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“Even a bathtub?” Her grin widened at his scowl.
“Yes. Though I do not understand why.”
“They can be very relaxing, when you’re not wrestling with them trying to wash your hair properly.” Essie took a step toward the door. “Ready for breakfast?”
“Yes. Please.” Farrendel sounded almost desperate.
She would need to make sure he had something to eat first thing in the morning. Or, maybe, by the end of this visit, the guards would relax enough that Farrendel could wander to the family dining room by himself.
The family dining room was in the same wing, but on the main floor instead of the second floor. They strolled down the center of the corridor and down the very middle of the stairs, something Essie understood better now that she knew the stone walls affected Farrendel’s magic. She’d been wondering if he was just freaked out by having so many solid, non-living walls around him after growing up in the treehouse palace.
Was it wrong that she was somewhat relieved at having solid stone walls around her and firm stone stairs beneath her, even if they made Farrendel uncomfortable? And handrails. How she’d missed real, solid handrails and walking somewhere without that lingering fear of falling to her death always in the back of her mind.
She pushed open the door to the family dining room and drew in a deep breath of the savory smells of sausage and eggs and toast and pancakes. A hot breakfast. How she’d missed it.
She had missed more of life at Winstead Palace than she’d realized. As much as she loved her new life in Estyra, three months living there hadn’t been long enough for the newness and excitement to fade. What would it be like once the adventure wore off? Once homesickness for her family and familiar life settled in?
Perhaps she would take Farrendel up on his offer and make a list of what she’d like to bring back to Estyra. Maybe if she made her elven home in Estyra a little more human, she wouldn’t end up feeling as out of place as Farrendel confessed to feeling here.
And, as long as she could prevent war between Escarland and Tarenhiel, she would always be able to come home to Winstead Palace to visit. Maybe even invite her family to Estyra.
Edmund was already in the breakfast room along with Mother, Jalissa, and Jalissa’s guard whose name Essie had yet to hear. The elf guard took her job so seriously she didn’t seem inclined toward idle chatter. Not that elves in general often indulged in idle chatter.
Jalissa had stationed herself at the far end of the room, something in her blank expression more forbidding than usual. Farrendel let go of Essie’s hand and strolled across the room to his sister. With their heads bent together, they began talking softly in elvish.
Was that almost the hint of dark circles under Jalissa’s eyes? It was hard to tell on Jalissa’s perfectly smooth face, but her skin seemed too pale. Was staying in a stone palace affecting her just as it was Farrendel?
Perhaps this was why negotiations with elves had never gone that well. The elves didn’t want to admit stone was their weakness, yet humans kept inviting them into stone palaces, stone forts, even stone islands in the middle of the river, to conduct peace talks.
Essie scooped eggs onto her plate, adding sausage and a pancake liberally doused with maple syrup, before she claimed a seat next to Edmund.
“You look tired.” Edmund waved a bite of sausage at her, then at Jalissa and Farrendel across the room. “So do they.”
Edmund’s room shared a wall with hers. A thick wall, so he shouldn’t have been able to hear Farrendel cry out in his sleep.
“I’m fine, really. It has just been a busy few days.” So much had happened, it was hard to remember they’d been ambushed by trolls less than a week ago.
The door burst open, giving entrance to two nephews running full tilt while Paige scrambled to keep up behind them.
“Auntie Essie!” Both of them ran to give her hugs, as if they’d forgotten they’d just seen her the night before.
Still, she hugged them close, savoring the feel of their small arms wrapping tight. Hugs from the nephews would be few and far between with her living in Estyra. When she pulled back, she pointed at Farrendel. “Think you can give Uncle Farrendel a hug too?”
Finn looked at her with big, round eyes and shook his head. But Bertie dashed over and plowed into Farrendel’s legs with enough force to make Farrendel sway under the impact. Bertie stopped just long enough to give Farrendel a squeezing hug around both legs before dashing back to Essie. “Can you play with us?”
“We need to eat breakfast first.” Then they would hold diplomatic meetings with the general of the army and the owner of the largest gun manufacturer in Escarland, followed by attending the afternoon session of Parliament, which would last who knew how long. They wouldn’t catch much of a break for relaxing.
As much as she wanted to relax and spend time with family, that wasn’t her main purpose here. She had to remember that to the north in Tarenhiel, the elves were mobilizing to defend themselves. Essie wanted to push her brothers to secure Escarland’s help against the trolls, but that would drag both kingdoms she loved into this war. Yet, if Escarland didn’t help, would Tarenhiel fall this time?
She glanced at Farrendel, where he and Jalissa were now gathering plates and dishing themselves food. Without Escarland’s help, the weight of defending Tarenhiel would fall squarely on Farrendel’s shoulders.
It might break him. He was already so broken from all the torture and war and death he’d endured and inflicted. What would more do to him? He was a warrior, but a warrior who felt every life he was forced to take so very keenly. Even if he didn’t die in this war, it could very well kill him from the inside out.
As Farrendel took the other seat next to Essie, Julien and Averett entered the room. Averett held a piece of paper in his hand, and he scanned the room a moment before his gaze focused on Farrendel. He strolled over and held out the paper. “Telegram from across the border.”
Farrendel took it and read while Essie glanced from Averett to Farrendel. Had the trolls launched a large-scale invasion? Was Farrendel needed to be Laesornysh and defend his home? “Is your brother ordering you home?”
Farrendel set down the paper. “Not yet. But he believes I will only have a week before I need to return to Tarenhiel.”
