by Tara Grayce
She reached up and touched cool metal worked in what felt like maple, oak, and beech leaves. “Is this a matching circlet to yours?”
He gave her another one of his small smiles. “Yes. I started the jeweler working on it before I left and picked it up this afternoon after I sent your package and letters.”
That was so adorably sweet of him. Essie clasped her hands in front of her to resist launching herself into a hug. “Thank you. I...” She couldn’t even think of anything to say to convey how much she appreciated the gesture. “I will hold my head high when I wear it.”
“I know.” Farrendel took her hand. “Ready?”
She tipped her chin higher. “Yes.”
They set out across the branches for the dining room. Even in her fancy dress, Essie didn’t fear falling like she once had, thanks to all her practice walking across the branches. Farrendel’s presence might have had something to do with her lack of fear.
As they approached the dining room, Essie’s nerves returned, and she almost wished they were caused by walking across branches insanely high in the air. Just before the door, Farrendel pulled his hand from hers.
Essie swallowed, wishing they could have walked into the room hand-in-hand. But that would have been improper and wouldn’t match the image they were showing before his family.
He of course would hold out his arm. Impersonal, but proper.
Instead of holding out his arm, he linked his two fingers with hers in the elf way of holding hands in public.
Essie held up their linked fingers. “Are you sure about this? You don’t want to go with something more formal?”
“No.” Farrendel’s smile had that glint to it again. That one that was slightly dangerous.
The way he was acting, he seemed about ready to pick a fight with his family if he had to. Essie gripped his fingers as he pushed the door to the dining room open. Hopefully it wouldn’t come to that. She didn’t want to be the reason there was a rift in his family. King Weylind, Melantha, and Jalissa would blame her if that happened.
With a deep breath, Essie entered the dining room at Farrendel’s side.
FARRENDEL’S FAMILY was still talking in small groups, not yet seated around the table. At her and Farrendel’s entrance, the conversations fell silent. Jalissa’s eyes widened while Melantha’s expression hardened. Brina and Ryfon glanced between King Weylind and Essie and Farrendel as if expecting something explosive to happen. His expression too blank to be readable, King Weylind froze where he was, Queen Rheva gaping as she stood next to him with a hand on his arm.
Leyleira, though, wore the touch of a smile. At least someone in Farrendel’s family approved.
“I see we are on time.” Farrendel drew Essie farther into the room, his stride graceful, yet somehow dangerous. More stalking than strolling.
Whatever King Weylind had written in that note, it made Farrendel furious. Or maybe he’d heard rumors of what they had been saying behind Essie’s back. Either way, it might be up to Essie to defuse the situation.
Essie put on her brightest, most oblivious smile and patted Farrendel’s arm with her free hand. “He was worried we would be late since he had to wait so long for me to get ready.”
Farrendel glanced down at her, and she met his gaze, hoping she managed to convey that she didn’t want him starting anything over her. Not here.
That seemed to ease some of the tension in Farrendel’s shoulders, but not all of it. This was going to be one interesting dinner.
King Weylind made a small sound in the back of his throat that may have been the elf version of clearing his throat. He sank into his chair at the head of the table, and the others quickly headed for their seats as if the room would catch fire if they didn’t sit fast enough.
Where would Essie sit? She suspected she had been sitting in Farrendel’s seat the past few days, but with him here, she would be bumped down one more chair, placing her at the far end where it would be even harder for her to be included in conversations. Or she could sit across from him, but that would be just as isolating, sitting next to Brina, who had yet to say a word directly to Essie.
Farrendel solved the problem by steering her to the left side of the table and nudging her toward the seat next to Jalissa. While Essie eased into the chair, Farrendel took the seat to her left, placing himself at the far end. If anyone wanted to include him in the conversation, they would have to lean around Essie to do it, making it hard to exclude her.
The way Farrendel’s eyes narrowed and glinted, that was done on purpose.
