“Yes, I realize that,” he snapped. “Why do you think I wear these”—he flapped the gloves angrily in the air—“day and night?”
Silence fell over us, thick and tense. He shoved the gloves back on.
I sighed. “Sober up, Galen. This meeting tomorrow is important.”
“I know.” He glanced at his feet, all signs of anger instantly gone. His face crumpled as he sank into his chair, rubbing a hand down his freshly shaven chin. “Wehaveto get her here.”
Her. The empress from across the sea.
When he’d found out a young, unmarried woman had taken over our neighbor to the north, hope had sparked inside him, turning him into an entirely new man. Galen had been pushing for her to come ever since he made contact with the Veridian Empire shortly after his father’s passing. The meeting tomorrow was to finalize details for her arrival, as well as plans to announce their engagement.
For the life of me, I couldn’t understand his sudden sense of urgency. All he would say was that heneededto marry this empress. Needed to unite our two lands. He would never give me a straight answer when I asked why he was so intent on this marriage, other than some vague soliloquy about wanting to right the wrongs of the Veridian Empire and Mysthelm.
“Not everyone will approve of her. You know that, don’t you?” I warned him. “There will be unrest once you make this official.”
“I know,” he repeated.
“How do you plan to handle that?”
He threw his hands up. “How should I know, Thorne? I’ve never done this before. I’ll do whatever the other regents and my council tell me to.”
I turned my back on him to face the liquor cart, grabbinganother drink in order to hide my clenched jaw. He’d been my best friend for as long as I could remember, but his indecisiveness and ignorance were more than I had the patience for sometimes. He didn’t seem to care that I was trying to help him.
Ididused to be the fun one. Now, I wasn’t sure either of us were.
“And you still think bringing this empress over is a good idea?” I asked. Some of our people here in Mysthelm were vehemently opposed to a Veridian—someone with foreign, dangerous magic—entering our shores. Ourmagic-lessshores. Even though the war between us had ended three hundred years ago, many still held grudges against them, so deeply entrenched in our history that it was difficult to shake.
I didn’t know if Galen’s tremulous hold on his citizens would last after this final straw. I’d already begun to hear disgruntled buzzing from the other territories, revealing their unhappiness since King Orion died. If Galen didn’t get a handle on things, I feared tensions would only worsen.
“I’m not arguing with you about this again. Ihaveto marry her, Thorne. End of discussion.”
Facing him, I weighed the pros and cons of starting this debate once more before realizing a drunk Galen would get us nowhere. Nodding curtly, I said, “We’ll have all the details worked out soon. Don’t worry about getting her here—we’ll make sure it happens, if that’s truly what you want.”
He cracked a smile, his eyes going in and out of focus. “I leave all the worrying for you now, don’t I? I swear, you didn’t have a wrinkle on that pretty face seven years ago.” His brow furrowed. “Speaking of which, where’s Marigold tonight?”
“With her grandmother.”
“Ah, probably for the best. Wouldn’t want her to see you having too muchfun,” he slurred. “Whaddya say, old friend? One more drink?”
I shook my head, but a laugh escaped me. “You’re hopeless, and you’re going to hate yourself in the morning.”
“I didn’t hear a no.”
I grabbed the bottle of white liquor from the cart, slipping back into the version of me he always tried to get me to become again. It felt like that man was harder and harder to find. “One more drink.”
I raised a glass to my lips and tossed it back, the alcohol burning as it hit my throat. But out of the corner of my eye, I spotted the once lush, tall tree by Galen’s desk, now shriveled and black, shadows from the gnarled branches reaching toward us like claws.
5
Clarissa
“One more drink!” I said with a laugh as Chaz slammed three small glasses on the table, courtesy of Dippy, our favorite bartender. “You know I have to be up early tomorrow.”
“Yes, our big world traveler off on her epic adventure,” Lark teased, holding up her drink.
“Something like that,” I muttered.
“Then let me treat you to this last round, Your Majesty,” Chaz said with a mocking bow, his nose almost hitting the top of the table.
