“Mev has become quite powerful,” Lyra said as the crowd began to file down the mountain around us. They would gather in the palace courtyard where Mev would be crowned immediately. She was already Aetheria’s queen, the most powerful in their clan since Galfrid had renounced his claim to the crown earlier, but a ceremony, according to Lyra, would simply make it official.
“I knew she was but… this is unexpected.”
“You are not happy for her?” Lyra was anything but pleased by my brother’s reaction.
“She will be targeted,” he said, staring at the spot where the contenders had stood. “Some may be unhappy with the outcome. Unhappy her father is stepping down. Or that she is partially human.”
I knew my brother. The catch in his voice was fear.
“She has the ability to make others stop breathing,” I reminded him. “Think on that, Kael. It’s never been done before. Mev is as strong, if not stronger, than even her father. In time, she’ll master every skill of his.”
“And has already an arsenal of her own,” Lyra added.
“Trust in her skills. Support her. Mev will be fine.”
Kael looked at me as if we were strangers.
“What?” I snapped.
“You’re just… different. Thank you,” he tossed to Lyra, taking off as Mev appeared through a break in the trees with her father.
“I suppose he thinks you are responsible for this…differencein me?”
“I suppose he does.”
I pulled Lyra toward me, knowing Kael was right.
“And I suppose you’ll be wanting some sort of reward?”
“Only if you agree with him.”
Only a handful of stragglers remained as the crowd had moved on. If anyone had told me I’d be standing at the base of the Sky Pinnacle with Lady Lyra of Aetheria in my arms, I’d have thought they were mad. And yet… nothing had ever felt more right.
“You fish for compliments,” I teased.
“I do.”
Smoothing back her hair as the wind picked up, I offered them freely.
“My brother often said our mother was the best of my father, and I understand now what he meant.”
“We are an unlikely pair.” Lyra leaned her cheek into my hand.
“Perhaps the reason it seems to work?”
“Perhaps.”
I dropped my hand as Kael, Mev, and Galfrid approached. Mev was clearly exhausted, though she ran straight into Lyra’s arms.
“Thank you,” she said, “for training me. Believing in me.”
Lyra squeezed her and murmured something I could not hear. When Mev let go, she looked at me.
“You have some interesting motivational methods, but they worked. Next time, a bit of warning before you cause a potential avalanche would be nice.”
“A warning would have weakened its purpose.”
Mev’s lips twitched despite the exhaustion lining her face. “Maybe.”