As the servants set down the plates of salad before them, Melantha leaned forward to peer past Essie and spoke in elvish, ending with Farrendel’s name.
Farrendel leaned closer to Essie and whispered in her ear. “She said she’s glad to see me here tonight.” He glanced back to his sister. “It has been too long since I came to dinner. But Essie encouraged me to come.”
She smiled and glanced at Farrendel. “I have been enjoying these family dinners, and I’m sure I’ll enjoy them even more with Farrendel here.”
She’d managed to keep most of her sarcasm out of her voice, right?
Not enough, perhaps, because Farrendel’s small returning smile had the hint of Laesornysh in him.
Now it was Farrendel’s nephew Ryfon making a coughing noise. He glanced around at everyone staring at him before he ducked his head.
King Weylind said something in elvish before he began eating his salad. Essie dug in as well. No reason to waste a good salad because of the tension in the room.
Leyleira stabbed a bite of salad with her fork. “I, for one, am pleased that both of you returned from the border safe. I assume the troll threat there has been neutralized?”
Beside Essie, Farrendel stiffened, though not enough that anyone but Essie would notice from the far side of the table.
King Weylind’s gaze flicked to Farrendel before resting on Leyleira. “Yes.”
It was interesting that all of them continued to speak in her language. Perhaps to humor Farrendel.
She reached for Farrendel’s hand under the table. The topic of the conversation couldn’t be comfortable for him. “I’m glad to have Farrendel back. We had far too little time together before he was called away. I enjoyed our tour of Estyra.” Essie glanced over at Farrendel’s niece and nephew. “Anyone have any suggestions for other places Farrendel should show me?”
Jalissa set down her fork, glancing around the table before she turned to Essie. “Have you seen the palace library yet?”
“I found it when I was exploring the castle, but I couldn’t read most of the titles. I would love to explore it with someone who speaks elvish.” Essie felt a mostly genuine smile tug at her face. If they could hit on a topic where they could all relax, maybe they could manage to have a normal conversation and enjoy this meal. “If there is a book there to help me learn elvish, that would be even better.”
Melantha sniffed. “I am sure there are some primers for children stuffed in a corner.”
If she wanted that statement to sound condescending, she didn’t manage it in more than tone.
Brina glanced up from her salad. She was young, probably a few decades younger than both Farrendel and her brother Ryfon. “We will be traveling to Lethorel in two months. That is always exciting.”
“Lethorel?” Essie glanced around the table. Melantha scowled and jabbed at her salad as if she were trying to torture it.
“It is a summer palace for the royal family.” Farrendel seemed to have relaxed with the new topic.
“We travel there each summer to stay for two weeks.” Jalissa too relaxed with this change in topic.
“What is it like?” Essie smiled at Jalissa and at Farrendel’s niece.
That was all the encouragement that was needed to send the conversation into a description of Lethorel, which was apparently a large tree at the edge of a crystal-clear lake. That soon turned into stories about past adventures and summers spent there. The conversation ev
entually switched to elvish, but Farrendel kept Essie in it by translating for her.
By the time dinner was finished, Farrendel had relaxed enough to smile, and his smiles seemed to encourage the rest of his family to smile. And look at Essie differently. Melantha still didn’t seem to like her, but Jalissa and King Weylind eyed her with something like speculation.
When Essie and Farrendel arrived back in their main room that evening, Essie touched his arm. “Are you going to be all right tonight?”
Farrendel stilled, his eyes growing distant. “Yes. I do not think I will have any nightmares tonight.”
“If you do, don’t hesitate to wake me, all right?” Essie reached out, then halted. She wasn’t sure if she’d been about to touch his arm or his cheek or hug him. Something was crackling between them, and whatever it was, she wasn’t sure either of them was ready for it.
He tipped his head in a slight nod, and that was all she waited for before she turned and headed for her room.
