Chapter 4 #2
He let his magic dissipate before leaning back on his hands.
Stretching his legs out before him, he stared out at the sea.
He was completely relaxed and at peace alongside the element he commanded.
She used to have that with the winds. Walking among them was a freedom she’d cherished, and their whispered secrets had made her feel special as a child.
A gift when so much had been taken from her.
As she’d aged, they’d become as much a part of her as her silver hair and lilting voice.
But they’d also become as symbolic as her title.
The Wind Princess and Wind Walker. That was what she was to most.
“Ruling is a privilege we are given,” Briar said into the summer night. “But some days, it is heavy and feels more like a burden. Would you agree?”
“I would,” she replied without question. “But if I am adding to that burden—”
“You are not,” he interrupted, pinning her with soulful eyes. “I have lived far more decades than you and know this cycle well. Times change. Trials come. Peace reigns, until it doesn’t. I can feel the shift, and so can you.”
“You believe me,” she said in realization, staring back at him.
He nodded. “Many feel it, but many also choose not to acknowledge it. I cannot entirely blame them. I can see the value in clinging to the peaceful times before they are gone, but we do not get such a privilege.”
“Because we have the privilege of ruling,” she said softly.
“Exactly,” he replied. “You are wise beyond your years, Ashtine. Do not doubt yourself.”
“A task easier spoken than carried out.”
“Agreed.”
She relaxed more, wondering just how long they could sit on a shore before either of their Courts realized their sovereign was missing.
“I find it doubtful that is what is keeping you from sleep this night,” she said after several minutes of comfortable silence.
“Because you are wise beyond your years,” Briar replied.
“You tease again,” she said, but she felt a small smile pull at her lips. Briar only smiled as well, continuing to stare out at the gently rolling waves. Her head tilted, silver hair slipping over her shoulder. “Do you do this often?”
“Do what?”
“Sit on the beach in the night with another and tease them?”
Briar slowly turned to face her again and studied her for a long minute. She wasn’t sure why, but usually when someone did that it was because she said something they found odd.
Finally, he answered, “I often find myself on the beach. It does not matter the time of day. Rarely with another. If there is, it is often Sawyer or Sorin.”
Ashtine nodded, processing all of that before she said, “How does the Fire Prince fare?”
“How is Queen Semiria?” Briar countered.
That was a fair response. The Fae Queen and the Fire Prince had been close.
Mentor and mentee for all of Talwyn’s childhood.
Ashtine had often found herself jealous of their relationship.
Ermir was like a father, but the Fire Prince and Talwyn had been different.
Niece and uncle, perhaps? Again, Ashtine wouldn’t know, but the sudden disappearance of Queen Eliné had left their relationship broken.
She wasn’t sure it would ever be repaired at this point.
“Talwyn has the Earth Prince. Azrael is a knowledgeable and loyal Second,” Ashtine answered. As an afterthought, she added, “And she has Tarek.”
Briar nodded. “Having people who care is only valuable if one is willing to let them do so.”
“The Fire Prince does not let you offer comfort?”
“Centuries of life together, and he still pushes others away,” Briar sighed.
“Surely he just needs to find his way. He and Queen Eliné were close. He was her soulmate,” Ashtine pondered aloud.
“Yes, which makes her sudden disappearance all the harder on him, but he won’t fucking talk about it,” Briar gritted out.
She waited for the apology that always followed after someone cursed in her presence.
Not that she cared, but everyone treated her differently.
Even Talwyn and Azrael conversed differently when she was around, but the apology never came from Briar.
From what she knew of the male, he didn’t appear to act any differently around her.
In fact, he was the only one who seemed to treat her the same as everyone else.
No one ever teased her. Perhaps Renly had when she was younger, but after her coronation, that had ceased.
“But you do not need to hear of my burdens this night,” Briar went on. “If a war is on the horizon, the other Courts need to be made aware.”
“I have tried,” Ashtine sighed.
“Have you?”
She lifted her gaze to his, a bit taken aback. “Did I not come to you and seek your aid? Did you not initially dismiss my concerns?”
“I do not recall dismissing your concerns.”
Ashtine sat up straighter, her eyes narrowing. “You denied my request.”
“I never spoke such words. I wanted to discuss things further—which is a rational request when someone is asking to increase their stores of magically enhanced weapons—and you became upset and left before we could do so,” Briar said simply.
“I— That is not—” Ashtine snapped her mouth shut as she started to sputter, something a princess was never to do.
“If others are not taking your concerns seriously, it is because you are allowing such a thing,” Briar said.
Ashtine could only gape at him. “You believe I allow others to dismiss me?” she demanded, failing to keep the incredulity from creeping into her voice.
“What is your explanation?”
“I do not have one,” she retorted. Briar’s brow arched, and the mannerism only served to make her more upset. A gust of wind swept along the beach, grains of sand and droplets of water splattering against her skin and marring her gown. “I have never considered you a rude person, Prince Drayce.”
“I have never considered you meek, Ashtine,” he replied, still calm and collected as he got to his feet.
Ashtine scrambled up as gracefully as she could beside him. “I am not that,” she retorted, air swirling beneath her and lifting her feet a fraction off the ground.
Briar glanced down before bringing his gaze back to hers.
“You certainly shouldn’t be,” he replied.
“Not with the power that runs in your veins and not with the title you wield. But I stand by what I said, your Highness. If your concerns are not being taken seriously, it is because you are allowing it. Feel free to stay on these shores as long as you wish.”
A water portal appeared, Briar retreating through it a moment later, leaving her standing on the shore beneath a sky slowly taking on the colors of dawn. A flash of faint silver light appeared a second before Nasima’s cry mixed with the sound of the waves.
The realm hangs in the balance.
A beginning or an ending? Time will tell.
Biting down on a cry of frustration, Ashtine stepped into the winds that tortured her and went home.