CHAPTER SIXTY-FOUR #2
“What does that mean?”
“It’s their word for ‘sweetheart.’”
Calyn gasped with excitement. “You speak their language?”
“Bits,” Thom admitted. “I’m not fluent by any means, but I’m learning.”
“For Brea?” she asked.
Thom frowned at her. They were near enough to Cris now that he didn’t care to discuss the topic, so he simply said, “No, for myself.” Then he turned to Cris with a smile. “I heard that my sister rejected your dance on a misunderstanding,” he began.
Cris gave a kind, if abashed, smile. “It was of no consequence,” he said.
“It was,” Calyn said. “I was misinformed and thought it inappropriate. However,” she smiled up at Thom, “my brother has cleared it up for me.”
Watching them uncertainly, Cris chuckled. He brushed a hand through his thick curls. The hair brushed the collar of his moss-green coat. “If you’re sure,” he said, then faced Calyn wholly, “I would be honored to share a dance with you, Miss Glaas.”
Calyn beamed at him, and Thom all but shoved her into the young man’s arms. “Dance the night away,” he said.
Thom watched while the pair returned to the twirling couples on the floor.
There was an awkwardness in their shy glances and longing looks.
The attraction was clear, but there was a regard in Cris’s eyes that Thom recognized.
It was the same look he’d seen Deckard and Evylin share in Whickam Village all those months ago.
He liked her because he saw something in her.
A part of her soul spoke to his. Neither of them was magical, yet they shared a sudden, certain bond.
It wasn’t love at first sight. It was hope. It was a sense that there was someone who could make your life a little more whole than it’d been before.
Thom smiled sadly. He’d never experienced that feeling. No one had looked at him with that same knowing. And he envied it.
Suddenly, a woman slid her arm through Thom’s. He looked down to find fire-bright red hair flashing in the light of the party.
“Ah,” he greeted snidely, “if it isn’t my least favorite person.”
“You love me, and you know it,” Ilain replied. She followed his gaze to the dancing couple. “Lost another one, eh?”
“I’m destined for celibacy.”
“As someone who waited forty-three years to find her husband, let me tell you—” She gave him a twinkle-eyed smile. “It’s bloody worth it.”
Though Thom wasn’t as undefiled as she presumed, he chuckled. “I’m afraid Bonding isn’t in my future.”
“Perhaps not.” Ilain pulled him to walk alongside her. “We have another meeting to attend.”
Thom furrowed his brow. “With whom?”
“Each other.”
“You and I?” He scoffed. “Shall we solve Terraeus’ problems together? Or do you need marital advice?”
“I’d go to literally everyone but you for that.”
“I’m the one who got Ethenn to kiss you if you’ll remember.”
“After doing expressly what I asked you not to do.”
“It worked, didn’t it?”
They made their way to the back corner of the ballroom, where the lights were softer and the music quieter.
Though partygoers still mingled, the atmosphere was much more tranquil.
Small tables aimed at fostering relaxed, intimate conversations were thoughtfully arranged in the corner.
Seated at one of these tables were Ethenn, Vayden, and Brea, the trio evidently waiting for them.
Thom smiled. “This is the ‘each other’ you meant,” he realized.
“Yes,” Ilain said, breaking off from him. “Now, sit down. We have much to discuss.”
Taking the free seat beside Brea and finding a ready decanter of wine and a spare glass awaiting him, Thom settled in. He smirked at Ethenn. “Your wife made overtures to me,” he sniped.
Ethenn didn’t flinch. “I’m not worried.”
“Because I’m too honorable.”
A sly grin came to his lips. “Because if you’ll remember, I feel what she feels,” he said. “And she feels decidedly motherly toward you.”
“Enough of that,” Ilain said, calling their impromptu meeting to order. “We all have some decisions to make, and I want to ensure we make the right ones. Now, obviously, Deckard and Evie will become chancellor and commander of Loclight—”
“They won’t,” Thom said.
Ilain shot him a perturbed glare. “Don’t be ridiculous. They were made for the job.”
Pouring the wine, Thom shrugged. “Doesn’t mean they’ll take it.”
“They should,” Brea said, bemusement in her tone. “As Ilain said, it suits them perfectly. He is a servant, and she is a soldier. What better leaders could we have?”
“A goddess and a hunter?” Vayden quipped.
Ethenn lifted his brow self-mockingly. “It does sound foolish when you put it that way,” he admitted. “While Ilain has been trained for this her whole life, who am I to run a country?”
“We’d be running a province, dear,” Ilain said. “That’s only one-eighth of the country.”
He gave her a flat look and said, “I love you.”
She linked their hands on the tabletop.
