Page 27 of The Crown’s Temptation

At any rate, she was not content with Eravic's displeasure. That was the problem she kept arriving back at no matter how many villages she helped rebuild.

He would not say why they were finally leaving. Word had traveled that Asharin and Colsar had returned to Veynar. He knew where she was now. Which meant he could finally give her whatever it was he and Maridale had spent years conspiring to give her.

Whatever it was he had risked his life these past several months to retrieve.

Dali was not entirely sure how she felt about that.

She looked at her calluses one more time.

She was sure how she felt about those.

Eravic's face when he heard the news had been disconcerting enough.

He turned pale and stumbled backward and the look in his eyes frightened Dali. It frightened Junis too, who heard the same words and looked like he might fold in half.

It did not seem to bother the short fat man Junis had decided to bring back to Veynar with them.

The Baron, they called him. Asharin's father.

He smiled with joy.

No one else noticed. But Dali noticed. That was the advantage of not caring about much. When things happened you kept your wits about you while everyone else lost theirs.

She was moving toward Eravic, because she could not stand that look on his face, that pain, when she smelled smoke and heard a loud crack and a thud that shook the deck. A man with silver hair slicked back dropped from a giant firebird and asked to speak with Eravic in private.

When Eravic emerged from the captain's quarters he was no longer pale. He looked determined, which was a different thing entirely and considerably more useful.

He found her quietly, away from the others.

He needed her help, he said.

Because it was him, she said yes.

She felt Maridale try to get out, try to find out what was happening.

The devastation, Dali decided, would distract Eravic. Better to tell her once they were already there. They would head straight to Darkway, which is likely where Asharin was.

Dali had never been to Morrath, but she knew it well. She had memorized its map thoroughly. She had been planning to get there for years because it had exactly what she needed.

However, it was not the sort of thing she could get alone. She wondered who had brought Asharin to Morrath.

She hoped it was a Rathmor king. That would be splendid.

Morrath’s magic was unstable, which made it dangerous for any human who planned on rejoining the living. Eravic would stay on the shoreline, he promised Dali. That was likely as far as his Vaelor blood would allow. Dali would need to bring Asharin to him.

Dali was a Siren. Her blood was royal. She did not escort anyone anywhere. But for Eravic she decided she would do it once, whenever Asharin awakened.

But only once. Eravic had nodded in agreement.

Less than a day later another Vaelor ship arrived. She and Eravic boarded it and left Junis and the others to return to Veynar without them.

They were headed to Morrath.

Three Songs

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Alarna