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“Ah, but persistence cracks the wariest of hearts.”
“And sometimes lips.” Relian’s lips twitched, but he quickly suppressed any further motion.
Kenhel laughed outright. “That, too. Smiling lips are much easier to flirt with and mayhap even steal a kiss from.”
Relian said nothing more as other head advisors and councilors closed rank around them, leaving a remainder of the chairs in the circle open for lower-ranking officials.
Once all members seated themselves, Talion addressed his court. “You have my gratitude for responding to my messengers with all due haste. My good lords and ladies, you probably wonder why you’re all here for a last-minute assembly. I have important news about the veil. In a never-before-seen act, it brought Relian—my son and your prince—together with a human woman. Not only that, but it brought them together in its very mists. You may wonder what this...”
Low murmuring broke out among the council. Apprehension gripped Relian so strongly that even though his father still spoke, his words faded away until Relian heard nothing.
“Relian, your hand, please.”
The king's request intruded. Relian blinked, becoming aware of his surroundings again.
He swallowed thickly, sure there was a ball lodged in his throat. Though he’d suspected that his father would support him in such a manner, nothing had prepared him for this moment. Relian shored up his nerves—he had to see this through. The king's open affirmation of Cal would help to smooth the path for Relian in the face of any opposition. Not that many would be brave enough to express but the briefest doubts to either of them, but they wanted to curtail as many possible rumors as possible.
His father also worked under the assumption that while the veil, unfortunately, sought a human as Relian’s bondmate, it must have good reason for doing so. Talion didn't believe that the magic forming the veil, the same magic that protected them and nature, would choose a truly undesirable complete bondmate for his son. Relian hoped his father was right. Would Cal be able to handle all they would tell her—and all they couldn’t? With his station, secrets of state were unavoidable. Until Cal could prove herself fit, there’d be much she couldn’t know.
The whispers and questioning looks from those assembled in the council chamber told him that his moment of hesitation had stretched out for too long. He fortified himself and offered his father his hand. Talion took it, giving him a supportive glance as he slowly drew back the sleeve of Relian’s robe. His father now seemed the tense one if the furrowing of his brow was any indication. He bit back a smile. How amusing to see his sire more atwitter than he was.
Once his father revealed the binding and how the mist had brought it about, many gasps arose. If the occasion weren’t so serious, he’d be tempted to laugh at all the shocked, horrified expressions displayed around the room. Several councilors spoke all at once in a flurry of questions. “To a human woman? How is this possible? Why would the veil do this?”
Talion allowed this talk to continue for a full thirty seconds before he held up his hand to forestall a rising tide of questions. All voices fell quiet, except for one that spat out, “This is a travesty.”
Narrowing his eyes, Relian sent his cousin Eamon a quelling look, while his father raised an inquisitive brow at the vocal elf before speaking. “Is that all, Eamon? It is a travesty only if I say it is.”
Eamon flung his black hair over a shoulder but remained silent. Relian grimaced. His scheming cousin looked too much like him for comfort. But that was the only similarity they shared. Thank the skies for that. Relian’s father and Eamon’s mother had been cousins, and the family resemblance remained strong through that branch. To make matters worse, Relian’s mother had been the sister of Eamon’s father, so he was doubly cursed in being related to him.
The king addressed the room. “We know this news seems dire—the binding of one of our own to someone who is of human birth, not to mention the involvement of humankind in our world, even if it is only one woman. After all, we’ve been closed off from humankind for thousands of years.”
Kenhel gave a whispered sound of disbelief. “Closed off? Is that what everyone is calling it now? Who closed us off but ourselves? We can visit anytime we choose.”
Though Relian shook his head, he didn’t worry that his friend would express this unpopular opinion. Kenhel might have some unique views, but he wouldn’t air them now.
He caught the end of his father’s speech. “It’s a sobering thought in these shadowed times when everything hangs in a balance we cannot quite fathom. But maybe this woman will hold some answers for us. Though we couldn’t find any prophecy regarding her existence in the main library’s prophetic scrolls, we still hold hope of finding one.”
While the assembled council looked none too pleased, they appeared to see the wisdom of Talion’s words and talked amongst themselves. Eamon stayed conspicuously quiet. Smothering a relieved sigh, Relian glanced at his father, who watched the whole scene with a gleam in his eyes.
Talion leaned over to him and said with hushed satisfaction, “Do you hear what they say amongst themselves? ‘Could an ordinary human woman truly make a difference?’ We don’t know the answer to this, but it has opened more possibilities than we previously had. Since it gives them some hope, they feel the compulsion to cling strongly to the notion. Not to mention that the veil seems to sanction your upcoming bonding. Our council realizes it isn’t something to take lightly or ignore. We’ll have to watch a few of our members closely, though. You know who they are. Their compliance came too soon, without quibble. I expected a token resistance at the very least.”
Relian nodded. So had he. But if discounting those individuals who often sought out strife—he shot a look at Eamon—the binding did give the councilors some hope of an answer. Admittedly, they had to wonder what a human woman could achieve that their own people could not. He certainly did. Maybe it wasn’t that simple. Might it not be a matter of guidance rather than achievement? But what could a young human offer to a people who were centuries, millennia, older?
The king finished his planned speech. “We now need to look closely into the various options that the bond might provide if it’s completed. There’s still the problem of his affianced arriving in our world, though the veil may well take care of that for us. Otherwise, we will have to devise a way to retrieve her.”
Relian and his father outlined their thoughts and opinions for the council and asked that the other members do the same. Everyone had the chance to confer his or her ideas during the two hours that the king closeted them in the room. For the most part, the council carefully hid any hostility at the thought of the human woman, but he knew it existed. Body language could only hide so much.
Before the meeting came to a close, the king made his final announcement. “There is to be a celebration tomorrow evening to announce Relian’s binding. The sooner it’s publicly announced, the better. I will require everyone’s attendance with the expectation that you’ll serve as buffers by allaying any negative thoughts that might be voiced. Please tell Relian or me of any concerns that cannot be resolved. Also, please don't discuss the information presented here in any way until the royal announcement of the binding has been given. Your discretion is much appreciated and expected.”
His father swept a steely gaze over all those assembled, and Relian wouldn’t have been surprised if he didn’t add just a tinge of compulsion to his order. While Talion couldn’t force his people into compliance just through the will of his mind, he could offer gentle nudges. As king, he had a stronger grasp of harnessing the magic of Eria than most others of their kind.
Kenhel lost no time turning to Relian and placed a hand on his shoulder. “Without even trying, you’ve achieved the chaos I’ve always desired to create. Well done, my friend.”