STIFLING A YAWN from her lack of sleep, Essie sipped the sweet juice in her glass as she worked her way through the crowd. Elves filled the open space in the forest below the lift from Farrendel’s rooms. A much larger turnout than Essie had been expecting, considering this was the first event she was hosting for elves wounded in the wars.
Either Farrendel’s reputation as Laesornysh was a draw or Illyna had far more contacts than Essie had expected.
She paused next to a male elf leaning on a crutch. She smiled and spoke in her shaky elvish, “Glad you could come.”
The male elf looked at her, expressionless. The elf version of blinking in confusion.
Farrendel appeared at Essie’s elbow. Glancing at him, she switched to Escarlish. “What did I say wrong?”
His mouth tilted. “Your Escarlish accent is thick.”
She winced. “How is it supposed to sound?”
He said the greeting, and she repeated it several times until it sounded right to him. By that time, both Farrendel and the other elf had smiles that were the restrained, elf version of uproarious laughter.
No matter. That was her role. Bring humor into Farrendel’s life.
She chatted with the male elf for a few more minutes with Farrendel helping when she didn’t know an elvish word or her accent made her words intelligible. At least she had little trouble understanding the spoken elvish conversations around her. The past month, her elvish had improved by leaps and bounds. Every time she turned around, she picked up another word, another phrase.
It was odd. She’d never considered herself good with languages. Not like her brother Edmund. It had taken her years of work to teach herself to read elvish as well as she did. It almost seemed like some sort of magic.
But that was ridiculous, wasn’t it? Just because elves had magic shampoo and conditioner, magic trains, magic hot water systems, didn’t mean their magic would rub off into her learning their language faster.
As the male elf limped away with his crutch to look over the lists of elves looking to hire employees, Illyna joined Farrendel and Essie and spoke in elvish, “This has been quite the success.”
“It seems to be, at least.” Essie replied in Escarlish and watched the crowd of elves mingling. There seemed to be a lot of smiles and chatting. But would tonight accomplish its purpose? Would the elves looking for jobs find places to hire them? And businesses that didn’t scorn them?
Illyna held out her hand and her stump. “Even if it accomplishes nothing else, it has brought a bunch of us together for the first time since the war. We have been able to talk about our challenges more tonight than we have in years.”
Essie glanced at Farrendel. He was half-turned away from them, having been caught in a conversation with another male elf, this one with a scar running across his face and damaging one of his eyes. Essie had yet to hear Farrendel speak of his challenges, even to these elves. But, perhaps, as their prince, he couldn’t admit to his own struggles.
Essie desperately wanted to ask if any of the elves here had advice for dealing with nightmares. In the weeks since he’d returned from turning back the trolls’ raid at the border, the nightmares had tapered off. Until another raid had sent him back to the border, and the cycle began again. He’d only just returned yesterday from turning back yet another raid. Hence their exhaustion after a sleepless night.
She didn’t know how to help. She hadn’t even dared ask what he dreamed about when the nightmares plagued him. What tortures had the trolls inflicted on him fifteen years ago? Was it the torture he dreamed about? The battles he’d fought? The enemies he’d killed?
At least they had less than a month until they left for Lethorel. By the way he’d talked about the place, surely it would give him enough peace and quiet to relax. To sleep without nightmares for two whole weeks at a stretch.
That was something to look forward to.
Illyna bumped Essie’s arm, drawing her attention. Illyna’s eyes had a sparkle, her mouth a wider smile than Essie had seen yet. “I received an order from Escarland today. From that merchant you recommended. The order was so large, I am paying Fydella to help me box up the items and haul them to the border exchange.” Illyna tipped her head toward another female elf warrior.
“I’m so glad it’s working.” Essie scanned the crowd. “Do you know of any other elves here who would have products they would like to sell in Escarland?”
Illyna’s smile blossomed wider. “Several. Let me introduce you.”
