But in the meantime, she was staying. I was so pleased, I hugged her and Mev squeezed me back, whispering, “Thank you,” into my ear. She’d already thanked me more times than was necessary.
“We’re glad to have you,” I said, pulling back and glancing toward the antechamber.
Mev’s shoulders sank. “We tried. She came so close, but in the end… just couldn’t do it.”
“What will he do?” Terran asked.
It was well known kings, or queens, did not go through the Gate. Even when it had been open for centuries, there had been a fear something could happen to make the portal impassable. Especially now, when it was still considered unstable…
“I don’t know,” Mev said. “But Mom is going to stay in York for a bit, just in case.”
The rest of her words were unspoken but we understood the implication.
Would he do it? Galfrid loved Mev’s mother dearly, but he loved his clan and kingdom too. It was much to risk, leaving Aetheria without a leader.
Without warning, the king re-entered the chamber.
“Terran,” Galfrid said, his tone grim. “One of my men just brought a message from Dell. Word of the Gate’s opening has begun to spread already. Loyalists to your father are gathering in the lower quarter. They claim the Gate is proof of Aetherian meddling… that your rule is illegitimate.”
Lyra felt Terran stiffen beside her. His hand brushed hers, only briefly, but she read the vow in his eyes: he would have kept his promise to her tonight if he could.
But his duties, for now, lay elsewhere.
41
TERRAN
“That was quite a… spectacle.” Dren surveyed the dead bodies.
It was a bloodbath, but my right hand was too diplomatic to say as much.
They had pulled me from Lyra, incited violence along the border, and took their rage out on an innocent human village. Every one of them had deserved the punishment they received, though I took no joy in such a sight.
Dren had just arrived, having been summoned as I was. Detained by another of my father’s loyalists, one he’d been able to sway but by less violent means, he had just missed the reckoning.
“They took two innocent lives, guards from Ashwick, not bothering to deny it.”
“To sow the seeds of rebellion, as if the cause of an ensuing battle would not be discovered.”
My men had begun to bury the dead. I would help them, but needed a moment of rest. Dren had found me sitting on a log on the edge of the lower quarter’s forest, where the loyalists were camped.
“What happened, precisely?”
“When we arrived, they were well-hidden among the trees.”
“Not surprising, given how many trackers your father trained.”
It was one of his best-honed Gyorian skills, and one Father enjoyed passing on to others. Neither Kael nor I took as much of an interest as he would have liked, but throughout the years, others enjoyed being trained by their king in such a skill.
“I felt nothing, at first. But remembered, thankfully.” I patted the pouch at my side.
Dren’s eyes widened. “The Stone.”
“When I pulled it out, the Stone’s glow was steady. Laying my palm to the dirt was a very different experience with it in my other hand. I could sense them but…” How to explain it? “Not in the typical way. It felt where they moved, where they ran, as if it were a memory.”
“So not their vibrations?”
“No,” I said. “Something else entirely.” I shrugged. “When we did find them, I offered the same opportunity as the others.”