“You make an adorably bizarre couple,” Thom noted. He leaned back in his chair. “Listen, I don’t know what to tell you. Yes, Jonn and Evie should take the position. No, they won’t take it because she loves him, and he’s scared of responsibility.”
Brea narrowed her eyes. “I don’t think you know your brother very well.”
“I know him better than anyone but Evylin. And unless she finds some way to convince him otherwise, he’ll refuse the position.”
The others exchanged wary looks.
Vayden turned to Ilain and Ethenn. “I assume you’ll accept it, though?” he said.
With their chairs nearly pressed side to side and her full yellow skirt draped around them, it was hard to tell where Ethenn began and Ilain ended. “It’s what we always intended,” he admitted.
Ilain nodded, unusually silent.
Thom narrowed his eyes. “You’re undecided?”
“No,” she said too quickly. Ethenn squeezed her hand on the table, and she sighed. “Maybe. It’s just hard—being apart from you all. After all this time, after becoming family . . . We don’t want to be distant from you, but. . . .”
“But this is who you were made to be,” Brea concluded.
Ilain ducked her head, and Ethenn drew her closer supportively.
Vayden sat with his hands resting in his lap.
He stared across the room, likely watching his daughter with her friends.
The calluna flower remained on his lapel in memory of Isla.
Though the father and daughter were still in mourning, it was clear they were trying to move forward with the new nation.
“Whatever you choose,” he said decisively, “I’ll do the same. ”
Ilain’s gaze softened as she faced her brother. “You don’t have to do that, Vayd. You and Rey have a home in Faurna. I don’t want you giving that up just to be with me.”
“It isn’t just to be with you,” he insisted.
“Reyana and I need a fresh start. I want to be with my daughter. Isla and I lost years with her because of our work. Now, our home is filled with memories of that loss. Whether you take the chancellorship or move to be near Deckard and Evylin . . . I think it would do us good to come with you. We could use the presence of family to make us whole again.”
With somber, comforting smiles, Ilain and Ethenn accepted the answer.
“What about you, then, Thom?” Vayden asked. “Will you take the job with or without Deckard and Evylin’s acceptance?”
Thom let out a huff. “No. Like you, I’ll go where my family goes. If, by some miracle, they choose the position of chancellor and commander, I’ll consider the post. But I won’t be counting on it.”
Sharing nods, they all sipped their wine, the corner falling silent for a few moments.
“And you, Brea?” Ilain asked gently. “You’ve got three suitors, it seems. Would you accept Wilkinsone, Humes, or Grames?”
Brea hesitated, taking a longer drink, and Thom angled farther to the side in his chair.
“I’m undecided,” Brea said at last. “I only just met Humes tonight. He’s . . . nice, I suppose, but he’s a Wind Mage, and I’m not particularly interested in living in West Allund.”
“You said you liked Grames,” Thom offered, hating himself for it. He took another sip to cover his grimace.
Brea smirked as though remembering something. “He has a fine wit,” she said. “I could probably be happy with him.”
Ethenn, Ilain, and Vayden eyed her curiously.
“You don’t have to take the position,” Ethenn said. “They found another female Warrior two weeks back, near the border. She’s an army widow with three children, and after talking with her, she’s agreed to remarry and Bond with Highlord Everlye, the Time Mage.”
“But I would be their fourth,” Brea said.
“Balance is imperative to magic—to Allore. And, therefore, to the Alliance as well. Presently, they have two female Warriors settled for commandership. If Evylin and I both take the other roles, it would put us in balance with four male and four female commanders.”
“And if Evie doesn’t take it?” Thom asked.
“Then I’m sure they could scour the eastern half of the continent and find one more female Warrior to make up the difference.”
“Why not make it two?” Ethenn said. “If you don’t love these men—if you don’t want to be with them, why make yourself?”
A glimmer of tears appeared on Brea’s lower lashes. “It’s what we do in the Alliance,” she said softly, repeating Isla’s words from so long ago. “We sacrifice everything for the sake of a better future.”
Vayden reached over then, taking Brea’s hand.
Thom continued to sip his wine. The warmth of its aged grapes burned on his tongue.
He wanted to curse the sacrificial nature of the Alliance, but they weren’t forcing this future on Brea.
They’d offered it as a mere option. She could have anything she wanted, yet she was the one willing to marry for utility and not love.
“I had love with Adie. I don’t care to replace it.”
If Thom had been alone, he might have smiled bitterly. Brea had already told him more than a month ago: No matter her attraction to him, she didn’t want him. She’d experienced love, and she wanted to preserve its memory.
“Well,” Ilain said, her tone hinting at sourness, “it sounds as though we’re all undecided.”