I knew as much, but to hear him say it…
“For me? Nay. He will see it as a betrayal, for it is one. But perhaps it will be the catalyst needed to learn the truth of what he knows about the current imbalance.”
So he had felt it.
“Keeping me here,” I said, not wanting to dissuade Terran from his plan, but to ensure he carried it through, “allowing me to aid you in retrieving the Stone might be seen to some as a betrayal equal to your brother’s.”
He didn’t get angry. Or clench his fists. Or even look at me with the disgust that I’d come to expect from most Gyorians, and especially him and his father.
“Ignoring the truth is also a betrayal,” he said softly. “To my mother.”
With that, Terran left the bath chamber. Moments later, I heard the large, wooden door of his bedchamber click open and then shut.
He was gone. And I was alone in the private retreat of one of the most feared Gyorian warriors, its prince and sworn enemy. Then why did I suddenly feel so at peace? One that warred with a measure of fear I’d learned to ignore and the near-constant flutters of excitement at being alone in Terran’s bedchamber… flutters matched only by the ones ever-present when he was near.
A question better left unanswered.
11
TERRAN
“I’m about to commit treason.”
For his part, Dren hardly reacted. For a Gyorian, he was unusually calm unless a battle brewed. I was certain I could tell him most anything, and he would simply tilt his head to the side and consider my words before responding.
We’d finished training, a shorter session than normal given my… other activities. Having spoken to Lord Valdric’s scribe, I was certain my guess was right.
The Stone was in Gyoria’s Royal Vault.
“Go on,” Dren said, as if I’d informed him obsidian was black.
“Lyra revealed little to my father, but her presence alone seemed to rattle him. When she mentioned The Unbalance, he all but threatened to kill her… after denying such a thing occurred.”
“Quakes without causes, sudden cracks in centuries-old rocks… surely he does not believe we cannot see the truth of it ourselves.”
“I’ve long ago stopped attempting to understand his thinking. Also, my father all but admitted there was something amiss in the Depths, and thanks to Lyra, I know what that something is.”
We walked from the training yard, an expansive field cleared for such a purpose, back to the palace. Righting the crevices and dirt disturbed during training along the way, I contemplated how much to tell him. I trusted Dren with my life, and had literally done so on more than one occasion.
The thought prompted me to continue.
“Apparently, he stole the Wind Crystal in order to close the Aetherian Gate, returned a fake to Galfrid, likely around the time of the Battle of the Eastern Border, and hid the real crystal in the Depths.”
At “stole the Wind Crystal,” Dren had stopped walking, his expression going from curious to disbelief.
“He… did what, precisely?”
“My guess, thinking more on it,” I said, fixing the final patch of dirt with a twist of my fingers, “is that all three relics were needed to open it in the first place. My father would never have willingly given permission for Galfrid to use the Stone, and I have no knowledge of it being stolen, but it’s the only explanation why my father would need the Crystal.”
I could see Dren thinking.
“Elydor’s way of ensuring all of its clans agreed to opening such a portal?”
“Perhaps.”
Dren’s head shook in disbelief. “How did Galfrid get your father to agree to use the Stone? Or Queen Lirael to use the Tidal Pearl for such a purpose? And your father? How could he have possibly stolen the Wind Crystal from Aetheria? And what of the Tidal Pearl? Lirael would have been even less likely to allow him to use it for such a purpose than she would to aid Galfrid in opening it.” His rapid-fire questions were the same as mine had been. “And the Depths? Impossible. How could your father hide the Crystal there? And who retrieved it?”
With each question, I watched Dren’s expression. As I had been, it was initially a surprise, but as the full impact of my father’s deception sunk in, anger began to manifest.
