Chapter 37 #2
She’d charmed my parents’ memories, forced them to believe they were my blood relation. When the charm broke, it had hurt Mama. I couldn’t forgive that.
“When I was stuck with Caym in my head, I saw his memories. They were usually a muddied mix of rage and pain, but I saw the day Mattock left Amara. She was never a mother to me, but I saw her protect me. It was confusing. It still is.”
Sybilla finally relaxed back into her chair. Her gaze softened. “I’m sorry, Em...”
“You don’t need to be. I chose not to speak with you, and you woke me still. You’re owed an apology and a thank you.”
Her brows lifted. “How much did my daughter tell you?”
One side of my mouth turned up. “I did hear something about a kiss. Was I still any good?”
She huffed a laugh. “It was a little one-sided,” she jabbed.
“Fitting,” I mused.
A smile finally crept across my dear friend’s face.
A Little One-Sided could be the title of a book written about my and the Central Corridor Queen’s relationship.
For once, I didn’t hold any bitterness about it.
Instead, I stared down at Elsedora’s faded signature. She believed in me. That meant something.
I grabbed the quill Syb kept in an inkpot and signed the agreement without reading it.
If El had been there, if her signature was on that page, then she’d given this her hope when all had seemed lost to her, too.
Sybilla waved her hand at me, her mood seeming to lighten as the ink dried. “Can I just say—it really pisses me off you get to still look like that while I wither away like a prune?”
“You are aging like fine wine,” I hummed out. While I meant it, there was a lack of heat in my tone where it once had thrived.
“That’s what El says,” she scoffed and stood, reaching out to me. I mirrored her actions and firmly shook her hand.
“You are officially the King of the North Corridor again. I’ve lined up meetings with all the rulers of the realms for you over the next week.”
My shoulders stiffened. The last time I’d taken the crown, I’d ended up under the Death Origin’s thumb. Everything had gone to shit so quickly.
“And since you seem to only want to converse with El, I’ve sent a hawk to her, offering to relieve her of her officer role in the Sahlms so that she might be yours.”
My heart skipped.
Syb continued, “In truth, we have not needed her in the Sahlms for years. She already holds meetings with the lords in Helos. It’s up to you and her, of course, but Hurley is doing fantastic on his own.”
Spending more time with the Wind-wielding enchantress would do terrible things to my imagination. It seemed unwise, yet it sparked a thread of joy to keep her near me.
“I would like that.” My brow furrowed as I reflected on what she’d just revealed. “Elsedora manages affairs in Helos?”
Sybilla rounded the table and poured us each a glass of deep-burgundy wine. “She grew up in the North Corridor and knows the land. The North needed an advocate. She’s far more respected there than Krait or me. She never told you?”
I shook my head. It confirmed there were so many parts of her she still hid, even from me. I fought the pang of hurt that struck my chest.
“No. I had no idea.” I cleared my throat. “Who do I meet with first?”
“King Haag Bringham and his son, Prince Regon.”
I groaned, and Sybilla smirked. “The boy isn’t as bad as his father. Larkspur quite liked him the last time he visited because he called his father an ‘old coot’ for refusing a trade deal. She will also travel along with you both. She needs to build rapport with the rulers as much as you do.”
Sybilla handed me a crystal chalice, and I sipped. The oaken fruit tasted divine, and I savored it with gluttonous delight before swallowing.
“Anything else I should know?” I asked.
Sybilla shrugged. “Oh, tons. But all you need to know for now is you’re to play nice with the other royals. Build trust and then return to Helos for your crowning ceremony. We’ll keep it small.”
One thing Sybilla had never been good at was small gatherings. She cared little about who was in the room and more about how she might leverage their support to her benefit.
“I’ll need to check in on my mother before I go anywhere. If her condition worsens, I want to be home,” I argued.
“Egresses are abundant in the Corridors now, and El has a Griffith. You’ll never have to be away long, but I promise to look in on them, too. I have been.”
She set down her empty glass before she opened a drawer of her desk and retrieved a blue vial and popped the cork to take a dose of tonic.
“Doesn’t that dull your power?” I questioned. “The garrot root?”
She nodded. “It also keeps me well. Healer Mortag may have been under Caym’s influence, but he did me one kindness. The root quells the flare-ups. I think it’s how he justified it all...”
She was quiet for a moment after she placed the rest of the vial back in the drawer. I wanted to ask her how her health fared, how her life had gone since we parted. So many questions danced on my tongue, and yet she’d likely scoff at them. We’d never done well talking about our feelings.
“Are you still angry with me?” I prodded.
She huffed a laugh. “Of course I am.”
“But we’re still friends? Allies?”
Her demeanor softened completely; a glimpse of the girl who used to sit on the Luz palace walls with me and hunt squirrels in the woods stared back at me.
“Always, Emmerick. Always.”