Taking the free seat beside Brea and finding a ready decanter of wine and a spare glass awaiting him, Thom settled in. He smirked at Ethenn. “Your wife made overtures to me,” he sniped.
Ethenn didn’t flinch. “I’m not worried.”
“Because I’m too honorable.”
A sly grin came to his lips. “Because if you’ll remember, I feel what she feels,” he said. “And she feels decidedly motherly toward you.”
“Enough of that,” Ilain said, calling their impromptu meeting to order. “We all have some decisions to make, and I want to ensure we make the right ones. Now, obviously, Deckard and Evie will become chancellor and commander of Loclight—”
“They won’t,” Thom said.
Ilain shot him a perturbed glare. “Don’t be ridiculous. They were made for the job.”
Pouring the wine, Thom shrugged. “Doesn’t mean they’ll take it.”
“They should,” Brea said, bemusement in her tone. “As Ilain said, it suits them perfectly. He is a servant, and she is a soldier. What better leaders could we have?”
“A goddess and a hunter?” Vayden quipped.
Ethenn lifted his brow self-mockingly. “It does sound foolish when you put it that way,” he admitted. “While Ilain has been trained for this her whole life, who am I to run a country?”
“We’d be running a province, dear,” Ilain said. “That’s only one-eighth of the country.”
He gave her a flat look and said, “I love you.”
She linked their hands on the tabletop.
“You make an adorably bizarre couple,” Thom noted. He leaned back in his chair. “Listen, I don’t know what to tell you. Yes, Jonn and Evie should take the position. No, they won’t take it because she loves him, and he’s scared of responsibility.”
Brea narrowed her eyes. “I don’t think you know your brother very well.”
“I know him better than anyone but Evylin. And unless she finds some way to convince him otherwise, he’ll refuse the position.”
The others exchanged wary looks.
Vayden turned to Ilain and Ethenn. “I assume you’ll accept it, though?” he said.
With their chairs nearly pressed side to side and her full yellow skirt draped around them, it was hard to tell where Ethenn began and Ilain ended. “It’s what we always intended,” he admitted.
Ilain nodded, unusually silent.
Thom narrowed his eyes. “You’re undecided?”
“No,” she said too quickly. Ethenn squeezed her hand on the table, and she sighed. “Maybe. It’s just hard—being apart from you all. After all this time, after becoming family... We don’t want to be distant from you, but....”
“But this is who you were made to be,” Brea concluded.
Ilain ducked her head, and Ethenn drew her closer supportively.
Vayden sat with his hands resting in his lap. He stared across the room, likely watching his daughter with her friends. The calluna flower remained on his lapel in memory of Isla. Though the father and daughter were still in mourning, it was clear they were trying to move forward with the new nation. “Whatever you choose,” he said decisively, “I’ll do the same.”
Ilain’s gaze softened as she faced her brother. “You don’t have to do that, Vayd. You and Rey have a home in Faurna. I don’t want you giving that up just to be with me.”
“It isn’t just to be with you,” he insisted. “Reyana and I need a fresh start. I want to be with my daughter. Isla and I lost years with her because of our work. Now, our home is filled with memories of that loss. Whether you take the chancellorship or move to be near Deckard and Evylin...I think it would do us good to come with you. We could use the presence of family to make us whole again.”
With somber, comforting smiles, Ilain and Ethenn accepted the answer.
“What about you, then, Thom?” Vayden asked. “Will you take the job with or without Deckard and Evylin’s acceptance?”
