Teryn shifted in his seat, uneasy at the talk of war. His kingdom had already been on the receiving end of such a threat when Arlous attempted to dissolve his marriage to Teryn’s mother. That was enough experience to last Teryn a lifetime. “Don’t worry, Father, we’ll have the princess’ dowry before the next ship leaves Brushwold’s shores.” His tone was confident, but he knew his expression didn’t match.
King Arlous turned away from the window and frowned at his son. When he spoke, his voice was uncharacteristically soft. Quavering. “I’m so sorry, Teryn. I don’t say it to you enough because I can’t regret what I tried to do for Annabel. I love her. You must know that.”
“I do,” Teryn said, although he didn’t consider it a virtue on his father’s part.
The king returned to his desk and braced his hands on the tabletop, his head slumped with defeat. “This burden you must bear…I fear it will only leave you a younger version of me, trapped in a loveless marriage.” Teryn bristled at that, but Arlous rushed to add, “That’s nothing on your mother, son. She’s a good woman. I respect her.”
Teryn pursed his lips to keep from scoffing. How could his father claim to respect the woman he’d once dragged through scandal? Arlous had tried to annul his marriage to the queen by accusing her of infidelity. He’d claimed she’d been intimate with his late brother before his untimely death, which meant his marriage could never be considered valid in the eyes of the seven gods. Teryn had a hunch his father’s actions had more to do with the fact that his mother bore only girls after Teryn while Annabel had birthed two more boys after Larylis.
“I can’t take it all back,” King Arlous said. “Nor can I stop hating myself for what I’m doing to you.”
He met his father’s eyes, saw the remorse in them, and found his own resentment softening. Even with everything the king had done, Teryn’s father did love him. More admirable than that was Arlous’ standing with the people of Menah. Teryn wasn’t sure how many other monarchs could try to depose their queen without inciting massive rebellion. Instead, King Arlous had the people’s sympathies, thanks to Annabel’s popularity with the common folk. He was certain, however, that a lot of that support would disappear if Menah’s poverty were more apparent in the day-to-day workings of the kingdom. For now, the king put the people first, ensured they had jobs, food, and homes while pirates ate into Menah’s profits and sent the crown’s coffers deeper into the negatives. Soon, the king wouldn’t be able to keep the kingdom afloat without inflicting suffering upon their citizens.
Teryn had to make sure that never happened.
“I wish you didn’t have to marry that woman, Teryn. I wish you didn’t have to take my failures upon your shoulders.”
“It doesn’t matter,” Teryn said. “I’ll win the Heart’s Hunt. I’ll fulfill my duties.”
The king pushed off from his desk with a growl of frustration. “I wish you didn’t have to do it alone. That fool girl.”
“I won’t be alone.” He didn’t elaborate further than that. Helios’ letters may have been brief, but he hadn’t failed to stress the importance of keeping their alliance a secret.
Arlous assessed Teryn with a keen gaze. “Good. I don’t care what you have to do, what rules of hers you have to break. Hire a hunting party. Buy the pelt and horn. She won’t know a difference.”
Teryn threw back the rest of his drink and set the empty glass on the desk. “I must leave soon. I should say goodbye to Larylis.”
Arlous nodded. “Safe travels, son. Send Berol with word now and then.”
“I will.” He turned his back on his father, hoping that the next time they saw each other, they’d both have reasons to smile.
* * *
Teryn knew exactlywhere to find his brother. Sure enough, as he opened the doors to the palace library, Larylis was hunched over a stack of books. It wasn’t an unusual sight, as Larylis frequented the library as often as his own bedroom, either poring over poetry, historical texts, or the latest novel. But ever since they arrived home from Verlot Palace, Larylis had spent nearly every waking hour in books. Teryn knew what held his brother’s fascination. Knew his extra time in the library was spent on Teryn’s behalf.
He approached the table his brother occupied. Larylis didn’t bother looking up from the paper he was furiously scrawling something on. “Don’t get your hopes up,” Larylis muttered. “Everything I’ve written down is rubbish.”
Teryn chuckled and looked over his brother’s shoulder. Several stacks of books surrounded him, as well as crumpled bits of loose parchment covered in scratched-out notes or angry-looking blotches of black ink. A book lay open at his elbow, which must have been what he was currently taking notes from. Teryn scanned the wall of text in the book. At the bottom was a black-and-white illustration of a unicorn laying next to a young girl with flowers in her hair. The creature’s head was in her lap, round eyes staring adoringly up at the girl. Four pixies fluttered around them. Teryn turned his attention to the sheet of paper Larylis was writing on. It contained half a page of brief notations, one which read,According to one faerytale, unicorns are drawn to virgins. Weird. Why?
“Virgins?” Teryn said.
“I told you it was all rubbish. You’ll see another line about a faerytale where a fae queen had six lovers and two pet unicorns. Obviously, the virgin thing is a myth.” He finished writing his latest note and leaned back in his chair with a grumbling sigh. “That’s the last book on unicorns I’ve found.”
“I told you that you didn’t have to do this.”
“And I told you there was nothing you could do to stop me.”
Teryn grinned at that. They were similarly stubborn. He supposed they both inherited the trait from their father. “Aside from pure rubbish, did you at least read anything interesting?”
Larylis shrugged. “Faerytales, mostly. The only scientific texts I found on unicorns stated they haven’t been seen in over five hundred years. Our scholars are obviously behind on their records.”
Teryn’s own recent research—albeit far less thorough than his brother’s—had revealed the same. It made no sense. How could an entire species come back after almost five hundred years of extinction? There was a part of him that still held doubts that unicornswerereal. Then he’d recall Helios’ strange blade. It had been rather convincing in the moment, but…could he have been fooled? To what end?
“You haven’t read anything about hunting them, by any chance, have you? Dehorning them? Skinning them?” Helios had suggested there was some special method only he knew, but Teryn was uncertain how much of that had been posturing. “Found any maps suggesting where they can be found?”
“No,” Larylis said as he reached for a book in the middle of one of his stacks, “although, I found a map in a book that mentions unicorns. I don’t think it’s of here, though. It talks about Lela at the end of the book, but the map says Le’Lana.”
That piqued Teryn’s curiosity.Lelawas the original name for the portion of land that was now divided into three kingdoms—Menah, Selay, and Khero. Even though the land was part of the continent of Risa, there was much lore regarding Lela and its origins. Most tales insisted Lela hadn’t always been part of the continent, that one day the city of Delany was the southernmost point of Risa, and the next the coast had sprouted an entirely new portion of land. Teryn had always enjoyed tales about how Lela had risen from the ocean or formed from mist. Other stories claimed the land had always been there, hidden behind a magical veil. He didn’t believe any of those tales, but they never ceased to fascinate him.
