“Uncle, this”—Eira gestured around them—“is my home now.”
“What?” He leaned back. “No, no no. Eira, you merely think that because you’ve been Adela’s captive for so long. But we’ll be able to free you. I’m here now and?—”
She shifted her hands to grip his fingers. “Uncle, I don’t need saving. This is what I’ve chosen.”
“Is she really…” He couldn’t bring himself to finish.
“My mother? No.” Eira chuckled and briefly mused on if she’d ever say yes to that question purely because it was easier. But “mother” didn’t quite fit Adela. The woman was mentor and somethinglikea mother…but also not. And Eira didn’t want to force her to be. The first time Eira had a mother, it hadn’t worked out as ideally as she might have hoped. She wasn’t keen on pressing the label upon someone else. “She’s training me though. She’s chosen me as her heir.”
“You?” Fritz’s brow furrowed and relaxed. He squinted then stopped. As if he couldn’t quite see her. Perhaps he was seeingher truly for the first time. “If you’re not her daughter, why would she want you?”
The fact that he couldn’t understand it was all she needed to know. Without trying to, he showed her so beautifully and succinctly what Eira had felt all her life.You doubt me, even still.
Eira kept the thought to herself. It would get them nowhere, and Alyss had been right: she wasn’t going to bring Fritz with her into this next stage of her life. Their time had passed. But she’d still keep him in her heart, as she would her parents. Enough to make good on her word from time to time that she’d visit them whenever the winds carried her into port, as she was able.
“After the coliseum, we fled onto a vessel moored in the river by Warich that I thought belonged to the Court of Shadows. But I’d misunderstood. It was Adela’s…”
Eira told him all that had transpired at length. She spared him little—only the more intimate details of her interactions with Cullen and Olivin. There was her initial work with Adela, the revelations, getting her magic back, and Noelle’s death. His fingers tightened and his eyes widened, shoulders slouching as his jaw relaxed and lips parted in shock. By the time she finished, he looked as if he had lived through half of it.
“…Now I’m going to go back to Meru. I will find Ulvarth and end this,” Eira finished. “And when it’s over, I’ll see where the wind carries me.”
Without warning, Fritz yanked her to him, throwing his arms around her shoulders once more and drawing a shuddering breath. “I cannot believe all you have endured.”
“I’m fine.” She gave him a firm squeeze.
“I can see that now.”
Eira released him, wondering if it was true. Could he truly see her? Or would she forever be the girl living in Marcus’s shadow? The untamed magic that threatened to bring shame as easily as pride to their family name?
“You should rest.” Eira decided that for now there was little sense in digging deeper into those questions. Maybe they never needed to be explored. There were some things that were all right left unsaid. “I can only imagine how long it’s been since you had a proper sleep. Take my cabin for the night.”
“Are you sure?” He was already in the process of making the bed as he asked.
“Very much so.” She stood to get out of his way. “I’ll bring food in the morning.” Her mind was already debating what she was going to do next with him. Though ideas were forming. “For now, rest easily knowing you’re safe.”
Eira excused herself and emerged from the cabin into the brisk night. She inhaled deeply the smell of salt and cold. No sooner had she taken a few steps than the feeling of being watched overwhelmed her. Halting, her attention swung, meeting a pair of familiar eyes that shone in the darkness.
“We should talk.” Olivin’s voice had a bit of gravel to it, as though the words were weighted by severity.
Eira had remembered the tone he’d taken with her uncle and gave a slight nod. “I think we should.”
23
They made their way in silence to the bow of theStormfrost. It was one of the few spots on board that everyone seemed to respect as the place to go when you wanted to be alone. Privacy was a bit of an illusion on a ship, but it was a farce they all kept up. On the way, Eira stretched her senses through the waters beneath the vessel. Without having to turn her head, she knewWinter’s Banewas nearby. Sailing right alongside theStormfrostas Adela had promised.
But that ship is only temporary, Eira thought, reminding herself of what Adela had said.
As soon as they reached the bow of the vessel, Eira demanded, “Out with it.”
Olivin didn’t even pretend not to know what she was referring to. “I don’t trust him.”
“Clearly.” Eira gave him a dull look. The fact that he needed to say it was almost an insult to her intelligence. “I’m asking why.”
He pursed his lips and turned, hands on the railing with white knuckles. His biceps bulged as he gripped and relaxed. “They don’t let people go.”
“They didn’t ‘let him go.’ We sank their ship and he survived.”
“Quite conveniently.”
