Ilryth’s treasures… I take one more slow lap around the room, the words repeating in my mind as I look over all the various items. A flagon catches my eye, perched on a shelf. I take it gingerly, treating it with far more reverence than I ever did at the Tilted Table. I’ve drunk from these clay mugs how many times without thought? Now, it’s like a relic from a world that is unbearably far, impossible to get back to.
Will the men and women of the wharf look after my family? I briefly imagine all the people I worked with in Dennow chipping in, banding together to help them avoid the debtors’ prison. Every bit of goodwill the four of us worked to scrape together coming due. The ones who knew me beyond the rumors stepping forward. Or maybe the ones who whispered about me behind my back will do it out of pity that my family would have to endure the consequences of an oath breaker.
Even in the best iteration of either scenario…there’s not enough generosity in all of Dennow to bring together twenty thousand spare crons. I always hoped the few friends I’d made would help my family with small things. Getting through their grief after my being lost to the sea. Making sure my parents paid their taxes on time.Father always gave away too much ale to my crew in his kind enthusiasm…
I return the flagon to the shelf where I found it. As I do, I notice a small chip in its bottom and remember a night, a year, maybe two, ago.
We were stumbling back to my vessel, Emily supporting me. A bitter, sad smile passes briefly over my face. She had been relentless that night.
“He was quite handsome.”I don’t know who you’re talking about. “Yes you do, that other captain for the Crosswind Traders. He was clearly interested.”I’m married, Em. “Only on paper.”It’s not the time…,I’d said. But what I’d meant was,No one would be interested in me, not romantically, at least. People have made it plenty clear what they think of oath breakers.“When you’re free of that wretched man, you will find love again, right? You deserve it, Victoria.”We’ll see.
I never did have a good answer for her. Mostly because I knew if I were ever free of Charles, I’d be dead soon after. Eventually, she just stopped asking.
What good is my heart, anyway? It’s been chewed up and spit out. Rotted away from neglect. It stopped beating in a cold sea. Even when it was young and wild and full of hope, I couldn’t trust it…how could I now?
That night, I should have told Em that I already had all the love I needed. I had her and Ma and Pa. I had my crew and Lord Kevhan Applegate. Even if, at times, I felt like I had somehow used the edge of the magic to fool them all into loving me. I didn’t need anything more.
Love like what Em was talking about stopped mattering to me long ago.
That night, right before I could get on my ship, my flagon had slipped from my grasp, despite my promising Father I’d return it to the Tilted Table the next day. It had fallen into the water, hopeless to be recovered from the deep dredges of Dennow’s wharf.
Was Ilryth there?
It couldn’t possibly be the same flagon. My homesickness is getting the better of me. I shake my head and move along.
There are more oddities, like a silver cane. But what catches my eye next is a stained glass of two people dancing. I run my fingers over the lead between the shards of colored glass.
“That’s one of my favorites.”
I hadn’t heard him return. But he’s back with a chest in his hands. This duke becomes stranger and stranger by the minute. I can’t make sense of what might be going through his mind at any moment. Or what his motivations are. “I was just thinking it’d come from very far, to make it to your waters.”
“Is that so?” He seems genuinely curious, so I indulge him.
“This type of glass was made to the south-southwest of Dennow—veryfar southwest of where you collected me from. It’s an older art form and most of the expertise has been lost. Only a few craftsmen still engage in the practice.” I tap the glass lightly. “I had a piece in my cabin, on my ship.” The ship that is now nestled at the bottom of the Gray Passage.
“The fae are the ones who perfected the art of glass pictures, originally. Makes sense, given their glass crown,” he says as if it is a well-known fact. “From what I know of your lands, it sounds like that area would be adjacent to the fae wilds.”
It’s true that I sailed the passage through the mysterious woods that were said to be occupied by the fae.
“Sheel said that there were once humans here in…”
“Midscape,” he finishes. “Humans were made by the dryads—Lady Lellia’s favorite of all her children and the ones to most closely bear her likeness. She oversaw their work personally, guiding the dryads. Despite humans’ magical lineage, humans lacked their own abilities. Perhaps because they were made by mortal hands, rather than immortal, as the rest of the peoples of Midscape were.”
“Lady Lellia made all the other species of Midscape?”
“You sound surprised. She is the Goddess of Life, after all.” His mouth quirks into a small grin. “If the stories are to be believed, the fae tried to teach your ancestors their ritumancy, and some humans went west, to see if the vampir could help them harness powers from their blood. But nothing ever came of it, I believe. If any progress had been made, the Fade was erected shortly after and severed all chance at humans mastering magic.”
“Why was the Fade made?”
“It was created by an Elf King—a direct descendant of the first Elf King, who erected the Veil between our world and the Beyond—to protect the humans from those who would seek to take advantage of their lack of powers. It was a time of much upheaval in our world.”
“The power to sever worlds sounds mighty. Did you ever think of asking this Elf King for help with Lord Krokan?”
Ilryth shakes his head. “When the seas began to rot, we flooded the land bridge that connected the Eversea to the rest of Midscape to contain the blight. We began closely watching our traveler’s pools—limiting their use—and kept our people to our seas. No one may go in or out.”
“You came out to collect me,” I point out.
Ilryth purses his lips. “That was different.”
