“It's good to see you too,” I said. “Although, the circumstances could be better.”
Varian grimaced. “Indeed.” Then his gaze went somewhere to my left and his tone went formal, “King Everan.”
“Prince Varian,” Ever said as he pointedly took my hand.
Yeah, there was bad history there too.
“Queen Amaranthine,” a feminine voice purred, “you look well. It appears that the King of the South wasn't such a horrible choice for a husband after all.”
“Hello, Queen Elisande,” I said, barely managing to hide my distaste.
“We don't have time for your snide comments, Elisande,” my grandfather snapped. “We have something very serious to discuss. Now, everyone, please sit down.”
Elisande's lavender eyes—a shade darker than Varian's—flashed with fury. She swung about, her blonde hair and full skirts swirling, and faced my grandfather. “We've traveled across Danu under a vague and ominous summons to be here,Benalt,” she deliberately left off his title as well and put emphasis on his name for good measure. “Then you wouldn't allow anyone but royalty into this room and now you continue with the theatrics. Just get on with it already!”
“Fine,” my grandfather snapped. “Danu is dying.”
“What?!” King Dranalt of the West surged to his feet, his deep purple eyes widening in horror.
King Dranalt had been seated beside a beautiful blonde woman. The woman paled and reached for his hand. Since she was already pale, to begin with—as was the platinum-haired King of the West—this made her appear practically vampiric. Dranalt took her hand absently, his gaze still focused on my grandfather.
“I'll let my granddaughter explain.” My grandfather waved a hand toward me, expecting me to take over now that he'd dropped the Danu bomb.
“Amara?” Varian asked with wide eyes. “What's he talking about?”
“Please, let's sit down.” I motioned toward the table.
Everan and I took the chairs to the left of my family and across from the King of the West. Instead of sitting beside Dranalt or Everan, Elisande chose a chair at the far end of the table, directly across from my grandfather. It was a long table, which meant that she was seated several feet away from all of us but that seemed to be preferable to her. Varian took a seat beside her, then everyone returned their stares to me.
“There have been some magical imbalances occurring for a few months now,” I began.
“Imbalances?” Elisande asked dubiously. “Such as?”
“Such as forges exploding.” I held up a hand to stop her before she asked me another question. “A mage determined that the Earth magic went wild and caused the imbalance. Today, that imbalance was magnified, resulting in earthquakes and then an avalanche.”
“An avalanche?” King Dranalt asked in a hushed tone as if his voice could cause another snow-slide. “And you brought us here?”
“My granddaughter has calmed the magic for now,” King Benalt said. “The mountains are quiet.”
“Still, we should have met in a safer kingdom. I brought my daughter with me, Benalt!” Dranalt squeezed the blonde's hand pointedly.
“Princess Farinne is in no danger here, I promise you,” my grandfather said.
“How did you get from a wild Earth magic to Danu is dying?” Elisande interrupted King Dranalt's bitching. “It sounds as if the problem lies with Earth and therefore, the North.”
“Of course, you'd try to cast the blame on us,” my grandmother sneered.
“I merely point out the facts as your grandchild has reported them,” Elisande shot back.
“Enough!” Everan slammed his hand down on the table.
The other monarchs flinched.
“After the avalanche, I journeyed with my wife into the Vicanesse Mountains,” Everan announced. “We followed a tunnel down to a location where the mage, Master Erlandral, sensed the greatest disruption in the Earth magic. Amara saw this disruption as an odd shade of yellow and urged us to dig where it was strongest.”
I noticed that Everan failed to mention that he saw it as well, but I wasn't surprised. He wouldn't relish explaining how he could see asha to the other royals.
“Dig?” Elisande scoffed. “Just because it's Earth magic doesn't mean you can find it like buried treasure.”
