Epilogue
Elenya crossed her legs as she watched the man across from her pour a cup of tea.
This cozy cottage of his had become something of a second home to her over the past few decades, and her gaze lingered on the wild forest beyond the tall windows to her right.
After the Follower War, eastern Luxoria had been all but abandoned and the forest had taken over.
The Light glimmered in every leaf, every flake of snow.
This small hamlet at the edge of the wilds remained the last standing vestige of what was once Galadaine Manae’s stronghold, now riddled with untamed magic.
The man had known her for centuries now, so when he handed her the saucer, she knew he’d prepared it just as she liked. She took a sip and hummed at the notes of cinnamon within the brew. “Thank you,” she said.
He leaned back and set his ankle on the opposite knee, thoughtful. “Is she any closer to discovering who her mother is?”
Elenya shook her head. “I’ve given her what clues I’m able. Your mistress’s coercion is difficult to maneuver around.” Her tongue soured at the word mistress. She found it difficult to even think of the woman, much less say her name.
He chuckled, a dark sound incongruent with his fair hair and sylphian looks. “One must be cleverer than her. Not an easy feat.”
She sipped her tea, the better to hide her pity. He’d been living under the woman’s coercion for so long now. No one knew better than him how tricky resistance could be. “I am doing what I can,” she said.
The man sighed and slid toward her a book lying on the table between them. “Give her this.”
Elenya peered down at the title: The Children of Morgan. “What is it?” she asked.
“A genealogy.”
Surprise rendered her temporarily speechless. “Is—is she in it?”
“She is, but under her birth name. Princess Ellianna.”
“I fear she won’t make that connection.”
The man sat back, his expression impassive. “Every clue helps.”
Elenya considered him, curiosity growing. “Why is this so important to you? That she learn who she is?”
“She has only scratched the surface of what her magic can do, and with that vision you described, it seems her mother has already begun her attempts at persuasion. We need the princess on the right side of history. If her mother lures her in…well, I don’t know that anything could stop her with a daughter so powerful at her side. ”
Elenya set her saucer on the table. “I believe our son could. He is more powerful even than you. With the help of Caden Sidera, they could bring her down.”
The man released a long breath. “Perhaps.”
“What has you so troubled, my love?”
Dark eyes traveled up to meet hers, full of disquiet. “Our son is in love with the princess.”
A small smile spread across Elenya’s mouth despite her attempts to stop it. Watching David fall in love had been one of her greatest joys. Thanks to this man’s mistress, she had missed so much of her own son’s life, but she hadn’t missed his first love. “He is,” she said. “And she with him.”
He turned to gaze out the window. “Even from the distance I keep, I can feel it. He loves the way my brother did. Without conditions.”
“It’s a miracle he can feel anything at all given the pit of despair we were forced to leave him in.”
He slipped into a contemplative silence for several moments, finally broken with a soft, “He will never leave her. If she falls to her mother, he will follow. This life is not something I want for him.”
Elenya sensed his spike of fear behind his fortified barriers. “Then we will not let her fall.”