“I wish to remember this moment for what it is.”
What did that mean?
That he loved me but… our love would be fleeting? That it was impossible to be together? My mind wandered as he pressed my head once again to his chest, to the situation we found ourselves in.
The Gate, still closed.
Terran, now a traitor to his people.
To his king.
A mistrust between us that continued to linger.
What is it, precisely?
Though I wanted to ask, I allowed the question to float away. Afraid of its answer.
32
TERRAN
“She is magnificent, is she not?”
The human watched his partner, Queen Nerys, below. She, Lyra, and Mev stood below on a platform, still higher than any Gyorian would feel comfortable standing with no guards around it.
Aye, Lyra was magnificent.
Pulled apart again last eve after the Glade, I hadn’t spoken to her yet. The aftermath of the Gate had sent the palace into a frenzy of activity. With no sign of my father or his men yet, I was left to my own devices after declining to meet with the king and Kael this morn.
Heading back to my chamber, I stopped in the open corridor, spying the women.
“I’ve not seen anyone do that before,” I responded as the queen channeled sea water from further away than was typical. As they spoke, each of them performed some sort of magic. We all did it, absently at times, as an outlet for our extreme emotions.
In their case, sadness. Frustration. And not a small measure of confusion.
“Some say Nerys is the most powerful water-wielder in Thalassaria’s history.”
I looked at Sir Rowan with more than a small measure of skepticism.
“More powerful than King Thalos the Tidebreaker?”
An entire fleet was named after him, so powerful was the water-wielder who was said to summon waters without use of his hands, though I knew no one who had actually seen him do it.
“I suppose power is subjective and a case could be made for them both.”
“A human Thalassari king. A first. Do they accept you, Sir Rowan?”
“Rowan,” he said. “Some do. Some do not. It is Nerys who rules her people, and those who realize it take me for my role.”
“Which is?”
“Supporting her. And my own people, however I’m able.”
Something about the way he spoke… it was impolite to ask, but I was not known for subtlety.
“What is your human ability?”
He smiled.
