Empire of Storms
Page 121
Young, and yet her face … It was an ancient face, wary and cunning and limned with power. Beautiful, with the sun-kissed skin, the vibrant turquoise eyes. Turquoise eyes, with a core of gold around the pupil.
Ashryver eyes.
The same as the golden-haired, handsome man who came up beside her, muscled body tense as he assessed whether he’d need to spill blood, a bow dangling from his hand.
Two sides of the same golden coin.
Aelin. Aedion.
They were both staring at her with those Ashryver eyes.
Aelin blinked. And her golden face crumpled as she said, “Are you Elide?”
It was all Elide could do to nod. Lorcan was taut as a bowstring, his body still half angled over her.
Aelin strode closer, eyes never leaving Elide’s face. Young—she felt so young compared to the woman who approached. There were scars all over Aelin’s hands, along her neck, around her wrists … where shackles had been.
Aelin slid to her knees not a foot away, and it occurred to Elide that she should be bowing, head to the dirt—
“You look … so much like your mother,” Aelin said, her voice cracking. Aedion silently knelt, putting a broad hand on Aelin’s shoulder.
Her mother, who had gone down swinging, who had died fighting so this woman could live—
“I’m sorry,” Aelin said, shoulders curving inward, head dropping low as tears slid down her flushed cheeks. “I’m so sorry.” How many years had those words been locked up?
Elide’s arm ached, but it didn’t stop her from touching Aelin’s hand, clenched in her lap.
Touching that tanned, scarred hand. Warm, sticky skin met her fingertips.
Real. This was—Aelin was—real.
As if Aelin realized the same, her head lifted. She opened her mouth, but her lips wobbled, and the queen clamped them together.
None of the gathered company spoke.
And at last Aelin said to Elide, “She bought me time.”
Elide knew who the queen meant.
Aelin’s hand began shaking. The queen’s voice broke entirely as she said, “I am alive today because of your mother.”
Elide only whispered, “I know.”
“She told me to tell you …” A shuddering inhale. But Aelin didn’t break her stare, even as tears continued cutting through the dirt on her cheeks. “Your mother told me to tell you that she loves you—very much. Those were her last words to me. ‘Tell my Elide I love her very much.’”
For over ten years, Aelin had been the sole bearer of those final words. Ten years, through death and despair and war, Aelin had carried them across kingdoms.
And here, at the edge of the world, they had found each other again. Here at the edge of the world, just for a heartbeat, Elide felt the warm hand of her mother brush her shoulder.
Tears stung Elide’s eyes as they slipped free. But then the grass crunched behind them.
She saw the white hair first. Then the golden eyes.
And Elide sobbed as Manon Blackbeak emerged, smiling faintly.
As Manon Blackbeak saw her and Aelin, knee-to-knee in the grass, and mouthed one word.
Hope.
Not dead. None of them were dead.
Aedion said hoarsely, “Is your arm—”
Aelin grabbed it—gently. Inspecting the shallow cut, the new pink skin that revealed what had been missing mere moments before. Aelin twisted on her knees, snarling at the wolf-warrior.
The golden-haired male averted his eyes as the queen glared her displeasure. “It wasn’t his fault,” Elide managed to say.
“The bite,” Aelin said drily, turquoise eyes livid, “would suggest otherwise.”
“I’m sorry,” the male said, either to the queen or Elide, she didn’t know. His eyes lifted to Aelin—something like devastation there.
Aelin ignored the words. The male flinched. And the silver-haired prince seemed to give him a brief pitying glance.
But if the order hadn’t come from Aelin to kill Lorcan …
Aelin said to the other golden-haired male behind Elide, the one who had healed her—the lion, “I assume Rowan told you the deal. You touch them, you die. You so much as breathe wrong in their direction, and you’re dead.”
Elide tried not to cringe at the viciousness. Especially when Manon smiled in wicked delight.
Aelin tensed as the witch came at her exposed back but allowed Manon to settle on her right. To look over Elide with those gold eyes. “Well met, witchling,” Manon said to her. Manon faced Lorcan just as Aelin did.
Aelin snorted. “You look a bit worse for wear.”
“Likewise,” Lorcan snapped at her.
Aelin’s grin was terrifying. “Got my note, did you?”
