Crown of Ellova, Vol. 1 (Crown of Ellova Duology)

Chapter 8

CHAPTER 8

I relive the whole night for Nueena. “When Grayden found me, he tried to make me eat a piece of fruit he said a friend gave him. It looked like it was from the navlue tree.” It all comes out in a rush. “I know what I saw.”

She says carefully, “I believe you but I’m not sure that is possible. No one has access to the throne room besides my family and a few carefully chosen gardeners for historical records. Camarra is only allowed as she is the Court of Green’s Guardian. Even then, I was there every moment the Court of Green was, but my parents will investigate when we return. I promise.” She is not defensive, even when what I speak of is an accusation that one of her court Guardians has committed treason. “You were gone so long. Did anything else happen?”

I bite my lip but tell her about Grayden.

With frozen rage, Nueena squeezes my hand to the point of pain. I place my own on top of hers and her grip relaxes. She stares at me, mouth open slightly, shaking her head, which sends her curls shifting around her.

Nueena goes very still and declares in a low, menacing tone, “Someone needs to kill him.” Anger slowly spreads across her beautiful features .

“And I would truly love to witness that,” I say wistfully.

“Del, I’m so sorry. Did you get to see Leon at all?”

I nod. “It was such a strange night. I spoke with Leon at the wine table and asked about his research for a cure. He spoke of the anafaea flower before Grayden came out, screaming like a child about his meeting with King Zilias and going to war with Kalvorn.” Leon’s scent fills my memory, and I close my eyes to savor it. “He told me he had a safe place that he was going to send me to, me and all those children I lied about having. He promised he’d help my husband find work. He wanted to protect and provide for me. I had no idea he cared that deeply for me. He said we would see each other again. He sounded so sure.”

She pulls me up from where I lie in my pain and she tenderly wraps her arms around me. I mold into her arms, and the comfort of her care calms the storm that the waves of heartache brought.

Since the night Leon and I met, whenever sleep evades me, I think of him. When there were only empty sheets to tangle in and Farren’s warmth for company, the sweetest fantasy has been a place for us to be together. The ache of that loss inside me is a reminder I spent years seeking ephemeral time with a man I knew full well could never be a part of my future. That no matter what happens, I end up alone.

The agony of longing pulls me close, that bitter dream for a place we could be together, somewhere with the magic I desperately need but where mortals could live free of the devastating consequences being near magic would bring.

Of course I had known our stolen midnight moments were finite. He understood, like I did, that the long glances and soft touches were all that we were given in this life, and still he fretted over me. Cared enough to plan for my safety. I must have meant something to him. He felt I was someone he needed to protect and provide for even if we were destined to never spend more than a few minutes at a time together. Guilt and elation war within me.

I was never alone in my longings. We were both lonely together, separated by realms, wishing for a future that couldn’t exist.

Nueena and I break apart and stare at each other. This would be the perfect moment for her to say I told you this would end poorly, but she would never. She is too loyal, too kind, although I’m convinced she must be thinking it.

“Well.” Nueena weighs her words carefully before she continues. “Now you no longer have to pretend to be Arra, maybe you can find another way to see him again? Where was he going to send you?”

I can only shrug. “He’s mentioned living in Versairen before and I was to meet with a sea captain for safe passage. He must have a safe place there.” I look down at the small white blooms growing around us. “What would be the point, Nu? We spend a few decades together before he dies? Leaving me mourning him for the next few centuries ’til death takes me from a broken heart over a mortal man as it did with my mother? No, best for me to move on and forget about Leon. Leave tonight in the past.”

“If that is what you feel is best, we will never speak of him again.”

I look up to find her watching me, eyebrows drawn up with sympathy. I don’t want her to worry about me when she has far more important tasks ahead. We should leave. Any more words of passionate healers, insidious princes, and stolen fruit will only bring delay.

She opens her mouth but closes it quickly, turning her head in the direction of Ellova with an exasperated yet endearing smile. Thundering hooves fill the forest; like an arrow from a bow, the rider shoots towards us.

He could find her anywhere.

I stand before Nueena and she slips her hand into my outstretched palm, pulling her out of the flowers.

“Would that happen to be your Zemra?” I ask with a smile.

