CHAPTER 28
“Power comes from knowledge. Guard my teachings as you would guard the richest treasures of your paltry king.”
—Recounting from the private diary of Jerris, Dragonbound
SERAE
“Have you ever seen anything like it?”
“No, never.”
“Those wings…did you see them?”
“Callagh, how could I not?”
“And she healed you. I saw you. Great Dragon, I’ve never been so scared, but here you are. There wasn’t even a scar.”
“She healed herself, too.”
“She’s incredible.”
“I know.”
I DON’T know how long I slept. I woke with a bone-deep hunger and a throat of glass.
Callagh was at my bedside with a cup of hot tea from Marr Magda.
I drank it down and nibbled bits of toast and berries.
One thought at a time, my mind returned to me.
Aside from passing out after exhausting my power, I seemed to have no gaps in my memory.
My secret was out. It was spreading through Drakh like wildfire, if Callagh was to be believed.
Everyone had seen what I’d done for Wep, and anyone who hadn’t would surely learn how I had summoned the power of life to bring him back from the brink of death, while sprouting dragon wings of light from my back.
I should be anxious or proud—or even terrified about whether the people would accept me as Bound to their goddess.
Except, since waking, I’d become wholly consumed by one thing.
Wep is Eldreth.
I bathed. Sitting in the tub until the water turned to ice, and my teeth chattered.
Wep is Eldreth.
I got out of the bath, dressed in whatever I could find, and took up pacing between my rooms.
Wep is Eldreth.
A knock at my door sounded. It was Callagh bringing me a tray and another letter from Merria. I snatched it up, broke the seal, and tried to read, but I couldn’t make sense of any of the words. I cast the letter aside, leaving it to land where it may.
Wep is Eldreth.
Callagh did her best to help me, but when I finally confided that I had the brothers confused, she just stared at me. I opened my second sight and was unsurprised to find bright pulses of cyan. Shock.
“Did you really not know?”
I shook my head.
“But how could you not know?”
The question was eating me alive. Ellán, I was certain, intended the confusion and chaos he created. But, not Wep—not Eldreth. His forwardness with me, his willingness to touch me and kiss me all made sense now. Still, I had to hear it from his lips.
I opened my door to shouting. At the end of the hallway, at the final door that I had never seen used, stood a couple fighting.
I pushed my door shut most of the way when I registered long, platinum hair.
Peering through the small gap, I listened.
Callagh stood beside me with wide eyes, pressing her ear in close to listen as well.
“We’re so good together,” Meralda was saying. “How could you throw this all away?”
Someone forced her backward, and Eldreth’s frame took up the doorway.
His beautiful copper hair was loose and mussed like someone had been running their hands through it.
He was shirtless and bootless, wearing only a pair of thin cloth pants.
His face was hard as he spoke. “We had our last night together. What’s done is done.
I’ve told you my path forward. You have to accept it. ”
“Fine, keep the Inraen bitch, but you’ll tire of her. You know you will. When you do, you’ll come crawling back to me.”
He scoffed.
“Have you even fucked her yet?”
“Leave, Meralda.” Eldreth crossed his arms over his chest.
“Oh, that’s right, of course you haven’t. She won’t let you touch her until the marriage is secured. She’ll be a lousy, unsatisfying lay with no experience. It’ll be like fucking a child—”
“Dane already told you to leave Drakh. Go spew your bile somewhere else.” He stepped back and slammed the door in her face.
Meralda pounded on it, and I used the cover of her racket to ease my door back shut. Scrunched up against it, Callagh and I stared at each other.
“She told me he’d been in her bed countless times,” I breathed, just connecting whose bed she was referring to.
Callagh nodded. “They were together before you came here. I thought Wep ended it when he agreed to the betrothal.”
I swallowed. Had they carried on? Or was it truly one last night together, like he said?
Her hatred for me finally made sense. I had stolen her…
fuck, what were they? Intended? Lovers? Engaged?
A chill ran up my spine with realization.
She had expected to be the future high dana of the Riht.
I had taken more than a man from her; I’d taken a crown.
And I’d taken her from the people of Drakh, too.
No wonder they hated me. I’d hate me, too, if I were them.
“I think I need to rest some more,” I said tonelessly.
Sprakt flew in through the window, and I moved aside my hair, giving him a perch on my shoulder.
“Of course, my lady. I’ll return later.” Her voice was full of pity. I was glad for her to leave.
