Chapter 47 Valenna
Chapter forty-seven
Valenna
As the sun teased the marshes, Valenna lay safe in Evander’s arms in the shadowy corner of the tack room. She’d pulled his old familiar jacket over them to keep out the chill, and the collar scratched her cheek.
He wasn’t angry. He still loved her, accepted her, wanted her. She couldn’t wrap her mind around it. It was too wonderful to be real. And now that the magic was gone from his head, they might get their house by the sea and the chaotic, beautiful life they’d dreamed of.
“I never knew it was possible to love someone this much,” she whispered.
He kissed her forehead. “Neither did I. My life goes gray without you. Before you, my life was all winter wasteland. You brought me spring.”
“Did I, Vander?” she asked, turning and leaning on his chest. “Sometimes I feel as though I’ve just made your life complicated.”
He chuckled. “Well, you did. But you’re a complication I’ll gladly sort out.”
“I can’t be separated from you again; I’ll suffocate.”
She felt his chest deflate beneath her, and she searched his face. “What?”
“My love.” He stroked her hair. “You cannot come on this mission.”
She started up. “Don’t say that. Why would you say that?”
“Val, you can’t control your magic.”
“No, but my old magic is all withered and weak now. I gave it up, and Vander … I do have spring magic. I do. Like Sybil said I did.”
He knitted his brow.
“No, I mean it,” she said. “After what happened in Cobblepine, when I lost control … it terrified me. I can’t see my magic as I did before. I can’t hate my father like I want to because I …” She covered her face with her hands. “I’m afraid I’m turning into him.”
“Hush.” He drew her against his chest again. “No, you’re not.”
“You told me to let it go, but I didn’t listen …”
“Enough of that. Tell me about this spring magic.”
She beamed like a child who has just learned how to do a cartwheel. “I can’t command it yet, but I’ve grown flowers and trees—lovely trees, not thorny gnarled ones like before.”
“You grew daisies at our wedding. Do you not remember that?”
“Honestly, I was so excited about marrying you, I forgot all about it. I promise, I won’t do any dark magic on this trip.”
Evander still looked doubtful. “I’m going to have my hands full keeping these conscripts from killing Haldir, and I have to keep little Giles alive, which is a towering feat. You know what awaits us in Barrimore.”
She brushed his hair from his eyes again. “You’re using my magic as an excuse. Really, you’re just scared of the Crag.”
“Aren’t you?”
“Terrified,” she said. “But better to face it together than alone. You’ll need help. I can help.”
“I don’t know … It’s so dangerous.”
“And you think I’m safe in my father’s house?”
He groaned. “Alright. You win.”
“Good,” she said, tapping the end of his nose with her finger. “I always will, you know.”
“That is true.” He smiled at her adoringly. “You could make me agree to anything, I think. Anything you want. I’m yours, body and heart, until the end.”
She frowned. “Don’t speak of endings. Let’s talk about that cottage by the sea. Because if I do have my mother’s magic, then Talwaith could be restored. I can make up for it. I can atone for what I did to Cobblepine.”
Evander’s smile froze, then faded. “If the invasion succeeds …”
“Then my father will possess Talwaith again. If he takes Talwaith and I have spring magic …”
“Cobblepine will have a home again.”
She nodded. “It’s a risk. And my father can’t suspect that my magic is changing. But if we help him with this invasion, and we succeed, we need only find my sister and see her on the throne.”
“How on earth will we manage that?”
“Evander, if I restore Talwaith, I will also be restoring the dragon breeding grounds.”
“Oh,” he breathed.
“And you, my love, have dragon magic.”
“I do.”
“If we can place my sister on the Sennalaith throne, then we can call the dragons home. We can call the Talwaithans home. We can plant our own garden, and we can have the happy ending we dreamed.”
A radiant smile lit Evander’s somber face.
“You will make an excellent dragon master.”
“I believe I will.”
Dim morning light shot through a knot in the barn wall.
“We need to get up,” Evander said sadly.
“I want to stay here forever.”
“So do I, but we need to go before someone finds us in here.”
The camp outside hummed with activity as they slipped out of the tack room and into the barn. Samara approached them, worrying her lower lip with her teeth.
“The rumors are thick as sparksparrows in the barracks,” she said. “They’re saying the king means to sacrifice us at the front.”
“Not if we can return with Haldir alive.”
“Ah.” Samara cast a nervous look around the barn, then lowered her voice. “That is going to be difficult.”
The blood drained from Valenna’s face. “Why?”
“Oh,” Evander groaned. “The nonsense I have dealt with since I got here. I could go on for hours. Apparently, they want to kill Haldir.”
Valenna gasped. “But that’s idiotic!”
“Lysander was symbolic,” Samara said acidly. “And he’s turning into this gilded martyr for Cobblepine. A hero. Almost a saint.”
“What happened to Lysander?” Valenna asked, alarmed.
“Oh, you haven’t heard?” Samara’s voice tremored. “Haldir murdered him. For no reason. Just shot him through the head.”
A mess of emotions followed this revelation: shock, horror, guilt.
“Bournemuth has to survive,” Evander pleaded. “Try to convince them to wait until after the invasion.”
Samara shook her head. “I’m not convincing them of anything.
Look, I know Lysander was terrible to you.
I know he could be cruel and petulant, but he wasn’t always like that.
He had so much responsibility on his shoulders, and the pressure weighed him down.
When you sent him home, it was the worst humiliation. ”
Samara wrung her hands and turned to walk away, but spun around to face them again. “The crew is angry, and if Bournemuth does anything even remotely irritating, they’ll go off like scattershot and they’ll push me to the forefront.”
“Why?” Evander demanded. “Why you?”
Samara winced. “Did you not know? Lysander and I were betrothed.”