She lets out a light laugh.“That it is. I was worried about you, and you know how he gets. Once he felt that, there’s no keeping him away.”

“I’m surprised he doesn’t have the Ellovian forces with him.”

“Who knows? I’m only an hour or two late. That was probably the next course of action. ”

Tavien dismounts, relief lighting his handsome features. “Is everything all right?” His riding boots barely touch the forest floor before he draws Nueena to him.

He has his dark brown hair twisted into locs with a lighter brown fading at the tips, all pulled together with a leather band. Two front pieces hang down and touch his golden-brown cheeks near his deep frown.

Around his neck is thick woven leather, a small jagged amethyst hanging from it. A twin to the one Nueena wears. At their nearness, both Zemra stones glow a soft purple. The physical symbol of their soulbonded matehood holds a small part of each other’s magic. Through the connection they share with the crystals, they can sense each other’s emotions and needs.

The Zemra magic connects them by mind, magic, and soul.

I love that Nueena and Tavien have found such a rare and precious gift in each other.

“My love, you shouldn’t have worried so much. Everything is fine. See? We are both well,” she says, smushed into his chest.

“What happened?” he asks in his deep, smooth voice. “Sunshine, I felt your fear.” Tavien’s nightshirt peeks out under his traveling cloak as he pulls back to assess us. His concerned gaze softens and turns to me.

A stab of guilt joins my current state of assorted raw emotions for making them both worry. “Sorry, Tav, that was my fault. I got caught up in the mortal realm and wasn’t able to return as swiftly as I would have liked.”

He takes my hand and pulls me into their embrace. “Are you all right?” he asks curiously. “It did not feel like you were.”

I nod. “I am now. It was a rough night. Nu can fill you in later.”

We all break apart. He looks past us to the Divide and the darkness encroaching into the fae realm. “It’s still spreading into the forest? Something must be done about that damn crown.”

They exchange a worried look.

“We have much to tell your parents,” Tavien says. “Let’s get you both back home, shall we?”

Nueena sighs. “They will not be happy with us. ”

The three of us mount our horses and head northeast.

“Besides the ball, what coronation planning is left?” I ask.

“I need to meet with Camarra and her representatives from the Court of Green before the coronation.”

Confused, I ask, “Before all the other court Guardians?” The last coronation happened hundreds of years before I was born, but when Nyvenah, Nueena’s mother, described her own coronation, all the court Guardians arrived together in a procession to start the week-long celebration leading up to the crowning day.

Nueena nods. “It’s an urgent matter. There were whispers that something is wrong with the Green Court’s growing lands, of soil not yielding as much as in previous years, but neither the court leaders nor Camarra had mentioned anything. As Seed Keeper and court Guardian, she would be the one to report back to my parents. My mother sent her a letter inquiring, and she claimed they wished to wait a turn of the season before declaring anything to us.”

“Do you believe them?”

Nueena is quiet again before speaking, choosing her words carefully. “They may be speaking the truth, but they also could have been afraid my mother would step in and try to take control. It would not be the first time a court Guardian has kept something from the High Court for fear we may try to intervene. They know their fields best. They have been growing crops and feeding every fae for millennia. They will have my complete trust when I become Realm Keeper until they prove otherwise. I will hear Camarra out before placing any judgment on her. She is just protecting her court.”

I’m almost afraid to ask; a bitter truth lies between us, like death waiting patiently for confirmation of our fears. “The crops have been failing for years in the Iron Realm. The mortals are able to feed themselves less and less each year. Beggars’ Row is on the brink of starvation and now ours may be on the cusp as well. It must be because of the crown.”

Her shoulders tighten. “I have reason to believe they are connected. The forest should be protecting us from the crown’s unending thirst for magic. If the crown is draining life or energy directly from the land in Adreania, it may have pulled all that it could and will now siphon from Ellova.”

“How long will the wards last?”

She studies the trees that we pass. “I can sense something is wrong. The forest’s magic is slowly fading, which means the protection it offers will go with it. Realm Keeper Zarella used so much of her own magic in the wards, it may not be possible to replicate it if the magic fails.”

