Chapter Thirty-Three
‘So, Eira’s father used Neyktar to erect the Divide?
That’s pretty huge considering I was told he devoted his life to the Relic.
’ Cole sets his glass down on the table, having downed his whisky in one gulp, genuinely stunned by the information that we have just disclosed.
‘That man was much more interesting than I’d have thought. ’
‘I didn’t know all it took was the slaughtering of innocents to make someone interesting.’ Lillienne scowls at him, genuinely disgusted. She is yet to look my way, still desperately clutching onto her grudge with nothing but pure spite, no matter how many times I try to lean into her view.
‘We don’t know for certain that my father did that – or why,’ I defend. ‘But yes, all signs lead to that. Apparently he did not like anyone going against his own opinions.’
‘Surely, he wouldn’t have been so blatant with these murders. What sane king would risk an uprising amongst his people?’ Calli shakes her head. ‘Something isn’t adding up.’
‘That’s what I can’t figure out,’ Eliaz says from my right, his fingers tracing the rim of his glass, gently disrupting the clear liquid within.
‘But I think that letter might be the key to unlocking the answers.’ He turns his attention to me, tilting his head to the group as though to encourage me to share, to present them with the letter.
Yes. The letter. Which is… shit. The letter is tucked tightly between the fabric of my chemise and my dress, lying over the curve of my breast. Everyone stares at me from their places around the table, expectantly. Diarmid sneezes.
‘Eira?’ Eliaz questions.
I feign coming back from a daydream. ‘Oh yes, the letter, yes. I will get it.’
I make a tragic attempt to turn to the side to protect my dignity, as I rummage in the fabric of my cleavage for the damned letter, my cheeks burning something stupid.
Glancing up at Eliaz, self-conscious that he might be witnessing such a mortification, I realise he is indeed still watching me, with quiet surprise, his gaze following my hand intently as I retrieve the parchment.
He licks his bottom lip unconsciously. Something wicked flickers in the hot amber of his eyes.
That odd storm of heat kicks up within me once again.
I clear my throat, bringing the letter to the table and unfurling it. Eliaz blinks back into the room, appearing dazed for a moment, before adjusting himself in his seat and taking a drink.
‘Oh, for the gods’ sake, Eira.’ Lillienne finally looks at me, albeit disgusted. ‘Couldn’t you have kept the letter in your sock or somewhere less uncomfortable for safekeeping? That was a painful watch.’
‘Thank you for the feedback, Lillienne.’ I smile her way, and she fights back her own smirk, clinging to that fading grudge having actually paid me some attention. She’s never been great at staying mad. Not that she’s ever had good reason to.
‘Anyway,’ I continue. ‘This morning, I found this letter, it had come loose from its hiding spot in the book I was reading last night, and I knew right away that this brings a step closer to getting answers on how to bring down the Divide, how to stop or slow down the effects of the affliction.’
Cole scrunches up his nose. ‘And how can you be so sure of that? I read the letter, and it’s nothing but a depiction of the bickering between two decrepit and delirious men. Words of old, nothing helpful – or new.’
‘This letter happens to be addressed to my father, and it is direct correspondence from the Emperor of Attanae himself. It seems they were very much in cohorts. A lot more than just the bickering of the elderly. This man knows exactly what went into the creation of the Divide, so he must have some idea of how to take it down.’
‘I’m reluctantly in agreement with Cole, if only for the fact that this letter just happened to present itself to you when you needed it the most,’ Calli interjects.
‘And even if it did prove to be the case that he knows these answers, there’s no way this man is still alive to give them to us.
He cannot be immortal, and you say he is warning your father about his use of Neyktar, so he obviously isn’t going to be part-taking in a little blood magic to keep him going. ’
‘I just have this feeling, deep in my gut, that this is the path that will lead us to a solution for this mess. Someone on Attanae knows, even if it is not this man, perhaps a son or grandson, that can tell us more about it,’ I plead to Calli, using her own words against her. ‘All we can do is try.’
‘And how do you suggest we even get to Attanae? There’s the whole Silver Sea between us and your hypothetical answers. It’s not exactly like you could just fly.’
A hopeful spark crackles into my head. There is the slightest possibility that we could, indeed, fly.
‘Diarmid.’ The stable manager grows pale at the mention of his name. ‘We could fly, could we not?’
The blond-haired man shakes his head profusely. ‘Absolutely not, no way would the Pegasi tolerate such a flight, they detest the sight of water.’
‘We could get there in just under a day, just two carriages worth. You couldn’t convince them?’
‘I should also add, Your Graceful Highness, that there is a gap in even my knowledge on whether the beasts would access their magic out with the confines of the Relic’s wards.
There are no known Pegasus outside the Isle.
’ Disheartened. I let the letter fall to the table, retreating into my seat more. ‘There goes that plan.’
‘They’re literally just horses with wings, can’t they fly without magic? What’s the point of the wings in the first place if that’s the case?’ Lillienne asks Diarmid. His cheeks stiffen.
‘No offence meant, but did we survive without assistance in the absence of the Relic’s power? I do not wish to test out the likelihood that they will be able to thrive without the magic. The wings assist them in aviation. The magic assists them in life.’
‘I say try the bastards. Bring them here, I don’t mind testing them out.’ Cole fills his glass again with the decanter of amber liquid, immediately taking a sip as soon as he finishes his sentence. Lillienne screws up her face.
‘You want to slow down before you volunteer to tame a dragon or something.’
Cole’s face drops, her sarcasm flying clearly over his head. ‘You guys have those? For real?’
