Fanon sauntered up to her, extending a closed fist. She flinched back, arms going protectively around Noah’s sling. He said something with a nod at his fist, and when she made no move, he wrested one of her hands away from Noah and forced something into her palm.
She nearly dropped it before she noticed a delicate silver chain, just long enough to be a bracelet, strung with a small onyx orb.
“Gift from Etrix and one of our charmweavers,” Fanon said with no small amount of irritation. Her eyes widened as she realized she could understand him. “And what I said is that my lovely consort is too optimistic.”
Ailan glared daggers at him as he moved to Cora next, dropping a bracelet in her hand. Ailan hissed his name again, but he paid her no heed.
“The tribunal will never agree to let humans live in El’Ara,” he said. “Nor will they agree to wait a year, much less seven, to seal the tear and complete the Veil.”
“You don’t know that,” Ailan said, then turned her gaze to Mareleau and Cora. “He doesn’t know that. I’ll do everything in my power to get them to agree to a solution that benefits everyone. Don’t listen to him.”
“Why not?” Fanon said with a scoff. “I’m the only one telling them the truth. And here’s a truth for you, my love. The tear has increased the Blight’s growth tenfold.”
She paled, her jaw slack. Then she spoke under her breath. “Do you want this alliance or not?”
Fanon said nothing but Garot raised his hand. “I do, but Fanon is right. The tribunal will never agree to let humans live in El’Ara. Well, aside from the Edel Morkara’Elle, but we saw how well that discussion went.”
“So, exile,” Cora said, tone empty. Movement rustled the underbrush, and moonlight caught on white fur. Valorre emerged from between the trees and gently nudged Cora’s shoulder with his muzzle. “I’m forging an alliance for the eventual exile of my people.”
Ailan’s shoulders fell. “I’ll give you time. That I can promise you. As regent, I can hold off the Blight long enough to sort everything out.”
Mareleau’s heart sank to her feet. The promise of time was meaningless when she couldn’t guarantee exactly how much they’d be given. She met Cora’s gaze and they exchanged a defeated look.
“I need to get back,” Cora said, absently stroking Valorre’s neck.
Mareleau didn’t want Cora to leave. She was her only friend in this strange place. The only person here who was truly on her side. Once she left, it would just be her and Noah.
Alone.
The future uncertain.
She swallowed the tightness in her throat and reached into the pocket of her robe. She extracted a wrinkled piece of parchment and held it out for Cora. “See that this gets to Lare.” She hated that her only communication with her husband could be a one-way letter. For now. She wouldn’t give up on getting what she wanted. What she needed.
Cora clasped her fingers around the paper, but she didn’t pull away. She gave Mareleau a weighted look, one that spoke of last resorts. Mareleau glanced at Cora’s hands, one connected to the paper they both held, the other pressed to Valorre’s neck. Realization dawned. All Mareleau needed to do was give the slightest sign, the subtlest nod, and Cora could worldwalk them away. Mareleau would be free of this place where she might as well be a prisoner. She could see her husband again. She could go home.
Home.
Home.
It was a tantalizing offer that sparked every selfish instinct she harbored. But on the other side were the repercussions of that choice. Should she run away like that, they’d forfeit the alliance and make an enemy of the Elvyn people. The dragons would return to the human world to seek her out. Even if she learned to ward her magic, the dragons would likely still search for her and destroy crops, homes, and lives in the process. And she wouldn’t put it past the Elvyn to hunt her down themselves and take their Morkara back by force.
Mareleau may be determined to get her way, but her decisions carried weight. Consequences. Ones that could become burdens she might never fully shrug off.
She’d find a better way to fight for what she wanted.
For now…she could only let go.
With a slow sigh, she released her hold on the letter and took a step back.
Cora gave her a relieved nod, as if she was of the same mind. Then she turned her back on Mareleau and fully faced Valorre.
In the blink of an eye, her friend was gone.
Leaving Mareleau and Noah behind, an entire world away.
39
Evening greeted Cora as she planted her feet in the forest outside Ridine. After removing Valorre’s saddle and stashing it in the underbrush for the time being, she bid him farewell and worldwalked straight to her bedroom. The room was blessedly empty of servants, but it was empty of Teryn too. A wave of vertigo washed over her, and she sank onto the edge of her bed. She had half a mind to curl up under the covers and sleep, but she shook the thought from her head. How many hours had it been since she’d last slept? The time discrepancy between the two realms made it impossible to calculate.
