“There was one before you! He…he was a bastard, half blood, the son of a pirate and a whore. Your mother…bedding a human…growing fat with his mongrel whelp. I did what needed to be done! What she would not do for she was too weak. I took the babe, still covered in birthing fluids, and handed him off to the grand cloisterer of the Renedith temple…and bid him take the crossbred bastard from our vills. Far away. And so he sent the child off with a wet nurse, to the freebooters who roam the seas. Far away. Far away! The bastard was gone, forgotten,wiped from the minds of all aside from your mother, who was wed post haste to a good elf of pure blood.”
“Grandfather…” Aelir whispered, all the color drained from his face now.
Umeris stared at his grandson, a tepid smile pulling at the corners of his cracked lips. “I did what was needed to keep the line pure. Now you know. Now you can send me to Ihdos, where I will spend eternity in the light of wisdom, knowledge, and science. Lineage is all-important, Aelir. Never let the crown rest on a head…that is not pedigreed, or Melowynn will fall.”
With that, the old elf collapsed back onto his pillows, eyes wide, face serene. His chest no longer rose and fell. I chanced a look at my cousin, who stood aghast, mouth open, much like the others in this luxury suite. I wet my lips as the king sat still as a stone, his hand in his grandfather’s, his face slack with shock.
“Aelir,” V’alor gently asked after several moments of utter silence. “My love, surely you do not credit the rambling of an old elf beset with the mental vagaries of the aged to be true.”
“I want the grand cloisterer of Renedith brought to me immediately,” Aelir gruffly stated, placing his grandfather’s hands on the old elf’s still chest before placing a soft cotton shroud—left on a stand by the bed for that very purpose—over his face. “Call for the sisters of the sanguine to come tend to his body as he will lie in state in the throne room for a fortnight as is custom for an elf of his standing.”
Aelir rose. I readied myself to leave even though my head was swirling with dark secrets from the past.
“Aelir, perhaps you should think this through,” Raewyn whispered, rising to lay a hand on the king’s stiff shoulder. “There cannot be an elder Stillcloud. There would have been rumors or sightings of a royal-blooded elf among pirates.”
“Not if the man was half-blooded. Hundreds of thousands of such people roam Melowynn,” he stiffly replied, his eyesdamp but his jaw stern. “I will speak to Grand Cloisterer Rainbrook as soon as he arrives from Renedith. Summon Le’ral to my solar. Speak of this to no one, not the children, nor your handmaidens. Until proof of this deathbed confession can be verified, we will continue on as normal in the passing of a loved one. If what Umeris claims is true, it could throw Melowynn into turmoil as the lines of succession would be severely hampered.”
“Surely the nobles would not wish to take the crown from you to pass it to a half-human privateer, if the child even survived,” Merrilyn chimed in, unusual for the hearty human. She tended to be reserved, letting her size and skills speak for her.
“A brother…” the king whispered as he stared down at his grandsire with wet cheeks. He seemed lost in his own misery.
Aelir made for the doorway. I followed, opening the door for the king as he strode out into an empty corridor, his sight locked straight ahead. He was dressed in finely made trousers, a dark blue shirt, and an ornate vest with small silver beads. His soft leather slippers hit the tiled floors as we stormed along, me on his heels. Each guard posted along the hall lowered their heads in deference to the king as we passed. When we reached the solar, Aelir turned to me, face a tight mask of confusion and pain.
“I require some time alone.”
“As you wish, Your Majesty.” I nodded at a young woman in royal guard household armor, as I was clad, and she opened the door for the king. Once he was inside, I looked at the startled elf with tiny freckles across her nose. “You may take a break.”
“Yes, Captain.” Off she went, her short sword at her side, disappearing around a corner. I heard her speaking to someone just as a cat sauntered out into the corridor. Pehdra spied me and trotted down the long hall to run about my legs. Her ownerappeared a moment later, royal blue robes tickling the tops of his sandaled feet, amber eyes lighting up when he saw me.
