A Queen of Ice (A Trial of Sorcerers #5)

Epilogue

The tunnels and passageways underneath the city of Risen were mostly abandoned these days. There were a few cutpurses who had begun operating out of them. A few with murderous glints in their eyes who had taken to the safety of the grime and shadows.

But even Risen’s most wanted skirted away like rats from a flame as Eira’s boots echoed through the halls. They all knew better than to even so much as glance in her direction. That doing so would be akin to death…or worse.

Keeping up Adela’s reputation was second-nature to her. In Oparium they continued to whisper in terror of the pirate queen, Adela’s mere name spoken like a curse. Unknowing that the very same pirate came ashore, once, to visit with a man and woman in the home she’d once grown up in. Still a tenuous relationship, but as peaceful as a pirate could manage.

Solaris was going through its own rebuilding, much like Meru. The Emperor and Empress offered steady hands, as they always had to their Empire. A consistent enough leadership that Eira thought it wise for a good while to avoid the shores of Solaris. There were other shores of chaos that she could capitalize on.

Eira had sent Ducot ahead a few days ago to ensure the passages she now walked were still connected to where she intended to go. One slight diversion, but for the most part the integrity remained. It was all going smoothly. She should’ve encountered no one.

Yet, somehow, she wasn’t surprised when a figure leaned against the wall by a staircase back to the surface. Not the staircase Eira had been intending. But one she’d been forced to pass.

A pair of dark eyes met hers. A tiny mote of flame illuminated the side of Vi Solaris’s face. The two stared off. For the first time, Eira felt that, should it come to it, she could hold her own against the princess with mysterious and somewhat legendary powers.

“Vi Solaris.” Eira slowed to a stop.

“Eira Landan. Or should I say Lagmir?” Vi continued to lean nonchalantly. Magic remained calm. So Eira didn’t summon any of her own. “It’s been some time.”

“A few months,” Eira agreed.

“Nearly a year.”

“That much time already?” Eira said, even though she was well aware of how long it had been. Still, she hadn’t dared come closer, sooner, to Meru. This was already risk enough, as evidenced by the woman before her and the uneasy haze of magic that hung in the air. “Why are you still hanging around these decrepit passageways? Don’t you have a wedding to plan?”

It had been all the gossip across Solaris the one time Eira had visited. The crown princess, abdicating her throne to her younger brother so that she could remain on Meru with her beloved Taavin. A man who was now both Voice, and king. The Faithful of Yargen merged with the crown to form a new theocracy.

“I’ll always make time for you.” Somehow Vi made it sound like a promise and a threat.

“You flatter me.”

“Indeed.” Vi pushed away from the wall. “There was a deal that the Stormfrost would stay away from the seas around Meru and Solaris.”

“I’m afraid I don’t remember making any such deal.” Eira shrugged.

Vi huffed softly, as if in disbelief. “So this is her play… Tell me, where has the real Adela run off to?”

Eira made it a point to hold the princess’s gaze for an extended stretch of time before saying, “Real Adela? I’m not sure what you mean. I am the ‘real’ Adela.”

In truth, Eira hadn’t heard word or whisper about the woman whose name and title she’d inherited. Wherever Adela had gone off to was far beyond the maps. Or, she had completely reinvented her identity. Either was possible. Adela was a woman who wouldn’t ever be found, if she didn’t want to be.

“Then you should know, as the real Adela, I cannot abide piracy on my shores.”

“You’re welcome to try to stop me.” Eira gestured with her open palms in a sort of go ahead motion.

Vi let out an incredulous laugh and shook her head. “So you wish for war between us?”

“Pirates and princesses aren’t often friends.” Yet, neither of them moved to attack. Which said a lot more than their tense discourse.

“Perhaps not. But you did save the life of my beloved, Meru’s king.” Vi turned for the stairs. “And you have the favor of one of his councilors.”

Eira’s heart skipped a beat. She’d heard rumor Olivin had ended up as part of the king’s council. As Olivin had expected, and feared, the deaths of most Meru’s nobility had created a great deal of uncertainty. They sought for ways to benefit from consistency of leadership, much like Solaris had, and that meant leaning on familiar faces that were left.

And Olivin was a hero.

Eira had scoured for any word of him. Everything between them still felt unfinished. Even though the way he had kissed her felt like a goodbye, given all that had transpired, it now felt like a beginning. It all hinged on one thing—something none of the rumors could tell her and that all of her notions and fantasies relied on: Where his feelings toward her now stood.

“You’re not stopping me? Putting me in irons? Dragging me through the streets to make an example of the great pirate queen?” Eira put a hand on her hip, shifting her weight and raising an eyebrow.

“Not tonight.” Vi cast one more glance over her shoulder. “Something tells me that, tonight, you’re not here for piracy. So consider it a kindness and a debt repaid. As long as you come to Meru for personal reasons, the crown might look the other way.”

