The Empress bowed her head in confirmation—and perhaps to hide the slight, sour twist to her lips. But it was Adeline’s lost expression that made the pieces slide together; that brought him back to the balcony, where she’d worn the same expression as she’d told him of the rift between Silas and his Dhaliaan relatives.
“That’s why you stopped writing,” said Adeline, in a voice so small it slipped between Kai’s ribs like a splinter. It was an effort, in that moment, not to snarl at the Empress for ever having hurt her, no matter how old or healed that hurt might be. But for her part, Eleni simply hung her head lower, defeat and shame dragging at her shoulders.
“Yes,” she said solemnly. “I thought it was for the best. You kept asking to come back here and I couldn’t bear to—”
At Adeline’s audible wince, Eleni stopped and raised round, sorrowful eyes to her niece.
“Did my mother know?”
“No,” Eleni breathed, not quite a scoff, but a small gasp that echoed some past disbelief. “That was the whole point, I’m afraid.”
“The point ofwhat?” said Adeline. She seemed tired now, all that fire smothered, her voice quiet but thick with emotion. Kai reached across his own wooden armrest for her hand. She took his at once and squeezed, eyes falling shut as though she could draw some borrowed strength from his grasp. When she opened them again, she said, “I don’t understand why you did this. Why you hid this from me; Papou, my father,allof you.”
Eleni gave a small, defeated nod and leaned forward in her chair.
“You know that I had the greatest respect for your mother.” Adeline mustered a small, derisive laugh, but Eleni’s voice only strengthened. “No—Idid.She was my friend. But she was also the leader of the most powerful kingdom in the world, and that sort of influence, the monopoly she held on that power—it was her greatest pride. It’s true that I did not always agree with her, nor did I always trust her. And I’m sorry to say this, Adeleni, Iam, but neither did your father.”
“Then why bring me home to Eisalaan?” Adeline shot back. “If he thought so little of her, why wouldn’t he keep me here, like Ibeggedhim to?”
“Because if he had kept you here, she would never have stopped trying to get you back, whether she knew of your abilities or not. And we were prepared to fight, my love. For you, we would have fought. We would have explored your power,strengthenedit, rather than see it smothered or exploited to appease another’s ego. But Silas did not want that.”
Adeline’s face fell, but she bit her lip hard, and Kai could see that she was fighting tears. Could see the anger simmering beneath the wet shimmer in her eyes; he was beginning to understand that crying did not bring her the same relief as it did to most. Instead, her tears brought a unique sort of discomfort, and Adhlas, she had had so much cause to weep these last few weeks. He squeezed her hand again, and she squeezed back harder, drawing from him once again.
“He didn’t want me at the centre of a war,” she said finally, remarkably steady.
“No,” Eleni agreed. “He didn’t. He studied magical theory for the remainder of your summer here, hoping he would find some answer. In the end, he came to the conclusion that your gift was a result of your proximity to the Laune, dormant as that power may be. But your use of it—”
She hesitated. Kai felt Adeline’s hand stiffen in his, and knew she was bracing herself for whatever her aunt was so reluctant to share.
“Your use of it was tied to your happiness and freedom. He believed that if he brought you back to Eisalaan, back to your mother, you would not be able to express your magic as you did here. And, I gather, he was right.”
A hush descended on them, colder and more awful by far than the pressing ice that had once imprisoned him.
“I don’t agree with what he did, Adeleni, but I know that he was protecting you. Your mother put Eisalaan’s power and prestige before all else, and an heir wielding centuries-lost magic would only have been another jewel in her crown—”
“I don’t need you to tell me what value my mother placed on hercrown,” said Adeline. “I lived it. I knowexactlywhat came first to her, alright? You needn’t remind me.”
Silence fell again, and Kai could do nothing more than hold tight to Adeline’s hand and try not to stare too solemnly at her grief-stricken face. He hadn’t known; not really. Perhaps he’d sensed something stilted in the way the late queen had interacted with her daughters, but he’d also known that Adeline loved her mother. That Selma was plainly, profoundly proud of her vibrant daughter. That they’d spent some time together, toward the end of Selma’s life. To see her now, struggling to keep herself from crumbling at the thought of how her mother might have reacted to her power, Kai struggled with himself. It was not his place, sitting here between these women as they unspooled and untangled decades worth of family conflict—his part in this, he had quickly understood, was to hold Adeline’s hand and bear witness. Still, it grew more difficult to hold his tongue the longer the silence stretched and weighed down on them all. He was almost grateful when Eleni spoke, tentative though she was.
“Your mother loved you, Adeline. There is no mistaking that. But she was lost, for a long time, and we did not know that she would find her way back. So Silas put you first. Before Eisalaan, before Selma, before his own throne—”
Kai could not tell if Eleni had caught herself, or if it was Adeline’s spluttered breath that cut her off. They stared at each other for a moment, and he was slow to catch the meaning of this new peal of tension in the air until Adeline spoke.
“Hisownthrone?”
Understanding rushed him, and Kai could only return the pressure of Adeline’s grasp against his own. Eleni sat back, loosing a thin sigh through her teeth as she stared out into thedarkness of the garden. She shook her head, seemingly to herself more than either of them.
“That,” she said carefully, “is the other reason for our estrangement. In your Silver Kingdom, any child of a ruling monarch may petition for the throne once they come of age. Dhalias has no such law. The crown is passed to the firstborn of the ruling monarch—unless, let us say, they were to concede to an ill-prepared younger sibling.”
Though she did not move, Eleni’s eyes flicked to Adeline, a nervous sideways glance.
“Perhaps to free himself, so he might cross the oceans to raise a child borne of a tenuous alliance.”
Adeline was barely breathing. Her head turned like a doll’s in a wooden, stuttering motion and the look she sent Kai was bewildered—and pleading. He understood at once what she needed from him.
“Silas is your elder brother?” Kai asked Eleni, and when she nodded, he added, “And he abdicated the Dhaliaan throne.”
“That he did,” Eleni said, daring to breathe out a small, humourless laugh. “I did hold out hope, for some time, that he merely meant me to keep it warm for him. Until he left with Adeline all those years ago. There was a finality to it; he wasn’t coming back. But then—”
