“I just, assumed…” Who their parents were was just something most people knew. Something Eira had thought she’d known and taken for granted.
“I have a guess at who my father is, given that there were never many elfin hiding in Solaris at any point.” Adela smiled thinly. “The Court of Shadows is to blame for my existence—a truth I’m sure they’dloveto know—since to the best of my research it was one of their spies sent to keep an eye on the Crystal Caverns who unknowingly sired me.”
“Why, then, is our magic so similar?” Eira knew she was grasping at straws. But she couldn’t stop herself.
Adela shrugged. “Perhaps because we are both from Oparium and there is something in the water? Perhaps we’re some distant relation without knowing it—as I never bothered to find out who my mother might be.”
“But I was left with your mark on my parents’ doorstep.”
“I thought you didn’t know who your parents were?” Adela hummed.
“I don’t know my blood parents. But the people who raised me…”
“It sounds as if, to me, you have been searching for something that you had all along.”
Eira grabbed her upper stomach, balling a fist into her clothes. “My parents did the best they could, yes. There were good times, and bad, as I’m sure any family has…” Eira trailed off, thinking of all the conflicting feelings she still held towardthem. Feelings that couldn’t be glossed over by the worry of their fates alone. “But from the moment they told me the truth, I’ve felt like something is missing. Like there’s this vastholein me, filled with nothing but unknowns and questions.”
“That sounds like a problem you will have to fix for yourself. No person—blood parent or otherwise—could do it for you.”
“But if I knew?—”
“If you knew, you would still have to come to terms with the unorthodox circumstances of your birth. You would have a face to the person who willinglygave you up. ‘Good’ reason or no, that explanation is not simple to hear,” Adela interjected harshly. Eira stood a little straighter, her grip slackening at the tone. “You are looking for someone else to end a war with yourself. No parents, blood or otherwise, could give you peace. That is something you must find for yourself.”
Eira knew it was true. The pit had taught her as much. Why hadn’t she thought that the same lesson she learned following Marcus’s death and the peace she found there would apply to this as well? To all things that gave her turmoil?
“But my magic…surely my parents must be someone important…maybe they want to find me,” she murmured. All the hidden thoughts she’d been clutching on to, secretly holding with her hope, were now slipping through her slackening fingers.
“Why must they be someone important? Exceptional people are born into unexceptional circumstances every day.” Adela shifted, sitting straighter, even though it looked like it cost her much effort. She leaned forward, meeting Eira’s eyes. “Perhaps that is the one way you and I are alike—thatis the kinship we share. Not one of blood, but one of trial and triumph. That we are the extraordinary ones in a sea of ordinary.”
Eira stared into Adela’s eyes. Now that she was letting go of the hope that they were, somehow, secretly related, she couldsee the differences. Adela’s eyes were slightly more narrow. They had a darker ring of blue around their outer edge. Her chin was a more squared shape than Eira’s…
Her chest tightened. Eira had to break the stare, standing. “I should go. I’m sorry to bother you with this. It won’t happen again.”
“I hope it doesn’t.” Adela lay onto the pillows once more, settling the blanket around her. “If not for my sake, then for yours. You are only holding yourself back by trying to find someone else’s shoes to fill. Who cares what name you were born to? Make your own.”
“Why are you being so nice to me?” Eira couldn’t help but ask. “You’re not my mother…so why?”
“Perhaps it is because I see myself in you, girl. Or perhaps I merely need this skill of yours to open my channel wider so I can continue terrorizing the seas with my full might for at least a couple more decades.” Adela grinned slightly. It brought a similar expression to Eira’s lips. “Take the night and come to me in the morning. I’ll let you and your friends live another day; you’ve earned it.”
“How gracious,” Eira muttered.
Adela heard and snorted softly. “Tomorrow we can figure out what we will do with you. With any luck, you will continue keeping your heads attached to your shoulders.”
Eira nodded and drifted out of the cabin and back onto the main deck. Now that the ship was underway, it was quieter. The crew that was on deck moved leisurely, or perched themselves on crates, or the bold sat on the railings themselves. The sorcerers that had helped give wind and currents to get the ship moving were gone. It seemed, for now, the winds were on their side and they could be propelled by nature instead of magic.
She wandered up to the front quarterdeck, rather than heading back down to the crew’s quarters. Her mind was tooheavy to sleep. The hammock would collapse if she tried to lie on it now.
It seemed she wasn’t the only one to have the idea.
Cullen leaned against the railing at the very front of the ship, looking as stoic as a figurehead. The wind pushed his hair down and away from his face as he stared out into the great unknown. She allowed herself to surrender to the moment. To admire him, feeling the breezes that, even now, seemed to connect them both.
“Do you remember the last time we were like this?” Eira said softly, trying not to startle him and failing. Cullen whipped around but instantly relaxed as his eyes landed on her. He leaned back against the railing but just with his right side, allowing her space at his left at the narrow point the bow made. “Risen was just out there.” Eira pointed ahead, imagining the glittering city of Meru.
“And you wanted nothing to do with me.”
“I wantedeverythingto do with you,” she countered. “And that made a difficult time harder.”
“Sorry for that.” He seemed sincere in his apology and that only made Eira smile.