Aedion’s hand had slid to his sword—
“The Sword of Orynth,” Elide blurted, noticing the bone pommel, the ancient markings. Aelin and Lorcan paused being at each other’s throats. “The sword … you …”
Vernon had mocked her about it once. Said it had been taken by the King of Adarlan and melted down. Burned, along with the antler throne.
Aedion’s turquoise eyes softened. “It survived. We survived.”
The three of them, the remnants of their court, their families.
But Aelin was again sizing up Lorcan, bristling, that wicked grin returning. Elide said softly, “I survived, Majesty, because of him.” She pointed with her chin to Manon. “And because of her. I am here because of both of them.”
Manon nodded, focus going to the pocket where she’d seen Elide hide that scrap of stone. The confirmation she’d been looking for. The reminder of the third part of the triangle.
“I’m here,” Elide said as Aelin fixed those unnervingly vivid eyes on her, “because of Kaltain Rompier.” Her throat clogged, but she pushed past it as her trembling fingers fished out the little bit of cloth from her inside pocket. The otherworldly feel of it pulsed in her palm.
“She said to give this to you. To Celaena Sardothien, I mean. She didn’t know they … you were the same. She said it was payment for … for a warm cloak offered in a cold dungeon.” She wasn’t ashamed of the tears that fell, not in honor of what that woman had done. Aelin studied the scrap of cloth in Elide’s shaking palm. “I think she kept this as a reminder of kindness,” Elide said hoarsely. “They … they broke her, and hurt her. And she died alone in Morath. She died alone, so I wouldn’t … so they couldn’t …” None of them spoke or moved. She couldn’t tell if it made it worse. If the hand that Lorcan laid on her back made her cry harder.
The words tumbled out of Elide’s shaking mouth. “She said t-to remember your promise to punish them all. And s-said that you can unlock any door, if you only have the k-key.”
Aelin clamped her lips together and closed her eyes.
A beautiful, dark-haired man now approached. He was perhaps a few years older than her, but carried himself so gracefully that she felt small and unmolded before him. His sapphire eyes fixed on Elide, clever and unruffled—and sad. “Kaltain Rompier saved your life? And gave you that?”
He knew her—had known her.
Manon Blackbeak said in a faint, amused voice, “Lady Elide Lochan of Perranth, meet Dorian Havilliard, King of Adarlan.” The king lifted his brows at the witch.
Ashryver eyes.
The same as the golden-haired, handsome man who came up beside her, muscled body tense as he assessed whether he’d need to spill blood, a bow dangling from his hand.
Two sides of the same golden coin.
Aelin. Aedion.
They were both staring at her with those Ashryver eyes.
Aelin blinked. And her golden face crumpled as she said, “Are you Elide?”
It was all Elide could do to nod. Lorcan was taut as a bowstring, his body still half angled over her.
Aelin strode closer, eyes never leaving Elide’s face. Young—she felt so young compared to the woman who approached. There were scars all over Aelin’s hands, along her neck, around her wrists … where shackles had been.
Aelin slid to her knees not a foot away, and it occurred to Elide that she should be bowing, head to the dirt—
“You look … so much like your mother,” Aelin said, her voice cracking. Aedion silently knelt, putting a broad hand on Aelin’s shoulder.
Her mother, who had gone down swinging, who had died fighting so this woman could live—
“I’m sorry,” Aelin said, shoulders curving inward, head dropping low as tears slid down her flushed cheeks. “I’m so sorry.” How many years had those words been locked up?
Elide’s arm ached, but it didn’t stop her from touching Aelin’s hand, clenched in her lap.
Touching that tanned, scarred hand. Warm, sticky skin met her fingertips.
Real. This was—Aelin was—real.
As if Aelin realized the same, her head lifted. She opened her mouth, but her lips wobbled, and the queen clamped them together.
None of the gathered company spoke.
And at last Aelin said to Elide, “She bought me time.”
Elide knew who the queen meant.
Aelin’s hand began shaking. The queen’s voice broke entirely as she said, “I am alive today because of your mother.”
Elide only whispered, “I know.”
“She told me to tell you …” A shuddering inhale. But Aelin didn’t break her stare, even as tears continued cutting through the dirt on her cheeks. “Your mother told me to tell you that she loves you—very much. Those were her last words to me. ‘Tell my Elide I love her very much.’”
For over ten years, Aelin had been the sole bearer of those final words. Ten years, through death and despair and war, Aelin had carried them across kingdoms.