With that, the Princess Solaris, and future Queen of Meru, ascended. Eira continued on her way. She still wore an amused smile as she emerged out of a door and into an alleyway near a bustling market by the docks of the river that ran through Meru.

Cullen was waiting, leaning against the wall inconspicuously. “You’re late.”

“I had something hold me up.” She adjusted her hood and he glanced her way. Eira shook her head. “Nothing important.”

Cullen didn’t ask further. Instead, he turned toward the shop he’d been sent to watch for the majority of the night. “Nothing to report. They’re wrapping up. One couple left.”

“Good.” She caught his hand, fingers lacing for only a moment. Eira tugged him in for a quick but firm kiss, one he eagerly returned. “I’ll only need a minute.”

“I’ll make sure the law doesn’t get any ideas.”

She hummed. “If you wanted to come with me, I think it’d be fine.”

“But—”

“Something tells me the city guard isn’t going to be stopping us tonight.”

He didn’t question her instinct. Instead, he squeezed her hand and said, “Then, together.”

The bell on the shop door jingled as the last couple stepped out, and they slipped in.

“We’re just about to close,” the shopkeeper said with a note of warning.

“Ah, yes, we’ll just be a minute…” Cullen said for both of them, starting for the counter.

But Eira didn’t move.

Through the bookshelves she saw an achingly familiar profile. Her eyes prickled. Alyss wore her hair loose in corkscrew curls that ended now at her shoulders. She sat next to Yonlin. Leaning against a bookshelf at his brother’s side was the same king’s councilor that Vi had mentioned.

Olivin . Her throat went dry

“Here.” Cullen was back at her side, handing Eira a linen-bound book. He wore a knowing smile.

Eira took it in both hands and started for the back of the store, Cullen hung back. Olivin saw her first and pushed off the bookshelf. Surprise and relief warred for his eyes, both lost to sheer adoration. She couldn’t stop beaming, a thousand questions burning behind her expression.

How are you? How is the rebuilding going? Do you have the home you wanted, or do you still yearn for the seas? Did you miss me? Will you come with me now? Or, will you keep the pirate queen waiting, still?

He returned the expression, and she already couldn’t wait until they had the time to recount every change and choice over the past few months.

Yonlin was on his feet next. But Eira nearly stopped in her tracks as Alyss turned her way. Time itself held its breath as Eira closed the distance, hands trembling.

She’d fought madmen. She’d ruled pirates. She’d become the bane of the seas.

But this had her shaking.

This had her ready to weep with something that was part relief, part joy, and part mourning for a life that had never been meant to be. A life she wouldn’t have fit into. But a life that would’ve been closer to this woman. Her friend. Her family.

“Will you sign this for me?” Eira handed the book to its author.

Alyss’s fingers closed around the opposite side, lips parting as she laid eyes on Eira. But no words immediately came. For a second, they held on to the book together as if they were holding on to each other.

“I will, but not this one.” Alyss put the book aside and reached into her bag, pulling out an identical copy. “I’ll sign this one, for you.” Her eyes shone. “It was the first off the presses.” I knew you’d come, and I waited .

“Th-Thank you.” Eira managed to say through the lump in her throat. “I’ve heard the story is magnificent.”

“I did a lot of research for it.” A tiny smile quirked Alyss’s lips even though her eyes were shining with unshed tears.

Taking a pen, Alyss dragged it across the page underneath the title, Betrothed to the Winged Prince . She closed the book and handed it to Eira, but her fingers didn’t immediately unravel. Neither of them wanted to let go of the book—of this moment.

“I’m actually about to finish up… I don’t usually ask this of random strangers, but something tells me you might be a woman who appreciates a sticky bun. It’s on me, if you give this author a few good stories.”

“Gladly.” One word that was more of a sigh of relief. A reunion long past due.

For years, it remained a mystery why the Stormfrost would, on occasion, be seen in the great bay of Meru. Even more of a mystery when no towns were ever pillaged. No cities sacked.

The royal navy was never sent to investigate the purpose of the pirate queen’s presence.

For years, on occasion, a bakery was paid to stay open late and keep their sticky buns fresh. The owner of the shop never knew where the money came from. But he would swear that, at his tables, late at night, on rare occasion was the oddest group of individuals that he’d ever seen:

The greatest author of a generation and her husband could be seen swapping stories over sticky buns with ever the odd mix of characters: a morphi man rumored to be a spy, a disgraced Senator’s son from Solaris, two ministers from Qwint who happened to be in town on official business, a lord from King Taavin’s inner circle, sometimes even the king and queen themselves…and none other than the dreaded Pirate Queen Adela.

But no one ever believed the baker, of course. Because who would ever think such a thing would ever come to pass outside of one of Alyss Ivree’s storybooks?

From the bottom of my heart ...

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