She may harbor resentment for Mareleau, but their friendship was stronger. So much stronger. She hoped Mareleau understood that. Hoped she wouldn’t hate her for what she needed to do next.
“Come,” Ailan said with a gentle squeeze to Cora’s shoulder. She proceeded to the other side of the meeting room and opened an almost imperceptible door. Light flooded from behind it, and Ailan beckoned them to follow her inside.
As soon as Cora crossed the threshold, humid air filled her lungs, much like it had in Syrus. The scent of unfamiliar flowers flooded her nostrils. Glass walls comprised three sides of the small room, inviting in the glow of the setting sun. Potted plants and flowers in every color imaginable cluttered the floor and tables while vines crawled up trellises.
Among all the greenery fluttered the glowing butterflies from the tribunal meeting. They emitted a calming blue light.
“They’re beautiful,” Mareleau said, tone brimming with awe. She strolled to one of the long walls of windows and stared out at the scenery.
Cora, meanwhile, kept close to Ailan, posture stiff. She wasn’t here for a leisurely chat, and a part of her dreaded disappointing Ailan. The woman may look different now, but deep inside Cora still recognized her as Nalia, the High Elder she’d looked up to for six years. A figure whose approval she’d sought.
But Ailan’s approval was not her priority.
Her people were.
A butterfly flew over Cora’s head, its color flashing a yellow-green.
Ailan frowned at the butterfly until it flew away from Cora, its hue returning to blue. She picked up a glass bottle fitted with a pump and nozzle and began to spray the leaves of a climbing vine bedecked with violet flowers. “Did you have any trouble entering the tear? Or getting to the palace?”
“No.” It wasn’t entirely true, but it wasn’t what she’d come to discuss.
“You saw how many guards I’ve posted at the tear? I have more soldiers stationed throughout the Blight. Did you bring your soldiers to guard the human side?”
Cora’s eyes flashed toward Mareleau. “King Larylis is in a ship nearby with fifty soldiers. I’ll send word to him to discreetly patrol the area around the tear.”
Mareleau whirled away from the window, eyes bright. “Larylis is close by? Can you get a letter to him?”
Cora opened her mouth to answer, but Ailan spoke first.
“Fifty soldiers,” she said, brows furrowed. “That’s not what we agreed to. I asked for?—”
“We didn’t agree to anything yet. The situation has changed. I’m taking charge of our alliance. The Elvyn will agree to all my terms or they will forfeit the alliance altogether.”
Ailan paused spraying. “What happened?”
“I met your brother. He took me to Syrus and offered me something I can’t refuse.”
“You’re allying withhim?”
“No. He’s given me the options of war, surrender, or alliance, and I am choosing none of those. Instead, you and I are going to make a plan to work against him, and you are going to give me what Darius offered.”
Ailan’s throat bobbed, and the butterflies closest to her flickered orange. She resumed spraying the plant. “What did he offer you?”
She swallowed hard. “Lela.”
Another pause. Another flicker of orange. “Lela? You want me to…what? Leave El’Ara’s heart in the human world?”
“Yes.” Anxiety bubbled inside her, reflected in the spike of yellow on the nearest butterflies’ wings. To calm herself, she turned her attention to the plant life around her. She circled a potted tree, its base consisting of five slender, intertwining trunks. Its leaves were wide, flat, and bright pink.
“You know I can’t give you that,” Ailan said. “El’Ara needs its heart.”
Cora continued to circle the plant, steeling herself to explain the next part. “I know El’Ara needs its heart, and you will have it. The heart isn’t the land itself but themora. As Queen of Lela?—”
“What do you mean Queen of Lela?” Mareleau marched toward Cora. “Are you…stealing my kingdom?”
Cora couldn’t bring herself to meet her friend’s eyes. “I’m not stealing your kingdom. I’m inheriting it. You and Larylis are going to abdicate. Teryn will inherit Vera, and we’ll merge our kingdoms into one. Furthermore, I demand Larylis and Queen Mother Helena live in El’Ara.”
Silence echoed back.
