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WHEN THE ROYAL TRAINglided to a halt in Estyra in the early morning hours, Farrendel disappeared from the train before Essie woke and gathered her bag.
Essie kept her fake smile in place as she hugged Jalissa in farewell since Jalissa was staying on the train to return to Escarland to continue representing Tarenhiel as its ambassador. Perhaps Jalissa might have noticed something wrong, but her own smile was plastered in place, her movements stiff.
Essie would have questioned her, but Jalissa pulled away and returned to the train, and Essie had to check on Farrendel.
Instead of strolling through Estyra hand in hand with Farrendel, Essie found herself walking toward Ellonahshinel alone, forcing herself to admire the sight of the yellow, orange, and red of autumn painting the leaves overhead rather than dwell on the lump in her throat.
The elven capital city was even more quiet than usual. Only a few elves strolled the grassy paths that meandered between the shops grown into the bases of the massive trees. The swinging bridges between the shops in the first level of branches had only a few more elves.
Most of the able-bodied elves were either with the army or stationed at the border in the encampment run by Leyleira, shuttling supplies to the armies. Only a few were left to keep Estyra running.
As Essie rounded a bend, the massive tree-palace of Ellonahshinel came into sight. Stairs wound up its trunk into the sprawling palace grown into the broad branches. Shafts of the early morning sunlight filtered through the leaves, which were touched with hints of orange and red in the beginning of autumn.
She climbed the long flight of stairs into Ellonahshinel, then wound her way up all the branches until she finally reached her and Farrendel’s rooms.
The main room held a small bank of cabinets that held dishes and a cold cupboard for storing food. The other side had piles of comfortable cushions for lounging.
Across the way were three doors that each led to a treehouse style bedroom tucked into a branch.
Essie entered the first door and climbed the stairs to her and Farrendel’s room. Strange, how it felt so much like their room when they had only shared it for a few days after the ambush near Lethorel before they had left for Escarland. Then Farrendel had been captured, and she’d spent a few days here, alone, while her brothers slept in the guest bedrooms.
The room itself was small, smaller than the turret bedroom she and Farrendel shared at Buckmore Cottage in Escarland. The elven bedroom was light and airy with windows set into every wall and its sides and roof formed from the living tree with a layer of magic keeping it warm and pleasant, despite the chilly fall breeze outside. The bed was curved and almost nest-like, grown into the wall, as was the mirror and even the shelves that held their clothes and belongings.
Essie glanced around and set down the small bag she had taken with her to Kostaria. The room was empty.
Stepping back outside, she walked around the small porch that circled the room to the place where Farrendel normally exercised in the mornings.
Instead of leaping and spinning along the twigs and branches, Farrendel sat on the porch, his back to the wall as he stared at the brilliant red and yellow leaves of the forest spreading out around them.
When Essie touched his shoulder, he started and tilted his head to glance up at her with dull, almost unseeing eyes. His shorn hair straggled over his forehead, longer in the front and on one side than it was in the back.
“Do you want something to eat?” She squeezed his shoulder, trying to keep her voice cheery.
He shook his head, his shoulder lifting in a shrug, before he went back to staring at the forest.
Her smile felt brittle as she leaned over to kiss his forehead. “All right. I’ll be inside unpacking if you need anything.”
Perhaps space was what he needed. Some space, and the peace and quiet of his familiar home here in Estyra. Surely that was all he needed to feel more like himself.
At least, that was what Essie told herself as she unpacked, sent her clothes off with a maid to be cleaned, set up the small camp stove she’d taken home with her from the front, checked that someone had helpfully restocked their cold cupboard with food, and generally pretended to stay busy for the rest of the day.
Essie woke to the soundof screaming. She pushed onto her elbow, trying to blink herself awake. Through the heart bond, she could feel the haziness of sleep mixed with terror and panic coming from Farrendel.
