The quest had changed everything. It had awakened something within me, a sense of higher purpose. And while being queen of Volarre offered me that purpose, I couldn’t shed the trappings of my old life that had begun to chafe. I held court, heard petitions, received foreign dignitaries, signed decrees, and attended every Realm Alliance meeting in Yorth; yet at times, I felt less important to this realm than I had while tromping through the woods in filthy garments.
“Interesting choice of retreat.”
The familiar, deep voice made my already pounding heart quicken its cadence. I cast a glance over my shoulder and saw a lean, tall figure with sandy hair loping toward me: Mercer.
The pang of delight I felt was something of a reflex. I’d fallen a bit in love with him over our journey, and for a month or so after its conclusion, I believed that the emptiness inside me was missing him, the wound of wanting what I could never have. But my feelings had ebbed and blurred, and I realized that the emptiness was something far more frightening than desire. I had discovered my truest, bravest self on that journey. And now I feared losing her.
That was why I came here.
As for my pattering heart and whirling butterflies, well…Mercer was just so viciously handsome, damn him. One of his eyes was as white as bone now, with a tiny black dot for a pupil, but somehow it hadn’t diminished his beauty.
“I followed your materialization trail,” he explained, hunkering down next to me.
“Then I suppose you arrived at the palace around the time the commotion began,” I said, propping my palms on the cool rock. “I’m surprised you made it inside without my people ripping that off,” I added, jerking my chin toward the dappled, gray-green elicrin stone hanging from a dingy cord around his neck.
“I found another way in. Are you all right?”
The question cut straight through my armor of dark humor. “Just a bit rattled,” I said with a slanted smile. “I think the mortals fail to understand that even if we gave up our elicrin stones, Valory would stay the same. She can’t give away what she is, not like we can. It’s better that the rest of us retain our power, in case she…” I trailed off, remembering that I was speaking to her lover.
“It’s all right,” he said. “She and I have discussed the same thing. We’ve seen what power without accountability looks like. No one is capable of doing much to mitigate…” Now it was his turn to trail off. He sighed. “It’s strange to be back here. I can’t say I care for it.”
“Why did you come? You would have seen me at the Realm Alliance gathering tomorrow.”
Mercer looked at me, one eye warm golden brown, one shocking white. “I had a vision last night.”
“Oh? Dreaming of me, are you?” I teased.
“It was about your sister.”
“Perennia?” The protective mother wolf in me raised her hackles in alarm.
“No. Ambrosine.”
I relaxed, tipping my head back so the morning sun could splash its warmth over my face. “Does the king of Perispos want to send her back on the fastest ship in his fleet?”
“Perhaps,” he admitted. “But I’ve seen something more worrisome.”
I arched a brow.
He draped his forearms over his knees and gazed at the tower’s soaring height. “At first, I saw Ambrosine in a dim room.” He squinted, as though struggling to recall a fading memory. “There was an enormous mirror. Hours passed, and your sister stared into it without looking away.”
“That sounds highly typical.”
“She spoke to it,” he added.
“To herself, you mean?”
“She replied to unuttered questions and laughed at silence. It was as though someone was there, but I couldn’t see or hear anyone. I think you should go to Perispos.”
“You expect me to neglect my crushing list of responsibilities to journey to a place beyond my materializing range because my elder sister won’t stop admiring herself in the mirror? She can do it forever for all I care. At least she’s not making anyone else’s life miserable like she was before.”
“I know it sounds trivial, but it felt sinister.”
“Weren’t you just saying a few weeks ago that your visions have been showing you several conflicting possibilities instead of one imminent future?”
He nodded. “But it didn’t start then. I haven’t told Valory, but it started when she embraced the full power of the Water.”
“I don’t understand.”
“She’s a dynamic, unpredictable force in the world. It’s as if no future is set in stone.”
“You think she’s that powerful?”
“Don’t change the subject. My visions may be more confusing than ever, but I know without a doubt this one about Ambrosine was a warning.”
I worried my lip. We had restricted Ambrosine’s use of magic to a brief list of approved spells and enchantments. She could brighten her elicrin stone to see in the dark, test her food and drink for poison, shield herself if someone tried to hurt her. The enchantment we placed on her stone before she departed would alert us if she tried to use it for anything else.
“Could she defy her probation?” I asked. “Without using unsanctioned magic to remove the restrictions?”
“You mean…without using dark elicromancy?” Mercer asked. “Do you think she would?”
“Devorian has already shown a proclivity for forbidden magic. My siblings and I are ‘contumacious and curious,’ as our governess used to say. I wouldn’t be shocked if Ambrosine had found a way to break her probation.”
“I don’t know.” He pursed his lips. “I wish I could tell you more. My visions don’t always—”
“Yes, I know, they’re minimally helpful, quite persnickety, and getting worse every day.”
Mercer grunted out a laugh. “Fair. Do you trust me enough to go merely because I’ve asked?”
I slid a skeptical glance his way, pretending to consider, before rolling my eyes in resignation. “Yes. Why can’t I use Valory’s portal box?”
“She hasn’t returned from answering that mysterious call for help. She’s so confident now that she just…left last week without telling me where she was going. I’m beginning to worry.”
“Worry? About Valory Braiosa?” I asked.
“Believe it or not,” he admitted.
“She’ll be back soon. And meanwhile, when I get seasick, I’ll be thinking of you.”
“As long as I’ve appeased my visions,” he said, rising to his feet.
“What about the Realm Alliance meeting?” I asked, pushing myself up after him.
“Send Devorian in your place. He’s wised up since he wreaked havoc on the realm.”
“But I may need him as a translator. My Perispi is stale.”
“You’ve bragged before that your Perispi is impeccable.”
I scowled.
“Are you that desperate for a reason not to go?”.
“You know what happened there, don’t you?” I asked, my voice a little hoarse. “My parents?”
Mercer nodded solemnly. His broad hands rested on my shoulders. “But King Myron executed the murderers. He promised that Perispos would leave its superstitions about elicromancers in the past. Isn’t that why he wanted to marry you or Ambrosine? To symbolize that his kingdom no longer held any prejudice against our kind?”