to be a coldness to their interactions with the crown,’ Adalei continues.
‘They often avoided public functions, tithing their due as required but staying isolated from the rest of the lands. It’s possible if they were truly displeased with Queen Alenée…
they may well be very displeased with Prince Gillage as well.
And if that is true, then the wealthiest and most powerful prefecture in Alelune could potentially be those very friends you’ll need when it comes time to take your throne. ’
It feels too simple. Too neat. A problem suggested, and a solution provided.
Marina clears her throat, then says: ‘If all that is true, then it would be prudent to contact the Blue Lands to gauge their support. But as far as I can tell, we have no way of reaching anyone there. It’s on the entire opposite side of the country. If that fails…what then?’
‘We have time,’ Elician murmurs. ‘My vow to bring peace to our countries supersedes a normal lifespan. If everyone dies and it is just Alest and I – we will still be there. Trying to set this right. But right now, we are rushing to solve a problem we aren’t going to solve in one meeting, let alone a month of meetings.
Adalei, you want me to sell the idea of marrying Alest to the people – the idea is this: he is the rightful heir, and our marriage is a sign of my commitment to an eventual peace.
And a sign that I will not accept any future unnecessary loss of life.
That’s it. That’s all I have. We can manage peace talks and negotiations and parlays and treaties and all the rest later. But can you support me on that?’
Adalei hesitates. She looks between Cat and Elician both.
She glances at Lio, who shakes his head ever so slightly.
It is so subtle, Fen doubts he wanted anyone to notice at all.
Adalei takes a long breath in through her nose.
She lets it out slowly. ‘Yes,’ she says.
‘Then in the meantime, I will send a letter to Demaintain. With luck, she will forward it to Captain Partho at the Blue Palace. That could, hopefully, lead to some results.’ The uncertainty drips from each word.
It is less of a plan and more of a prayer.
‘Would she?’ Zinnitzia muses. ‘Betray her new king, that is?’
‘Well, that’s the gamble we are all taking in trying to put Alest on the throne, is it not?
’ Adalei asks. ‘Would it be considered a betrayal if she supports the true crown prince, the real Stello of Alelune, in his ascension? If we mean to collapse the Alelunen government without loss of life, then it is exactly what we all would hope for. Is it not?’
‘Yes,’ Elician says.
‘Yes,’ Cat agrees just half a moment slower.
‘Then that is the plan. We will return to the palace in Himmelsheim. A letter will be sent to Demaintain, you will be crowned…you will be wed…and while we wait…you will have time to recover and gather your strength for whatever comes next.’
‘I’m fine,’ Elician says.
‘You’re not,’ Cat interjects. Fen’s breath catches. Even Elician seems surprised by it, betrayal creeping across the contours of his too-thin face. ‘The wait will be good.’
‘The longer we wait, the more your people will suffer.’
‘Maybe. But change is hard…and your people deserve time as well. Perhaps…I will have time to prove to them that I am not their enemy too.’
‘It would help,’ Adalei approves.
‘All right then.’ The concession sounds grudging at best. But it is a concession. Adalei shares another look with Lio.
Fen doubts Adalei is fully convinced of any of this. But for good or for ill, she has agreed.
‘Then today we shall begin to prepare for the journey east,’ Zinnitzia concludes. She claps her hands, startling some of the group into slightly straighter postures. ‘And in three days’ time…we go home.’
Adalei rises. She bows her head to Elician, a perfunctory motion he does not react to.
When she turns to go back up the stairs, Fen watches her go.
Somehow, for all the years she prepared for the moment when Elician and Adalei would step into their roles as monarch and heir, she never imagined their leadership to look so combative.
She always thought Adalei would do as Elician said, softening blows and massaging the language as needed but never arguing or contradicting his command.
Adalei did concede in the end, just as Elician had in his own way.
But she also fought and argued and insulted.
Elician is weak at the moment. Anyone could see that.
But that means he deserves support, not…
conflict. Adalei walks away, shameless for the things she’s done, and Elician remains exhausted at the table.
Fen reaches for him. She presses a hand to his shoulder. ‘It’s all going to be okay,’ she says out loud, even as she watches Adalei disappear up the stairs and wonders if perhaps their family friction did not, in fact, end with the death of her adoptive uncle and father after all.