Chapter 19 #2
The door creaked open, and a man filled the frame. Tall, with dark red hair that curled slightly at the ends. His freckled face lit up in surprise and Iona didn’t wait for a word from him before almost tackling him, wrapping her arms around him like he belonged to her.
What the fuck?
“What in the Gods’ name are you doing down here?” His voice was deep, rich. One that carried weight behind it, despite his lean stature.
Pulling back just enough to look at him, Iona placed her hands on his cheeks. “You look like absolute shit,” she said with a grin that somehow managed to soften the sharp planes of her face.
He chuckled, shaking his head. “You try being stuck down here the majority of the time.”
I shifted uncomfortably, unsure whether I was intruding on something private or bearing witness to some long-overdue reunion. Should I do something with my hands? Avoid looking at their eyes…
Iona turned to me, her hands still resting on the man’s shoulders. “Kadian,” she said, her voice lighter than I’d ever heard it, “this is my brother.”
Her brother? Of all the revelations tonight, this one somehow felt the most surreal. “Your brother…” The words barely made it out before the man stepped forward, extending his hand.
“Edrick,” he said. His grip was firm, his freckled face kind but tired. “Never expected you to have a friend.” He threw a teasing glance at Iona.
I like him already.
“Yes, well, prepare to be dazzled,” she replied, already pushing her way into the room. “Hope you have enough seats for us.”
Edrick gave an exasperated sigh, stepping aside to let me enter. “Whatever reason has brought you here, I would think it’s something best not discussed in the hall.”
I nodded, the weight of the evening pressed heavier on my shoulders with each passing second. This is not where I expected my night to go.
“Best you come on inside then,” he said. “No doubt she’s already taken the most comfortable chair.”
“The only chair,” Iona’s voice drifted out from the dimly lit space.
Holding my tongue, I stepped into the room.
The cramped space was well-lived-in. Half-filled shelves, parchment stacked on every visible surface, and a cot that looked less inviting than the hard floor outside.
Compared to this, my Escalian apartment could have passed for the glittering palace above us.
How did he end up here? Was Addie’s room as horrid as this?
The cot was small, just big enough for one person, with a desk and chair shoved into the corner, where Iona now sat. A wardrobe loomed against the wall, and the carpet looked like it had been stitched together from sandpaper.
“This is…” I began, grasping for any complimentary word that might soften the bleakness. Before I could settle on anything, Iona spoke up.
“Shit. Don’t bother with the false platitudes,” she said, not even sparing me a glance. She was staring intently at something in her hand, ignoring me as I cautiously stepped further into the room.
“Here,” Edrick said, pulling the pillow off his bed and placing it on the floor in front of me.
“I’m fine,” I said, seating myself against the wardrobe. “Thanks, though.”
The gesture was kind, but my thoughts were too preoccupied to accept it.
This wasn’t where I was supposed to be. My plan had been simple: find Addie’s room, slip inside, and uncover whatever notes she might have left behind.
I’d hoped—needed—there to be something useful.
Instead, I was here, sitting on the floor of this mildew smelling room, with two people I barely knew, one of which I couldn’t stand.
Iona had been right, it had been a terrible plan.
Edrick and I sat in silence, staring at each other awkwardly as if we had been forced into a courtship neither of us wanted.
Each daring the other to speak first. Normally, I wouldn’t mind starting a conversation, but under Iona’s steely, unrelenting gaze, it felt like every word would be weighed and dissected.
As if she were only waiting for me to slip up.
“Oh, for Gods’ sake.” Iona finally broke the silence, leaning forward in her chair. “Edrick, I’m sorry, but we need to talk about Addie.”
Edrick visibly flinched, his already pale face turning ghostly. “I’m not sure what you—”
“Stop,” Iona interrupted, raising a hand to cut him off.
“I see she treats you the way she treats everyone else,” I blurted before I could stop myself.
A flicker of a smile crossed Edrick’s face, faint but unmistakable. “If only that were true.” His grin widened as his gaze shifted toward his sister, who rolled her eyes.
“Edrick,” Iona said again, this time softer. She rested her elbows on her knees, leaning closer. “I really am sorry, but this idiot over here”—she gestured vaguely toward me—“is looking for something of hers. Is there any way you can help us?”
