Chapter Twenty-Seven
The only thing keeping me calm was the sound of the water gently lapping against the ship as we sailed the Sisrym Sea.
As well as the knowledge that if anything went wrong over the next few days, I was the only one of the Valwain who could simply fly away from their problems if I so pleased.
I huffed a small chuckle at the thought.
As if.
“Aviva, are you listening?” Caelia questioned sternly, forcing me back into the reality of the present moment.
“I believe you’d just begun listing the ninth generation of the Rividian royal line, no?” I responded with a sigh.
For over a week now, Caelia and Callum had been trying to drill into me everything I might need to know for what we were about to walk into.
Apparently, before the sun set today, we’d be greeted by King and Queen Rividian of the Ocrein Isles.
I just wished to the Stars above that they would warmly greet us.
All of us—the entirety of the Valwain, along with Margo, Matea, and the royal Ocrein siblings—had set out on this journey to the Isles, leaving Cairnyl behind about eleven days ago.
Byn and I’s advisors had been anything but pleased, but once we, along with Teagan, gave them a vague rundown of why we needed to do this, they seemed to finally understand we were leaving, whether they liked it or not.
Byn had been hesitant to bring Margo along, but since he didn’t trust anybody outside of the Valwain to care for her for an extended period, we’d had no choice. She, too, had been getting lessons from Caelia and Callum on how things worked in the Isles.
Aside from that reasoning, Margo had also been drawn to Ezra’s side the way a bee was repeatedly drawn to spring flowers.
There hadn’t been a day since they reunited that Margo didn’t visit him, if she didn’t spend her entire day with him.
It was obvious she had desperately missed her friend and brother.
I imagined that simply seeing him with her own eyes had helped ease her anxieties, too.
None of us dared to say it aloud, but Ezra was a large part of the reason as to why the journey had taken a day longer than it should have.
He was doing much better than before, of course, but he was still healing and rebuilding the strength he’d lost. We’d often had to pause our efforts so he could rest, or so Chess could tend to him.
His muscles seemed to lock up painfully when he rode on horseback for too long, meaning he and Chess would often have to ease the aches out of his muscles.
I knew he hated that he was slowing us down, but we all knew he’d hate it more if we’d left him behind. Plus, his vast knowledge could always come in handy.
Aside from that, I’d considered asking Aurora to join us.
I’d done so mostly so that she wouldn’t have to stay in our wing of the castle all by herself in our absence, but she’d still been cold toward me recently.
It was weighing on me more than I cared to admit.
I couldn’t wrap my head around the switch that seemed to have been flipped inside of her.
Instead of asking her to come with us, I’d decided to take this journey as an opportunity to clear my head, so when we returned, I could approach the situation with a clear and calm mind.
Before we’d left The Haven, I’d simply asked Aurora if she’d check in on Eden for me while I was away.
She’d agreed, thankfully; I felt horrible having to leave my griffin behind, but Callum had warned me that in the Isles, a griffin was a symbol of death and destruction.
And since Byn and I didn’t want to overstep more than we already were, we’d had no choice.
I had my father and ancestors to thank for that impression of the sweet creatures, I supposed.
“The tenth, actually. Now pay attention—this is important,” Caelia corrected me with a scowl.
“Honestly, is knowing your entire generational line necessary? How bad can your parents be? I am Queen of the South, after all. Shouldn’t there already be some kind of mutual respect?” I groaned, feeling frustrated and fed up.
I’d memorized everything I could about the Isles in the past week and a half.
That included each major city and town they had, and which of the three main islands each one resided on.
I’d learned the past four generations of Rividian royals by heart, even going so far as what zirilium each of them had wielded.
I’d practiced the most common of the traditional Orcein Isle dances—just in case Queen Rividian decided to throw a last-minute surprise ball while we were present.
Now, with us already having left the Southern coastal town of Fallaine, sails high as we headed toward the largest of the Isles, Caelia and Callum were trying to force even more knowledge into my head.
“She’s right, Lia,” Callum finally chimed in, causing Caelia to spin around to face her brother—partially due to him disagreeing with her and partially for the use of the nickname, I assumed.