Essie spent the rest of the evening in a whirl of speaking to various elves and taking notes. She would have to send another letter to her brothers so they could help set up the trade on the Escarlish side. Averett would have administrative officials to help implement it. Julien would work with the army for securing the trade across the river. And Edmund would make sure the merchants Averett recommended were honest and not about to cheat the elves. These elves were trusting Essie rather blindly to set up this trade. The last thing any of them needed was to start an international incident because one of the Escarlish merchants decided to get greedy.
By the time the event ended, Essie could barely keep her eyes open as she leaned against one of the support posts in the lift. Through her half-lidded eyes, she peeked at Farrendel as he pulled the rope, raising the lift. Hopefully he remained nightmare free tonight.
After all the talk of past wars and battles, a nightmare-free night was probably too much to hope for.
She woke to the sound of Farrendel’s muffled screams wafting on the night breeze. Yawning, Essie rubbed her eyes and stumbled out of bed. She took a few moments to wake up before she braved the stairs down to the main room and back up to Farrendel’s room.
Farrendel’s door swung open before she had a chance to knock. He propped himself against the doorframe, head hanging. “Sorry.”
“It’s all right.” Essie stifled another yawn. One late night she could handle. Two in a row was starting to catch up with her. She took Farrendel’s hand and navigated the stairs to the main room. “Come on. If this is going to be a habit, I’m going to have to write my mother to send the supplies for hot chocolate. Have you ever had hot chocolate? It’s the perfect drink for late nights when you’re troubled. We’ll just have to figure out a way to heat milk and chocolate here. Our magicians in Escarland might be able to come up with a magical device to heat things without fire.”
Farrendel settled onto his favorite cushion in the corner. “I would like to try this hot chocolate of yours.”
“It’s the best.” Essie sank onto the cushion next to him. Would Farrendel flinch away if she leaned against his shoulder? Handholding had become almost second nature now. He reached for her hand nearly as often as she reached for his.
But leaning against him would be another level of invading his personal space. Would he be all right with it?
As much as she wanted to be there for him as she had the night before, her eyes ached. She needed to lean against him or the wall or something. She yawned and inched close
r to Farrendel. When he didn’t shift away from her, she rested her head against his shoulder. It wasn’t the most comfortable shoulder to lean against. He was far too bony. But she was too tired to care. “I’ll try to stay awake if you want me to...” Her words ended in another yawn.
“Rest.” Farrendel clasped her hand. After a moment, he leaned his head on top of hers. “Linshi.”
The elvish word for thank you.
“No problem.” Essie let herself drift back to sleep.
ESSIE TRIED to be more regal and composed on this train ride than she’d been on the one into Estyra. But as the train carried them deeper into the elven forests, she couldn’t help but crane her neck to peer out the windows at the view.
This time, Farrendel sat beside her with Brina and Ryfon, his niece and nephew on his other side. Jalissa, King Weylind, and Queen Rheva had claimed the bench across from them. Melantha and Leyleira had remained behind in Estyra to keep things running smoothly.
“How long until we get there?” Essie peered out the window yet again. She probably sounded just like a child, but she didn’t care.
Farrendel’s mouth curved enough to count as a real, full smile. Had Essie ever seen him so relaxed? “We will arrive in Arorien, a small town, this evening. Then we will ride to Lethorel by horseback the next morning.” He tensed and sat straighter. “Can you ride? I did not think to ask.”
“Yes, of course, I ride. It is one of the skills considered proper for a lady of the Escarlish court.” Essie grinned and plopped down on her seat facing the interior of the train once again. “I also know archery. It was all the rage for the court ladies a few years ago.”
Jalissa sat forward, her dark brown eyes fixed on Essie with more interest than Essie had seen on her. “Are you any good?”
Essie squirmed in her seat. “I was all right. I’m better with a rifle, but I’m assuming you probably don’t have any here. I’d love to brush up on my archery, even if my skills can’t compare with your elf archers.”