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 theStormfrostwould 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 ofgo aheadmotion.
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 fromconsistency 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.