“You are Zarella’s descendant. You may possess the magic needed to restore the forest’s protection.” I try to sound hopeful. If anyone can, I know it’s her.

She looks up at the dark sky and whispers, “I hope so. If only I had the stolen fae crown. It contains so much of the magic we need.”

We ride for a while, following the dried riverbed towards Ellova, each step taking me further from Leon. My chest tightens when his face flashes in my mind. Nueena is silent and repeatedly glances over at me with the concern normally found on new mothers with their dewlings. When we finally reach a parting in the forest, I slide off Onyx and hand Nueena his reins to take him to the royal stables for some sugar cubes and their endless supply of hay.

Nueena attempts to hand the leather straps back to me. “Where are you going? It’s a long walk back to your cottage. We’ll ride there with you.”

I need some time to think, to mourn alone. I smile up at her even though it doesn’t reach my eyes. “No. I will be fine. I need to walk off this wretched evening anyway.”

Nueena nods, but appears unconvinced. “See you back at the palace in a few days.”

She drops to the ground and we embrace one last time for the night. I am overwhelmed by how much I love her, that her precious friendship is offered to me, a stronger love than anything else I have ever known. “You’re going to make a great Realm Keeper,” I whisper from my place below her chin as she towers over me in our embrace .

She laughs as we pull apart and says, “Yes, I will.”

A rustle of soft paws crinkling dry leaves in the bushes nearby distracts me. Farren’s blue eyes peer up at us.

“Hello, little one,” I say to him. “Let’s go home.”

M oonlight pours over the Merawood Forest, and memories of tonight’s conversation consume my thoughts.

I walk along the dry riverbed that once flowed down from Ellova. Farren’s bushy black tail bobs in and out of bushes as he chases fireflies.

Long ago the Airvell River and its healing water flowed to the Elbasan Sea. The swift-moving waters emerged from a rift in the Venneem Mountains of Ellova.

I remove each wide cuff from my wrists and my magic swirls inside me, rushing into my hands, ready to create. The two bracelets mold into a large, smooth golden ball. The shining mass vibrates as I imagine Leon’s face, the metal shifting into a small bust of his likeness in my outstretched palm. It just needs two small emeralds for the eyes. I wanted to see his face one more time, but now that it lies before me, my chest constricts painfully and I swallow my emotion.

Farren pauses, looking around, ears up in alarm.

I stand behind him, listening. A stillness spreads around the forest as all the creatures that thrive under moonlight go silent. After a moment, I can make out the rough sounds of fast-moving travelers headed straight towards me.

Leon’s perfect golden face melts in my hand and shifts into a dagger.

Taking off behind the dense trees, Farren runs up the rocks leading to the higher ground, and I follow, crouching behind one of the boulders. The urgency at which the small caravan is traveling in the middle of the night, through a forest forbidden to most, fills me with dread. The only possible way they can be coming in is from Adreania, but how?

Ellovian magic is fused within the forest soil, used as a protector and defender of its kingdom. The forest’s magic will not allow anyone who wishes to harm Ellova in, but panic still shoots its way up my spine.

Hidden from view, I go unnoticed by three figures. Dark brown cloaks are pulled over armor, the men crushing the flowers in their path. A lone workhorse pulls a worn metal cart with a covered flatbed while two of the men walk swiftly beside it.

The full moon’s glow is so bright I can see the lone rider repeatedly turn his head behind his horse to peer into the forest at their backs.

Whoever these men are, they are not welcome here, and coming from Adreania, they may be dangerous. Fear burns in me as they pass by my hiding spot, rushing in the direction of Kalvorn.

Jostled by the rough terrain of the forest floor, the mound of fabric atop the cart shifts, and a hand falls limply to the side over the wheel. My heart stops, and my hand flies over my mouth to stop the gasp rising in my throat, my fae eyesight revealing what darkness tries to hide.

Illuminated by the moonbeams between branches, an arm hangs motionless, showing its many years. On the middle finger is a massive gold ring: a large round ruby with two emerald stones cut in the shape of triangles on the decrepit, hooked finger.

A ring I would recognize anywhere.

A ring I forged with my own magic.

A ring that is only ever worn by one person.

Moaning from under the blanket is King Jedrick of Adreania.