“You’re comfortable on a horse,” I point out.
While I’m all tension, Wilder is at ease.
“I’ve ridden many into battle.”
“You fought on the front lines? Isn’t that too lowly for a king?”
“I wasn’t a king at the time.” He shrugs. “And even so, a king who won’t fight beside his people doesn’t deserve to be their king.”
Something about his words sounds like a slight to King Malachi, but with so many ears listening, I don’t dare ask if that’s what he’s saying. Either way, it’s a surprisingly honorable sentiment.
“Queen Delayna insisted her court be trained like any soldier,” Wilder continues.
“You talk about your mother like she was a figurehead instead of your family.”
“She was the queen, and she was ruthless. But she was respected for it. She protected her people.”
“And you respected her?”
“She died for her kingdom.”
“That’s not an answer.”
Wilder hums, not responding.
The snowy, carpeted forest thins as we reach the border of Solace. What was once a rocky mountainous path starts to level. The snow stays behind us as the ground shifts to sand dunes and desert. Icy winter is replaced with a bright sky and the burning heat of the sun.
“How is that possible?” I look over my shoulder at the cover of Tempest fading in the distance. “The weather changed so fast.”
“It’s the territory responding to the lord’s magic. Just like Lyrichia as a whole is tied to Malachi, each territory tends to take on the traits of the lord or lady who oversees it.”
“What type of magic does Lochlan wield?”
“He’s an air wielder.”
That explains the sky-high tornadoes of sand tearing through the desert on the horizon.
“It’s more complicated than that,”Wilder answers in my mind when I didn’t realize I’d opened the thread to him.“But yes, at a basic level, the land responds to his magic with wind. Lochlan has ruled over this territory for a long time, and so it takes on the traits of him in other ways as well.”
Glancing at the harsh desert, I wonder who I’m riding toward if that is true.
“Is it the same in Vaelier?”I ask Wilder.
“Yes.”
“What’s your home like?”
Wilder is quiet for a moment; his thumb pauses where it was tapping my leg. Home didn’t mean as much to me until I understood what it meant to be away from it, and after a century in a cell, I wonder if Wilder feels the same.
“Home is many things,”Wilder finally answers.“Like in Lyrichia, no two territories are the same in Vaelier. There are forests and lakes. Beaches and deserts. Each unique from the others, and nothing like Lyrichia.”
“The royal court is in Quietus, correct?”
Quietus is the territory at the southern tip of Vaelier, made up of forests and snowy mountains. It’s said the trees whisper and the snow drifts with memories of the past. Stories of Quietus are fascinating and terrifying. From the creatures that haunt the land to the cliffs that overlook the Calliasyne Sea. It’s said the stars hang so low at Starlight Reach that the night glows.
“All true,”Wilder confirms my thoughts.“And yes, Quietus is where the royal family resides—where I’ll go when I return.”
When he returns.