Edrick’s eyes shifted to me, heavy with something I couldn’t name. “You know Addie?” he asked, his voice dropping, weighed down with questioning.
“Know?” I sat up straighter, a jolt of realization hitting me. Does he not know what’s happened to her? I turned to Iona, whose gaze was suddenly sharper, burning red with restrained anger.
I didn’t need her to speak. Her expression was clear. Do not say a fucking word.
“How do—” Edrick paused, fidgeting with his hands. “How do you know Addie?”
His discomfort was clear; his fingers tangled together as if searching for answers in the motion. Something in his world had been tilted off its axis. Much like mine had been. But where I knew Addie had been taken… where does he think Addie is?
“Addie is my best friend’s aunt,” I said firmly.
“Ah, you’re Brida’s friend,” Edrick said softly, his expression shifting. “Of course. Kadian. I knew the name was familiar.”
I offered him a faint smile. It had been kind of Addie to mention me, knowing I was important to Bri. But then Addie had always been kind. And that kindness had gotten her killed.
“Addie is so fond of Brida,” Edrick continued, his voice lowering. “She always says she wishes she’d had more time with her after her sister passed. Terrible thing. Taken at such a young age. Human lives are over in a blink as it is and to go even sooner…A tragedy, really.”
I glanced between him and Iona, trying to piece everything together.
Iona had a brother—Edrick. I maneuvered myself to look at him as best I could without straining my eyes.
The similarities were there. The hair, the color and slight curl, their pale complexion.
The points of their ears. But it was more.
The slender nose they each bore, the almond shape of their eyes.
Iona has a brother and he had known Addie… and known her well.
“Edrick, I’m not sure if your sister has told you about me, but if she did, she’d have told you that we’re not exactly close.”
“Ha,” Iona barked out a laugh from her chair, twisting a quill between her fingers. Iona, it appeared, did not like to sit still. Another similarity she and Edrick shared as his hands and fingers hadn’t stopped moving since we’d sat down.
“And,” I ignored her, “she’s never mentioned you.”
Edrick nodded slowly, his gaze shifting to his sister. Iona extended a hand, clasping his tightly. “It wasn’t because I didn’t want to,” she whispered.
“I know,” Edrick said, his faint smile returning.
Iona turned to me, her expression hardening. “Edrick is my half-brother. My mother’s son.”
Her mother’s son—not her father’s. He’d been kept from Deter.
“My mother knew I could never risk the Courting, even if I were to receive an invitation,” Edrick explained.
“It wasn’t worth the exposure. But she wanted me to have something, anything.
So as soon as I could, I left to become a scribe.
I worked several places before landing in Haliar, where I met Addie. ”
I nodded. Brida had told me about Addie working in Haliar—that she’d visited her there once, years ago.
“I knew of Addie before I met her,” Edrick added quietly.
“We moved in the same circles, and those circles are small. For a while, we were stationed in Samina, working under a man named Kadrata. He’s the one who told me about the position in Haliar.
What I didn’t know was that he’d told Addie, too. ”
He shifted uncomfortably, his foot tapping against the floor, as if he couldn’t tell why he wasn’t at ease.
“We worked on genealogy projects for the royal archives. Addie loved it. The history, the stories of people long gone… it consumed her. Sparked something in her.” His voice softened, a faint glimmer lighting his eyes at the memory.
“Eventually, two positions opened in Azmeer. By then, Addie and I…” His voice trailed off, and he didn’t need to say more. “We decided we’d go together.”
He paused speaking, his foot tapping faster now. Iona’s hand tightened its grip.
“We had just settled in when Addie spotted Brida during your tour of the library,” Edrick began, his voice quiet but weighted. “She couldn’t believe it. Humans are seldom invited to the Courting.” He trailed off, shaking his head.
And won’t be invited at all now if Rai has his way.
“Addie couldn’t let it go. She was convinced there was no way Brida could have received an invitation.
Not because she believed her incapable, the exact opposite, really—just because she is human.
Addie thinks Brida will achieve great things.
You no doubt feel the same way.” He offered me a smile, one that suggested he believed mine and Brida’s relationship to be more akin to his and Addie’s.
I wasn’t going to use this time to tell him that he couldn’t be any further from the truth in that regard, but he was right.
I knew Brida would achieve greatness, but that would only come to pass if I could find her and help her.