I returned to my bedroom and sat at the edge of my bed, staring out the window at nothing. Sprakt perched silently by my ear, occasionally nudging me with his beak.
Wep is Eldreth. But who even is Eldreth?
I truly didn’t know.
I SAT in a trance for a long time. The rain was heavier than I’d ever seen it in the Riht, matching my mood.
The sound was thunderous, though no thunder or lightning came.
Sometimes, I was looking out into the gray mist hiding the forest. Other times, I slipped into Vaya’la’s mind to soar over the crystal mines and broken hills and watch creatures from a dream live out their strange lives.
When the storm inside me peaked, I rose to my feet.
Sprakt flew out my sitting room window—the one I kept cracked just for him.
Around me, the tempest of leaves I’d been shedding melted away.
Heat bloomed from my scalp. A glance at the mirror showed me a crown of thistle sprouting from the top of my head.
So be it. Drakh already knew what was inside of me, and so did Wep.
I walked with thunder raging through my head and heart across the hall and down the stairway leading toward Wep’s training room.
I allowed myself three slow breaths while lingering outside the double doors.
A small part of me wished I had rehearsed what to say, but this moment was driven by instinct alone.
On the last deep breath, I pushed through the door.
The light of day had not fully faded, but the braziers in the room were already lit. Wep—No. Eldreth was in the middle of the floor performing a dowsa with a long, curved sword. The man I knew as Wep was gone. I had yet to see who this Eldreth was that had taken his place.
He must not have noticed my entry. He continued his practice, moving with a fluidity that I had rarely seen, combined with speed and strength I was certain I had never beheld on any other.
He was wind and water all at once. He was a flash of steel and limbs.
Whether airborne, grounded, moving, or still, there was such flow and liquidity and surety in him that I could almost see his imaginary opponent, swinging and missing strike after strike.
He was truly a wonder to behold, but I set those feelings aside.
My scalp burned as more thistles sprouted from my crown.
On his next spin, Eldreth caught sight of me. He dropped his sword to the floor, casting aside his practice in favor of me. A smile played at his mouth, and his eyes flittered over my thistle crown. He opened his mouth to speak, but I was the one with things to say.
“Why do they call you Wep?” I blurted out. Not quite the question I meant to ask.
It took several moments of confusion for him to reply. “I am the weaponmaster.”
“Yes, but I’ve met Marr Magda.”
He cocked his head to the side and began walking toward me. “This is a language thing? Marr Wep is my title. It’s from Master of Weapons in Old Rihtish.”
“But they call you Wep.”
“I don’t understand.”
“No one calls you Eldreth.”
He was right in front of me. His hand reached out to touch my crown of thistle.
“What’s this about?” He sucked in a breath. “Fuck, those sting.” He examined his fingers, then shook out his hand. His eyes roamed over my face. “Are you upset?”
“You are Eldreth.”
His brow furrowed.
“Why are you not called Ell?”
“Ell is short for Ellán.” His words had slowed. His expression turned wary.
“But Wep isn’t short for Eldreth!” I yelled, my temper finally breaking. Jagged thistle leaves shot in every direction and left minuscule scratches down his arms. He barely flinched.
In a steady voice, he said, “Del is short for Eldreth, not Ell.”
“They don’t call you that either.”
“Only because I hate it.”
A memory of Marr Magda’s chiding Delly clicked into place. “I don’t get it,” I shot back. “Why the fuck does no one use your name?”
He stared at me, jaw slack.
“I’m looking for an answer here!”
He shrugged helplessly. “Not many people would, I guess. My father, some of my ranng, that’s about it.”
“Then why have I never heard it?”
He cast around the room as if he might find an answer there. Eventually, his eyes narrowed back on me. “You never use my name.”
My ire stilled. I swallowed whatever words I might have said.
“Tell me you knew my name.”
Fuck.
“Dragon’s fucking scales, Serae, tell me you know my name.”
He stepped into me, forcing me to look up at him. I couldn’t tear my eyes from the storms that were brewing behind his. “I do. I just thought it belonged to someone else.”
“For how long?”
“That depends. How long was I unconscious after that little stunt with the short swords?”
He stepped back like it was a blow.
“Was this meant to be some kind of trick?” The second I said it, I knew it was wrong. The shock on his face was plain and reflexive. I didn’t need my second sight to confirm it, but it opened anyway.