And here, at the edge of the world, they had found each other again. Here at the edge of the world, just for a heartbeat, Elide felt the warm hand of her mother brush her shoulder.
Tears stung Elide’s eyes as they slipped free. But then the grass crunched behind them.
She saw the white hair first. Then the golden eyes.
And Elide sobbed as Manon Blackbeak emerged, smiling faintly.
As Manon Blackbeak saw her and Aelin, knee-to-knee in the grass, and mouthed one word.
Hope.
Not dead. None of them were dead.
Aedion said hoarsely, “Is your arm—”
Aelin grabbed it—gently. Inspecting the shallow cut, the new pink skin that revealed what had been missing mere moments before. Aelin twisted on her knees, snarling at the wolf-warrior.
The golden-haired male averted his eyes as the queen glared her displeasure. “It wasn’t his fault,” Elide managed to say.
“The bite,” Aelin said drily, turquoise eyes livid, “would suggest otherwise.”
“I’m sorry,” the male said, either to the queen or Elide, she didn’t know. His eyes lifted to Aelin—something like devastation there.
Aelin ignored the words. The male flinched. And the silver-haired prince seemed to give him a brief pitying glance.
But if the order hadn’t come from Aelin to kill Lorcan …
Aelin said to the other golden-haired male behind Elide, the one who had healed her—the lion, “I assume Rowan told you the deal. You touch them, you die. You so much as breathe wrong in their direction, and you’re dead.”
Elide tried not to cringe at the viciousness. Especially when Manon smiled in wicked delight.
Aelin tensed as the witch came at her exposed back but allowed Manon to settle on her right. To look over Elide with those gold eyes. “Well met, witchling,” Manon said to her. Manon faced Lorcan just as Aelin did.
Aelin snorted. “You look a bit worse for wear.”
“Likewise,” Lorcan snapped at her.
Aelin’s grin was terrifying. “Got my note, did you?”
Aedion’s hand had slid to his sword—
“The Sword of Orynth,” Elide blurted, noticing the bone pommel, the ancient markings. Aelin and Lorcan paused being at each other’s throats. “The sword … you …”
Vernon had mocked her about it once. Said it had been taken by the King of Adarlan and melted down. Burned, along with the antler throne.
Aedion’s turquoise eyes softened. “It survived. We survived.”
The three of them, the remnants of their court, their families.
But Aelin was again sizing up Lorcan, bristling, that wicked grin returning. Elide said softly, “I survived, Majesty, because of him.” She pointed with her chin to Manon. “And because of her. I am here because of both of them.”
Manon nodded, focus going to the pocket where she’d seen Elide hide that scrap of stone. The confirmation she’d been looking for. The reminder of the third part of the triangle.
“I’m here,” Elide said as Aelin fixed those unnervingly vivid eyes on her, “because of Kaltain Rompier.” Her throat clogged, but she pushed past it as her trembling fingers fished out the little bit of cloth from her inside pocket. The otherworldly feel of it pulsed in her palm.
“She said to give this to you. To Celaena Sardothien, I mean. She didn’t know they … you were the same. She said it was payment for … for a warm cloak offered in a cold dungeon.” She wasn’t ashamed of the tears that fell, not in honor of what that woman had done. Aelin studied the scrap of cloth in Elide’s shaking palm. “I think she kept this as a reminder of kindness,” Elide said hoarsely. “They … they broke her, and hurt her. And she died alone in Morath. She died alone, so I wouldn’t … so they couldn’t …” None of them spoke or moved. She couldn’t tell if it made it worse. If the hand that Lorcan laid on her back made her cry harder.
The words tumbled out of Elide’s shaking mouth. “She said t-to remember your promise to punish them all. And s-said that you can unlock any door, if you only have the k-key.”
Aelin clamped her lips together and closed her eyes.
A beautiful, dark-haired man now approached. He was perhaps a few years older than her, but carried himself so gracefully that she felt small and unmolded before him. His sapphire eyes fixed on Elide, clever and unruffled—and sad. “Kaltain Rompier saved your life? And gave you that?”
He knew her—had known her.
Manon Blackbeak said in a faint, amused voice, “Lady Elide Lochan of Perranth, meet Dorian Havilliard, King of Adarlan.” The king lifted his brows at the witch.
