“Yes. Oh, and four. I met Eldric there, too.” I sent a soft smile his way, which was not reciprocated. No, Eldric looked at me with glowering eyes that made my stomach clench.
“And you remembered nothing of your childhood?” Faern asked, yet my gaze fell on Semuel. The way he lowered his solemn face told me that he’d rather I’d shared more with him. But he, too, kept secrets from me.
Princess Leannon gave me a staring look. “And now you do? Now you have recollections that you are indeed Elara Briartide?”
“I do.”
“How?”
“That has nothing to do with knowing if I’m really her. But let me reassure you that I vividly remember being forced onto a table as I watched my mother holding my hand. Except it wasn’tmy hand that she held, but Galen’s. I remember the two of them leaving me to go die while the witch cast her spell on me.”
“Yet you do not share with us how you broke free of it.”
I gave her a fuck-off stare, taking two gulps from my wine. This was becoming dreadful and I’d rather we moved on. What made me break free of it was intimate and tore me down to my very core. It was something that I wished to remain shared between my soulbound and me.
In that moment, I knew I couldn’t make it through this world without Aegir. Ayla, the witch, must have known it, too. She made it so that I could never remember unless Aegir was at my side.
“Oh, don’t be a stubborn ass, Lee,” Amani said, pouting her lips at Leannon. “It’s her. Queen Elara the undead. Queen Briartide the risen. Accept it already. Now forBoreas’s sake, can we get on with the meeting?” Amani ended her sentence with a grunt, resting her back against the chair, glass in hand. Then she let out an exasperated huff.
“Do we really need to gethiminvolved in our meeting?” Ryvar snarled at Amani. For a second, I studied him—Ryvar. “But agreed,” he said. “There are two other important discussions on today’s agenda. Why don’t we start by discussing Aegir’s return from Ramel. He says he brought news of our alliance. Care to share, brother?”
Oh, lovely. That.
CHAPTER 79
“Iam happy to share with you all that I managed to secure an alliance with King Belzari.”
Aegir’s words had me swallowing hard. I avoided any form of eye contact,especiallywith Semuel.
“He will have eighty thousand soldiers, both human and Sand Wielders, ready to aid us when the time comes.” Aegir ended his sentence with a firm nod directed at everyone and no one in particular.
“And in exchangefor?” Ryvar extended the wordforby three seconds. That was how long it took Aegir to reply.
“For water, of course. King Belzari wants the Wellspring Oasis replenished, so we have to think of a way to achieve that. I will be returning in a few months’ time. I believe I shouldn’t return without a sustainable solution.”
“Understandable. But we don’t have the means to filter salt water without the Water Wielders,” Amani added. “But let’s say we manage to find a way, we cannot just casually fill the oasis. I’m certain we’d have to be more discreet than that.”
“Maybe you could send Storm Wielders,” Leannon suggested. “An act of nature wouldn’t seem suspicious.”
Eldric answered that one. “That’s not a bad thought, but without water in the atmosphere, it’s impossible to generate a storm from dry air. It’s hard doing it in Sijar over the dry season, let alone in that infernal desert.”
“The reservoirs can hold up to two years’ worth of water and they’re deeply hidden,” I stated. “Perhaps you could keep refilling those.”
Semuel rubbed his chin, eyes lost. He blinked. “Last I checked, the Wellspring Oasis is running dry, whereas the Dunehaven Oasis is still thriving. My father’s hands will soon be tied. I bet he would make the ration laws more stringent and seize total control of the Dunehaven Oasis. Although that would stir up some political agenda with the council members who run Dunehaven. Perhaps we can find some way to keep feeding the Dunehaven Oasis instead.”
“Then we have to think of ways we could either transport fresh water from the Faded Mountains or find a way around the old pumps,” Ryvar added.
“I don’t think the waterways can be utilised that easily. They’re heavily guarded. Not to mention that the purification mills were destroyed,” I added, receiving a nod in agreement from Marshen.
“Perhaps we could build new pumps, hire engineers to build new ones,” Leannon replied, glancing at Yanik. Jebel was indeed the master of underground architecture and complex buildings.
“The pumps require Wielders to carry out their function. Building them alone would not solve our problem—we must consider the Faded Mountains,” Amani added.
“What about her? She claims she can wield.” King Ryvar pointed at me, causing everyone else’s heads to turn my way and my cheeks to flush.
Amani almost choked on her wine. “Huh? How is that possible!? And why didn’t you tell me during girl time?”
“I—”