Throwing his hands up in a mock surrender, Callum added, “Aviva is going to have to earn Mother and Father’s trust in her own way.
Plus, they’re out of touch—they don’t know the status of the war, or even if we won the battle that we originally came to assist in.
There will be so much to catch up on when we arrive, my hope is that they’ll overlook what exactly we’ve brought to their doorstep. ”
A quick, nervous glance passed between Caelia and Callum, though I wasn’t sure of the root of their anxiety.
A small tug in my chest had me looking around the dock for the origin of the feeling.
Looking toward the front of the ship, my eyes first found Ezra and Quinn.
They’d had so little time for themselves since they got married in secret before the most recent battle.
It appeared they were trying to make the best use of their time now that they had each other again.
They sat at the nose of the ship, a blanket under them and a bowl of fruit at their side.
I watched as Ezra lifted some sort of berry to Quinn’s mouth, gently feeding her.
Quinn, always one to take charge, looked up into her husband’s eyes, then fisted her hand in the front of his shirt and pulled him toward her.
Their lips crashed together, and I looked away as the couple melted into the embrace.
My cheeks would surely begin to ache if I kept smiling the way I was.
It was so nice to see them both happy, despite everything they’d gone through.
Swiveling my head the opposite way, I caught sight of the warm chocolate head of hair I’d been searching for.
Byn sat with his sisters, with Margo placed between her two older siblings as Teagan read a story to her aloud.
I couldn’t hear from my position what story was being told, but I could tell from Margo’s expression that she was thoroughly enjoying it.
Atlas and Lychen—who had been hesitant to board the ship in the first place—were staying near their respective bonded riders, the duo a few feet from the siblings.
And while Margo and Teagan were focused on the book before them, Byn was looking right at me.
I could feel a small swell of his emotions rising in me, concern radiating from him.
In all honesty, I was nervous. All my life, I’d planned on Dimitri being the one taking the charge of a nation—not me, not in the South, and definitely not in any way that required me to sail to the Ocrein Isles.
And yet, there I was.
Just when I began to think I had everything figured out, the Stars seemed to have something else planned for me.
I allowed all of those mixed emotions to simmer within me, knowing Byn would feel each one. Though, he seemed to be more concerned by what I was feeling than I was, as he started to rise from where he sat with his sisters without taking his eyes off me.
I shook my head and motioned for him to stay. I offered a soft smile instead—the ship was too large for him to hear me from where we were each situated—and hoped that conveyed enough of my thoughts to calm him.
I had somebody else to check in on, anyway.
I stood from the wood of the deck, brushing my black leather pants off as I did so.
My sapphire blue top matched the ribbon that held back my thick mess of wavy white hair perfectly, though the sleeveless top had a mix of silver and gold accents stitched into it.
To finish the outfit, I had donned my gloves as well as the circlet Byn had given me a couple months back.
I’d grown much more comfortable wearing it recently, the weight a sort of protection to feel atop my head.
Caelia and Callum had headed to the far railing, their heads dipped close together in what seemed like an intense conversation.
Behind me, I could hear Rayven helping to train Laurence in some of the more advanced Southern fighting moves the spy knew.
The older male, despite having been in the Northern army, had needed to brush up on his Southern battle skills.
Plus, extra training would only do the males good in order to blow off their pent-up steam.
Though I still didn’t see who I was looking for.
Heading below deck and into the belly of the ship, I headed for the corridors of small cabins. Passing by the kitchen on the way, I said a quick hello to Chess, who was currently dictating to the kitchen staff to help him stock up on elixirs and such.
Poking my head into each unclaimed cabin, I finally found her tucked away in the second to last room in the narrow hallway.
“Matea?” I called out softly once I finally found the space she was occupying.
A shuffling sound came from within before my sister responded, “Here, Aviva. Come in.”
Slipping inside, I shut the door behind me before gently perching next to Matea, who sat on the edge of the thin bed that occupied the majority of the slim space. She was peering out of the small circular window, looking up toward the sky.