This time felt different.
Somehow, when Mev and Kael had gone through, even though they’d said their goodbyes, prepared for them to be final, I’d known, deep inside my soul, they would return.
Galfrid, for all I knew of him, would not. At least, not as long as Mev’s mother was too frightened to come through. He’d spent years attempting to reunite with his partner and unborn daughter and would not risk being separated again.
As he’d promised, even though the Gate remained open, Jon Harrow had not allowed any to pass through. Until a new Gate Council could be formed and rules, on both sides, set in place, it was better kept a secret and nothing more than a locked Crooked Key basement.
“We will be unable to pass through,” I said to Lyra, who stood by my side, looking at the swirling patterns that marked it open, “in our role, or mine at least?—”
“I have all I need here,” she said, reaching for my hand. “Though I will miss him dearly.”
Galfrid had said his goodbyes. He’d addressed all of Aetheria at the palace, giving those gathered his daughter’s support to take up his long reign. It was too soon to tell if her transition would go more smoothly, or, like mine, it would be marred with rebellion and unrest.
“As will she,” I said of Mev, who held onto her father as if she might never see him again—a distinct possibility. He’d promised to relay a message once travel commenced once again between realms, or even to return himself with her mother if possible, but neither were guaranteed.
With only the five of us, soon to be four, standing before the Gate, it wasn’t long before Galfrid had bid adieu to those gathered.
“Take care of her,” he said to Kael, as if such a thing needed to be uttered. My brother would devote his life to such an act, as was evident by the way he looked at her now. Instead of saying as much, he bowed to the former King of Aetheria.
“It will be my honor, your majesty,” he said, the courtesy title one of respect.
Galfrid turned to me.
“We built walls where bridges should have stood. We mistook fear for strength and pride for honor, and it cost us dearly. Yet here you stand beside one of my trusted and beloved charges, having chosen love over hate, unity over division.
“Elydor will not be healed in a single season, Terran. Perhaps not in a single reign. But you have already proven it can change. You have proven that the Gate does not close on us forever… It opens when we are willing to listen.
“Serve not as a ruler above your clan, but as a steward beside them. Remember that power bends to those who honor the land, not those who seek to master it. And remember this: the choices you make now will echo longer than the battles we fought to get here.”
I bowed to him, as my brother had.
He spoke to me, but to Mev as well. At his words, she reached for Lyra’s hand. Kael tightened his hold on hers, and I found myself grasping Lyra’s other. By the time Galfrid’s voice fell silent, the four of us stood bound together, a single chain before the Gate.
“I will cherish Lyra and my clan, honoring both in the name of your legacy,” I said, “Your majesty.”
Galfrid’s quick nod of approval accompanied his step toward the Gate. He turned to face it, and then looked back at us once more.
“I go to finish what I began with the woman I love. But it is you four who will finish what was broken in Elydor. And I have no doubt you will succeed.”
He was gone, but his words lingered like a vow etched into stone. Four hands still linked, we faced the Gate not as heirs of ruin, but as the beginning of a new realm forged from stone and starlight.
EPILOGUE
LYRA
It was my favorite spot in all of Gyoria, especially when sharing it with Terran.
Just beyond the palace walls, carved into the cliffs, he had a narrow terrace called the Starlight Overlook carved out for me. At night-time, as it was now, the skies shimmered brighter than anywhere else, the moon casting a silver light that turned the ice-crusted stone into a mirror.
The overlook was a quiet refuge from duty where the rest of Gyoria remained unaware of our presence in this spot.
Terran’s hand brushed mine as he sat up beside me.
“What are you thinking?”
As my fingers wove through his, I pointed out one star in particular.
“From my window at the Aetherian palace, I could see Velastra clearly most nights. Do you know of it?”
