This information stuck with Saga. What made Avery different?
“Ei nimi miestä pahenna, jos ei mies nimeä.35 That’s a systemic issue, not a personal one,” said Esteri. “You know she doesn’t deal in uprisings. What was it she’d say? Revenge not revolution?” She cleared her throat and gave Avery a pointed look that Saga didn’t understand. “And even if she did, I believe you already made your play for retribution in that regard.”
“And yet how little life has truly changed,” the silver woman remarked bitterly, brushing her hair from her eyes. Had her ears always been so obviously pointed? Or was it only obvious now that they were here where so many other creatures did not have to hide?
“We’re safer now,” Esteri spoke softer now, but there was a weight to her words. “That’s thanks toyou, Avery. And I know that did not come at a small price.”
Saga didn’t dare speak. She felt like a voyeur, witnessing but not participating in a deeply personal moment.
“I wish I’d had a chance to…” Avery didn’t finish. She shook off the rising tension in her throat. “Were they happy? In the end?”
“Yes,” Esteri assured. “We kept an eye on them for you, Fiore and me.”
A weak smile twitched at Avery’s lips, and her inhalation sounded suspiciously like a sniffle. “HowisFiore?”
“Oh you know, saving the world,” the tulikettu said with a small secretive smile brimming with admiration. “Overseeing multiple businesses, including this one…” Her eyes glittered, and she answered the question Avery was actually asking. “Still a council member.”
“Good.” Avery had not really kept her feelings about the council secret the few times she’d mentioned it to Saga, but she seemed sincere, which made the exchange all the more curious. “I never did get a chance to say ‘thank you.’”
“You didn’t need to.” Esteri glanced toward Saga and her shoulders hunched sheepishly. “I’m so sorry, I’m being such a wretched host! Pleaseforgive us, we didn’t mean to exclude you. It’s just I have not seen this one in nearly two hundred years.”
Saga shook her head sympathetically. “No, it’s okay, I… Twohundredyears?”
“Thank the fates for rising crime rates, eh?” Esteri laughed, giving Saga’s knee a playful little slap. “If they weren’t at such a loss without her it might have been five hundred.”
“Five hundred!” Saga echoed in shock.
“Well, it’s understandable. No government takes treason lightly.”
“Perhaps we could talk about this later?” Avery asked through gritted teeth.
Saga felt a pit in her stomach, remembering her grandmother’s referral to Avery as a convict. Her mind and heart began to race, unsure what to do with this information. She swallowed and managed to keep her voice steady. “You were in prison for two hundred years fortreason?”
“Treason is averystrong word,” Avery tried to de-escalate.
Esteri, misunderstanding the situation, blithely joked on. “But pretty standard for cases of regicide.”
Saga’s throat dried up. “Regi… Youkilleda royal?”
“Did you not know?” Esteri blinked, bewildered. “I thought everybody knew.”
Avery’s hands were tight fists resting on her thighs. She took a measured breath before explaining, “Saga only recently learned of her family’s connection to the Otherworld, we haven’t had time to cover all the particulars.”
“Oooh.” Esteri bobbed her head in understanding. Then, as it sank in, she exclaimed, “Oh! Oh, no. This sounds bad.” She turned to Saga and attempted in a flurry to undo any damage. “It’s not bad. I mean, it is, I suppose, in the strictest sense of the word. It wasn’tgood, but Avery is not bad. Am I making sense? It’s not what you think!”
Saga turned a lost look to Avery. “It’s not?”
“I suppose that depends on what you think,” Avery admitted. Then, far more timidly. “Whatdoyou think?”
“I don’t know.” It was an unhelpful answer, but an honest one, and Saga was certain that was really the best she could give right now based on how little information she actually had. “You killed someone. You killedroyalty.Was it in self-defense?”
“Yes.” The answer came without hesitation or excuse.
Saga believed her, but she wasn’t sure what this further information changed. “Okay.”
“Okay?”
“Okay… I don’t feel the need to run,” said Saga. “But I still don’t know how to feel about this. I’m gonna need some time to process.”
