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He tugged her a little closer, hoping she understood how much her support meant.
Averett’s gaze snapped to Edmund’s. “Why? What is it?”
Edmund hesitated. He wasn’t sure he was right, and he wouldn’t know that until he could see the situation for himself. And until Jalissa used her magic to look for poison.
Should he say something and worry Averett? Or should he keep this to himself for now?
Edmund sighed and shook his head. “I’m not sure I’m right. But there’s something about the symptoms that seems more like a poison than a disease. But I won’t know until Jalissa and I have a chance to see for ourselves.”
Averett’s jaw tightened, and he nodded. “I see. In that case, yes, you and Jalissa should go. And whoever else General Bloam deems necessary.”
At Averett’s glance, General Bloam bowed and nodded in silent agreement.
“This will change who we send. We’ll want experts in diseases, but they will need to be flexible enough to change to researching a poison if needed.” Averett ran a hand over his face. “If this is a poison…”
“Then someone has to be behind it.” A chill settled into Edmund’s chest. What were the odds that this was another plot by Mongavaria?
He and Jalissa would soon find out. Edmund glanced at Jalissa and lightly swung their clasped hands. “Ready for a trip to Kostaria?”
Jalissa gave a little shiver, perhaps remembering the last time they had all been in Kostaria. They had fought across the wintry landscape to rescue Farrendel from the previous troll king’s torture. “Yes. It will be good to visit my sister.” Jalissa’s brow scrunched, and she glanced up at him. “Will Rharreth allow you to enter his kingdom?”
Edmund opened his mouth, then hesitated. Rharreth hadnotbeen amused to find Edmund spying in Kostaria. Perhaps he would not have been so affronted, except that Edmund had approached Melantha while she had been sleeping to check that she was all right to send that information back to Tarenhiel—and thus reassure Jalissa that her sister was alive and well. Rharreth had taken Edmund’s presence rather personally after that. “Um, probably not. We might need to enter incognito and hope Rharreth is desperate enough that he doesn’t throw us out on our ears the moment he realizes who I am.”
Averett grimaced. “Please don’t cause an international incident. With Julien’s upcoming marriage, things are beginning to thaw between Kostaria and Escarland. We don’t need you messing that up.”
“Don’t worry about me.” Edmund smirked and lifted his and Jalissa’s clasped hands. “I’m rather good at international relations, after all.”
Averett rolled his eyes. Jalissa huffed and lightly smacked him.
Totally worth it.
Peril in Mongavaria
ChapterOne
Edmund leaned against the wooden railing of the balcony surrounding the cozy cabin in the treetops Jalissa constructed for their wedding trip.
Just him and Jalissa and the vast forest of Tarenhiel where they had disappeared for the past week. No duties. No lies. No spying. And no one even knew where they were. He couldn’t remember the last time he’d relaxed this completely. Even now, wearing nothing but his loose trousers and his unbuttoned shirt, he didn’t have the urge to reach for the arsenal of hidden weapons he’d left behind in the cabin. When was the last time he’d been this at peace?
He closed his eyes, savoring the tree-scented morning breeze as it brushed cool against his face and bare chest. The wooden floor was slick and a bit damp beneath his bare toes.
Jalissa’s light footsteps brushed the floor a moment before her arms wrapped around him. “I wish this week did not have to end,” she murmured against his back.
“I know.” He rested his arms over hers for a moment before he tugged her around to face him, pulling her into his arms as he did.
He still marveled at the privilege to do so. For so long, she’d been out of reach due to the secrets standing between them. Somehow, even after everything that had gone between them, she had still chosen him. Chosen to trust him.
And now she was his wife, and he was holding her. Seeing her in a light, flowing dressing gown with her dark brown hair tumbling with abandon over her shoulders and down her back. Everyone else saw the perfect elf princess. But he simply saw Jalissa.
She wrapped her arms around him, snuggling into his embrace. “It would not be so bad if we were going home. But…”
“But we have a mission in Mongavaria.” He sighed into her hair.
Never had he regretted being called to a spying mission more.
All he wanted to do was return to either Escarland or Tarenhiel and start building a home together with Jalissa. He would have a place in Tarenhiel that he could truly claim as his. He wouldn’t have to abandon it if things got too hot. He could keep personal mementos and tell others his real name. He’d have family there, and he could already see himself and Jalissa offering to babysit their new niece or nephew, whenever she or he was born.
And, most of all, it would be home because Jalissa was there.
