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Odessa gave me a cool, frank look. “Well, besides staving off future attacks from our enemies or going on the offense and developing a strategic military plan, you could start by eating your dinner and making Hawl happy.”
“And then?”
“And then I’d say a trip to see your sister-in-law is in order.”
“Excellent idea,” Hawl huffed from where they were rapidly piling trays one upon the other. The Bearkin began to stride back to the door they had emerged from carrying the large pile. “I’ll bring something simple but warm. Soup perhaps.”
But my eyes were still on Odessa. “Go and see Lyrastra?”
Annoyance flashed in Odessa’s eyes. “Lyrastra, yes. Perhaps you’ve heard of her.”
“She was... injured,” I said slowly, forcing myself to remember.
“Her arm was shattered,” Odessa snapped.
I winced. “Of course. In the competition. I had thought that she would have...”
Odessa’s eyes blazed. “What? Recovered? Like you have? Moved on? Like you have?”
“Fair point,” I admitted.
Odessa’s face softened slightly. “I know you miss Morgan, Draven. But there are many worse off than you.”
“Also a fair point.”
“And they need you. They need you to lead. You may not be emperor, but you’re the next best thing.” She folded her arms over her chest, her lips set stubbornly. “So step the fuck up and stop the bullshit. Morgan is gone. You are not. Deal with your people. Put your house in order. Make arrangements. And then...” She paused.
“Yes?”
“Well, youaregoing after her, aren’t you?”
All I could do was stare.
I had been trapped in this room, trapped in my own indecision for far too long. Along the way, I had apparently also become blind. Unable to recognize that leaving Myntra was inescapable.
I had never imagined that my friends already knew this, too. That they would see my departure not as abandonment or betrayal but as a simple inevitability.
“I’ve waited my entire lifetime for Morgan,” I said simply. “I’ll go after her even if she doesn’t want me. Even if she runs in the opposite direction. I’ll follow her to the ends of Aercanum, and I’ll never stop.”
Odessa’s dark eyes gleamed. “Now there’s the prince I remember. I never expected you to say anything less.”