“Ah, there you are,” Teryn called as he made his way down the hall, the soft sea breezes making the tapestries on the walls dance. The smell of sand sage enveloped me as he drew near. “I was looking for a hand or two to help with moving some of my bags and your things to the farm…” He trailed off as he studied me closely. “Has the Grand Advisor passed over?”
“He has, but that is not what is so troublesome to the king,” I confessed, reaching down to pick up Pehdra as we spoke in muted tones. Teryn tipped his head slightly. I passed his beloved pet to him. “We will discuss it all later. Just know these two things. I love you dearly, and this realm may soon be shaken to its very core.”
“Oh dear,” he whispered while Pehdra kneaded on his long sleeve. “Then it is good that we have each other to cling to when the trying times arrive.”
Yes, if there was nothing else we could and would do, it was hold on to each other. That was what love meant, I was discovering. Clutching the other tightly when the waves rolled in, both literally as Teryn had done for me while asea or metaphorically as we possibly faced an incoming tempest of monstrous proportions.
“You shall be my lifeline.”
It was just the next morn when the first rumble of the incoming storm arrived.
Not with a jagged bolt of lightning or a sheet of rain. It came with the early thumping on the door of Teryn’s new farmstead. A charming small home with the mentioned cows, staff, and country elegance a man of his standing richlydeserved. I awoke first. The staff had left for their crofter’s cottages after dinner last eve. Pehdra slept between Teryn and me, having gotten over her sour mood after he had banished her from the bedroom so we could make love. The cat believed the bed and those in it were hers to walk over, sleep on, or bat in the face when she wanted out to explore the verdant fields of her new home. Locking her out brought about pitiful meows, but we stood firm. Until we had spent, and then Teryn rushed to leave the pampered feline back in our room.
Hearing the banging, I rose up, sleep-addled, my body twinging from last night’s round of bed play, to rest on my elbows for a moment. Teryn mumbled, shimmying closer, seeking heat. He loved this little home but insisted on a fire in every hearth despite the pleasant weather.
“Someone bangs,” he muttered, his face buried in my ribs.
“That they do.” I bent to the side to kiss his shoulder. He smelled of sand sage and sex. A very heady scent that added more plumpness to my morning stiffness. “I’ll see to it.”
“Glorious man. May the goddess’s bright light shine on you forever.” He sighed as he tugged the covers and the cat up over his rumpled head. I left our bed, a pleasant handcrafted wooden-framed one with a plush down mattress, stepped into the breeches I had worn last night, and padded through the simple but spacious manor house. When Teryn called it a farm, that was a bit of a misnomer, for other than a few milking cows and a handsome garden, the homestead was large enough to entertain as a diplomat must, but also small enough to remain cozy. The great hall, a small solar, and a prayer room were filled with our belongings yet, but soon the staff would have things in order. Padding past the kitchen, I picked up the smell of yeasty bread rising, and my stomach gurgled. Leaving the barracks had been difficult in some ways yet not in others. My cousin teased me unmercifully but had been thrilled to take over my room.As the queen’s guard and a high lieutenant, he had earned it. The commendations from the guard commander had bolstered our ranks, lifting him up to his new rank and I to guard master captain. Those were enjoyable aspects, as were the better food here as well as the fact that Teryn and I shared a bed and a home. For a man who had done his best to keep his distance from domesticity, I was finding having him close at night was dearer than I could have ever imagined.
The stout front door fairly rattled on its hinges. I lifted the bar and opened the door. In the dim light of dawn, a page stood on our front step. A young miss with big brown eyes and hair tucked under a small cap.
“A note from his majesty for the ambassador, guard master.” She bowed her head before darting off to leap onto the back of a small horse. Off she rode.
“Thank you.” I closed the door, sighing to myself as I eyed the queen’s seal on the back of the missive. Since the page had not waited, that meant there was no need for a reply.
“For such a tiny thing, she possesses a mighty knock,” Teryn said as he joined me in the foyer, a thick robe wrapped about his lean form.
