A groan fell from Elyria’s lips. “Not you too.”
“Hey, this is what you signed up for. You won the fucking ArcaneCrucible. There’s no avoiding it,Lady Victor.”
Elyria threw a grape at Kit, who laughed as it narrowly missed, ricocheting off the wall behind her head.
“You know full well that isnotwhat I signed up for when I followed your ass through the Gate,” Elyria grumbled.
Kit shrugged, tracking the roll of the grape across the polished wooden floor. “Might as well enjoy the ride while you’re on it. Besides, I’ll be right next to you the entire time, suffering in near-equal measure.”
“That’s riiiiiight,” Elyria said, her melodic voice stretching the vowel. “So why aren’tyoubeing poked, prodded, and stuck with pins, hmm? Where are your fancy dresses fit for this momentous celebration of Arcanian and human peace?”
“I’ve nearly two centuries as Duchess Laeliana Ravenswing’s daughter and niece of the king under my belt. You think I’m not already armed with dresses to spare? Stars above, Ellie. The years apart really did a number on your memory of how it works around here.”
Elyria plastered on a halfhearted smile, the weight of Kit’s words sinking into the space between them. A reminder of the separation Elyria herself had imposed on their friendship—their sisterhood. One that began the moment she realized Evander wouldn’t be returning from his attempt at conquering the Arcane Crucible and only ended when Elyria followed Kit into the next one.
Kit’s face fell. “No, that’s not—I didn’t mean?—”
“I know.” Elyria gave Kit’s knee a light pat. “And you’re right, we still have much to catch up on, even now. I suppose it’s a good thing we’ll have plenty of time to chat on our way to Kingshelm.”
“Aye,” boomed a gruff voice from the doorway. “A trip I’m very much lookin’ forward to, I admit. Never traveled by gryphon before.”
Thraigg’s unexpected appearance had Elyria jumping to her feet with a yelp, reflexively pelting a handful of grapes at the dwarf. He caught one with surprising deftness, the ornaments decorating his thick brown beard jangling.
“Oi, don’t shoot the messenger,” he said, blue eyes twinkling. “Though ye’re losing your touch, Rev, if ye thought this would stop an intruder.” He popped the fruit between his teeth with a grin.
Elyria fought an answering smile of her own, though it quicklymorphed into a frown as Thraigg went on to add, “Ye’ve been summoned,yer ladyship.”
Kit didn’t bother trying to hide her laugh this time.
Elyria shuffled toward the doorway with a scowl. “So glad I can be here for your entertainment.”
“If it makes ye feel any better, rumor is our Lord Victorover in Kingshelm isn’t quite loving his new title either.”
Elyria stopped mid-step.
“If we’re to believe the traders’ reports,” Thraigg continued, “Ric’s been paraded up and down the whole stars-damned human kingdom nonstop these past few months. Poor man’s only just now getting a break.”
“Oh? What do you mean by that?” She attempted to keep her voice nonchalant, the question casual. Another snort of laughter from Kit told Elyria she’d failed in a spectacular fashion. She resisted the urge to pelt more grapes at her friend.
The look Thraigg gave Elyria was entirely too knowing, and she felt the instantaneous urge to tell him to forget the whole thing. But then he said, “Something about a party from the capital heading out on a mission to that magical academy of theirs—what’s it called? Pie-something.” He shrugged. “Supposedly, it’s being led by the Victor of Havensreach.”
The sudden disappointment blooming in Elyria’s gut must have shown on her face, because Thraigg was quick to add, “Granted, dwarven chatter is often just that, y’know. Chatter, gossip, scuttlebutt. Could very well be wrong.”
“True,” Kit chimed in. “Who amongst us hasn’t been on the receiving end of a ratherembellishedtale from a dwarven trader? You’d think them masters of transfiguration with the way they can spin a crumb into an entire story.” Something like sympathy flashed in her blue and green eyes. “Plus, even with the accords in place, messages aren’t exactly reliable. Especially with the humans’ shoddy magic at work. My mother tells me every other missive sent across the Chasm is delayed or misdelivered.”
Elyria groaned inwardly, the pity she could feel seeping from Kit and Thraigg coloring the apples of her cheeks with embarrassment. But there was something else too, something deeper, more painful.The realization that after all this—the weeks spent planning the trip to Kingshelm, the months of waiting—hemight not even be there when she arrived.
The thought sat uncomfortably in her chest. She should feel relieved, shouldn’t she? The last thing she needed was to see Cedric Thorne again. If even the absence of him had been this distracting...
Truth be told, from the moment they’d parted ways in the Lost City, with Elyria eager to get a dangerously wounded Kit to the nearest healer, and Cedric’s human escorts sweeping him off in another direction, she’d done her best to ignore his existence entirely. Refused to think of him much at all, in fact.
Unfortunately, that hadn’t stopped the thoughts from coming anyway.
And now, with the accords settled, the unprecedented was finally happening. Arcanians were being granted entrance to Havensreach—officially, legitimately.Ceremoniously.
Elyria Lightbreaker, the Revenant, was about to bewelcomedto Kingshelm.
Which meant they would finally be on the same side of the Chasm again. And the ever-present, well,presenceof him would only get harder and harder to ignore.
