Bioon stood. “I’ll take my leave as well.” She consulted a gold pocket watch. “We may be able to take the next windrunner back.”
“You’re not going to see Aunt Yerina?” Eunny asked, appalled.
Bioon gave her an unreadable look, then turned toward her colleagues as they waited at the front of the tearoom. “We saw each other.”
The Graelynders left first, Bioon sparing only a few words for her sister before she walked out. Yerina watched her go, sorrow on her face. She patted Eunny’s cheek in farewell before disappearing into the Mighty Leaf’s back room.
“Do you want to stay?” Ollas asked. “I’ll be fine on my own.”
Eunny shook her head. “No, we’ll just argue. I’ll come down later to make it up to her.” She gave him a wry smile. “Thanks though. I appreciate the thought.”
That was him, a good friend, through and through. A good friend, but hardly a close one. As Ollas followed Eunny outside, he wondered what he could do to remove that gap. To become more than platonic in her eyes. Only, his babbling mouth had already put the good friend notion in her head, and he didn’t know how to get it out.
Chapter Eight
The ride back to the university passed quietly, Ollas sitting across from Eunny in the small carriage as she stared out the window. Ollas looked down at his lap, at his hands curled into useless fists. He was desperate to break the silence, but unsure of what to say. How to address the discomfort of what had happened? Or was it better to pretend, ignore?
“Your mother seems…” He paused, fumbling for a word.
Eunny faced him, a wry smile tugging at her lips.
“Cold,” he said.
She let out a bark of laughter. “As a fish. She’s a coldhearted bitch, Nev, and she’s the first to admit it.”
“Did she even answer any of your questions about the Coalition?”
“She doesn’t answer anything she doesn’t want to. She’s an expert at that,” Eunny muttered.
“I’m sorry things are so…I don’t know. I’m just sorry, I guess.”
“Don’t be. Besides, damn, Nev! You lied.” Eunny leaned across the carriage to poke him in his good shoulder. “I didn’t think you had it in you.”
He ducked his head to hide his grin. “Hard to believe she and Yerina are sisters.”
“I feel bad for my aunt. I walked away a long time ago, but she still tries to have us be her idea of a family.” Eunny sobered, weariness stealing across her face. “The Mighty Leaf was supposed to be a joint venture or something, but Bioon didn’t care. She hates the Valley, and a teashop didn’t exactly fit her power-hungry lifestyle. But I can’t convince my auntie that Bioon is a lost cause.”
Ollas shook his head. His ma didn’t see her older brother much now that he’d moved down to Graelynd, but they corresponded with regularity. The coldness Eunny spoke of—and to someone as welcoming as Yerina—baffled him.
“I don’t trust her,” Eunny said quietly. “My mother. I don’t know enough about the Restorers to judge, but I’m suspicious of the Coalition just on principle. If my mother’s here repping them, and especially with how quick she was to volunteer to come up, to the Valley, in person? They’re up to something.”
“The school won’t let them meddle. They won’t,” Ollas insisted at her dubious look. “The school doesn’t bow to Graelynd’s whims, and I don’t think even the Coalition will want to fight with the Order. And they will get involved if anyone tries to exert influence that’s against the school’s values.”
The Order of Sylveren, the ruling council for the entire valley, ensured that the region’s stance as a neutral zone—open to all regardless of nationality, provided they came with good-will—was respected. Rarely did they need to enforce such matters with violence, but the region’s history was marked with such events. When the Order acted, they did so swiftly, thoroughly, and even countries further abroad than Graelynd remembered. Not even the warlords of Eylle had tried to take on the Valley after their first attempt centuries ago was slapped down. If a kingdom as volatile as Eylle didn’t dare to mess with the Valley, Ollas didn’t think Graelynd’s governing body of trade would, either.
Eunny hummed in consideration. “That’d be something.” She shrugged, her expression still grim. “Wouldn’t put it past them to still try, though, at least until they get caught. The Coalition cares about money more than anything else. A cure for the poison could be worth a lot.”
“Rhell’s not rolling in gold after the war and six years of their land being wrecked by the corruption.”
“Maybe I should’ve said value. Rhell has a wellspring, Graelynd doesn’t. I mean, it does fine with the way the ley lines run, since it gets to be the Valley Junior, but the Coalition is always looking for more. More, I don’t know… Just, more.” Eunny was looking out the window again, but she seemed lost in memory. “That’s what the delegation was, I’m almost certain of it.”
“What do you mean?”
She shook her head, gaze still unfocused, looking deep into her past. “A trade delegation, between Eylle and the Coalition? They don’t care about each other or mending fences. That’s politicking for the Councils. I mean, I believe that the Coalition wanted assurances in place for smooth trading, but I always figured that the Coalition was really just looking to get Graelynd officially into the war.”
Ollas nodded along; it made sense, seeing as Graelynd boasted an impressive navy. Once deployed, Eylle couldn’t match it, especially so far from the empire’s waters.
Eunny shrugged. “But when I was there, before they kidnapped us in place and didn’t let anyone leave, it felt like the Eyllics were there to deal, but something changed.”