‘Who is this idiot?’ Lillienne asks anyone who’s willing to answer.
‘I am but a raven in a flock of doves, a thorn in a thousand roses.’
‘He talks so weird when he’s drunk. It’s unnerving,’ I say, turning to Eliaz, who keeps his head down in deep thought, oblivious to the conversation at the table. I lean in and whisper, ‘Everything okay?’
He lets out a breath through his nose. ‘I have a ship.’
‘You have a ship?’ I raise an eyebrow. ‘You have a ship? Does this mean I should call you Captain Eliaz? I am swooning already at the thought of you in an eyepatch.’
‘You’re in good spirits tonight, Princess,’ he chuckles. ‘But unfortunately for you, it is not a pirate ship. It’s a small fishing boat my father had before we were banned from harvesting in the waters. We could use it, it’s docked in…’
‘It would be a slow journey, granted. But it would get us there.’ I think out loud. ‘Do you think it’s a waste of time? A dead end?’
His gaze meets mine. ‘There is only one dead end and I am willing to try anything to avoid it.’
‘Then it’s settled.’ I smile, pleased we are in agreement for once.
‘I have a ship.’ Eliaz announces in full voice to the group. ‘We will take it to Attanae.’
‘Not that old thing, Eliaz,’ Calli protests. ‘We’d be lucky to get there without sinking due to holes in the hull.’
‘I agree with your sister. We will be food for the fishes if we venture out in that wretched pile of scrap wood,’ Cole chimes in.
Eliaz stands, throwing back the rest of his drink.
‘I won’t hear of any complaints, we go by ship, and if you do not like it, then you are welcome to remain here.
Where you are far less likely to drown or be felled by seasickness or whatever other excuses you might make.
’ His glass hits the table forcefully, punctuating his words. Finalising his declaration.
‘Do you protest?’ he asks me directly. My eyes trail the length of his torso, over the exposed skin of his upper chest and neck, to his lips before landing firm on his eyes.
‘I only protest against remaining here.’
‘Good girl,’ he says down to me before giving one last look to the group. Lillienne’s eyes dart between us, an eyebrow raised.
‘Wise words from the princess. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have some things I must attend to tonight. We will leave tomorrow morning, before dawn. Be ready or be left behind.’
‘Please, Lillienne, how many times do I have to apologise?’ I plead into the duvet she has pulled over herself as she lies flat in bed. ‘I panicked and knew I had too much to explain to you in that moment. I should’ve just told you everything there and then.’
‘You can keep apologising until I am over it.’
‘Lillienne, come on. Seriously?’
‘I hope you’re prepared to stand there until you turn to dust. And just know that won’t help your case with Odette, because she’d have to clean up the mess. Imagine how bad that’d be to get out the carpet.’
‘Forget that grumpy old shit, I need you to talk to me.’ I tug at the duvet, but she doesn’t relent.
‘You didn’t even tell me about Attanae, about the mainland. I had to find out from that fuckwit Cole that it is not, in fact, barren and that I am dumb enough to believe that an entire continent could be a wasteland.’
‘Look, that part completely slipped my mind. There has been so much going on, so much new information, I just lost track of what I had and hadn’t told you, and I’m sorry. But there’s no need to be so upset.’
‘There is and I am.’ She takes a breath. ‘Upset, I mean. Do you not think I am struggling to keep up? All these changes, how nothing will ever be as it was. We will never be the same.’
I perch myself on the edge of the bed, leaning over her head.
‘Lillienne, no matter what happens, we will never change. We will always be best friends – sisters. We will forever have each other.’ I reach out to place a hand on what I assume to be her shoulders, but she pulls the covers from her face before I get there, revealing the wet, blotchy mess of her face.
‘There is no forever. I will never be the same, Eira. My legs are so stiff, my skin is all dry and flaking. I am either always too hot or too cold, and my hair—’ she cries out. ‘My hair is lacklustre and it was the only thing I had going for me.’
She springs upwards, lunging at me for a hug.
‘Shhhh,’ I rub her back as she cries into my shoulder, my dress already damp from her tears – and her snot.
‘We will all have to adjust to these changes, with the affliction spreading, there will soon be no immortals left. But it won’t matter in the end, we will all grow older by the second, we will all feel the pain and heavy effort of mortal life as you do now.
But what matters is that we will all do it together.
’ I breathe a laugh before I lean down and whisper in her ear.
‘And your hair is just as brilliant a gold as ever.’
‘You’ve been without the Relic all this time, and you seem fine.’
She vocalises a thought that has been gnawing at me for some time.
When will I be stricken with mortality as Lillienne has?
Perhaps it is slowly tightening its grip on me, planting its festering, rotted roots in me until I can be helped no more.
Until I am nothing but dead. A payment for the sins of my father.
The Virtuae Gods won’t give me the mercy of dying quickly. Not for the crimes he has committed.
‘Will you stay here with me, Eira? Like before? I miss how it was.’
I smile weakly at her, gulping down hot, bubbling sick. ‘Of course, always.’
We lay down in her bed. It was most likely made with the intention of only one person, but we cling to one another anyway. In the darkness, we might pass as one body, breathing slow and blinking into the silence.
I would never tell her, but she feels so fragile in my arms now, so breakable. Her life so conclusive in the fact that it is inevitable it will end. I blink away the tears, which wet Lillienne’s hair as it splays on the pillow, hugging her that little bit tighter.
Life is no longer promised.
Death now lingers closer than ever before.
I will chase it into the pits of hell before I ever let it lay a finger on my sister.