Isabeth took her in her arms, gently stroking her hair. “You surely can’t be that upset to see me go,” she joked softly.
Eloryn put her hand to her mouth in an attempt to hold back her grief.
“It’s all right. Don’t hold it in. Tell me everything.”
Eloryn had never known the comfort of a mother’s arms. She found every one of her doubts and worries falling from her mouth. “I feel I’m making so many mistakes. I owe the Council my trust and loyalty, but find my trust given to men with misogynistic, antiquated, hard-line views. And even knowing that, I’ve handed so much power to them because I couldn’t use that power myself. I’m just not a ruler. But I’m worried. So worried that I’ve done the wrong thing. I don’t know if I can keep going along with their wishes, but don’t know how to challenge them.” Eloryn pulled back. She dried her face with a handkerchief but desperation still filled her voice. “What if you try your hardest to be strong, and do your duty, but it’s simply not who you are?”
“Sweet child, let me tell you something,” Isabeth put her hands on Eloryn’s shoulders and looked at her straight. “Your mother had all the same complaints. And if she had stood up for herself, then things would never have gotten so bad for so long. I’m not blaming your mother, dear, I’m only saying… don’t make the same mistakes that she did. Follow your heart.”
But the one my heart wishes for has already chosen another. “I can’t. I can’t have what I want. Even if I could, would you still encourage me to follow my heart if it meant I would no longer be royalty? That I and the one I chose to be with would not hold this power?”
Isabeth laughed softly. “Power and duty be damned. You are sad to your core, and it makes me sad to see you so. You should do whatever makes you happy, and if that’s serving your kingdom then so be it. But if it’s not what you want, then why can’t someone else do it? Shouldn’t a prerequisite to rule be the passion and desire to do so?”
Eloryn had already given Hayes so much power, but the thought of handing over what remained gave her chills. “I cannot let Hayes rule. I… I just don’t think he’s right for it.”
Isabeth looked at her like she was a dullard. “Of course he isn’t. I said passion and desire, child. Not greed.”
“I’ve been so foolish.” Eloryn put her head on Isabeth’s shoulder and held her tight. “Thank you. It feels like an age since someone has been so honest with me, Isabeth. I’m so used to lies and duplicity and spending wasted effort on making myself trust and believe. Even from family. Even my sister…”
“If there is one thing that I have learned you can trust, it is family.” Isabeth said. “And I am no hypocrite to say so, despite having just learned how my son kept us fed and clothed all these years. His words were lies but in his actions, every coin he brought home, every sack of flour or new dress spoke clearly, ‘I love you, I care for you, I would do anything to keep you safe.’ And all those years I lied to myself, saying the weight we placed on his shoulders was not too much, that he had not such a hard road.”
Isabeth squeezed Eloryn tight. “For whatever has come between you and your sister, have you looked at the truth in her actions or just seen what you wanted to believe?”
To follow my heart, to be with Roen, has terrified me at every turn. I’ve sought every reason not to, and in Memory and Roen’s intimacy I gave myself the ultimate excuse. Was it just what I wanted to believe?
Maybe she over-reacted. Maybe she should have trusted Memory more. Eloryn gave everyone else the benefit of the doubt. It was the least she owed her twin. In her heart, if nothing else, she desperately wanted to believe Memory’s insistence that said she and Roen weren’t in love.
Chapter 25
The entire Wizard’s Council gathered in the Round Room. Fifteen of them. All that remained, who’d lived in fear of their lives for so long as all their brethren were hunted. Those who had lived in complete isolation from the world for sixteen years, even more than Eloryn had.
Eloryn’s partner for the rest of her life would be decided by these men. It didn’t seem right. She’d requested it, but her talk with Isabeth left her mind spinning, unsure. The meeting came upon her before she could clear her dizziness and find clarity.
Only the Council was in attendance, although Memory had been sent an invitation to the meeting. Her absence concerned Eloryn. There was more they should have said to each other. Apologies to be spoken and forgiveness to be given. To know for sure, before she recklessly sealed her fate.
Hayes stood and waited until he had everyone’s attention, then sat and nodded to Bors. Hayes smiled in a way that unsettled Eloryn. Something greedy in his eyes twisted the expression. Did he always look that way and she was just seeing it now?
Bors cleared his throat. “Your majesty, we hear that you wish to expedite the arrangement of your marriage?”
Eloryn found she couldn’t speak, so she nodded.
“In order to accommodate your request, we have been carefully reviewing the candidates for your partner. In light of recent events and changes, we’ve reached a somewhat untraditional conclusion, but we feel it is now our best option.”
A number of the Councilors were frowning, but nodded in agreement.
Could it be? Eloryn’s heart beat like a voice, Roen, Roen, Roen.
Bors gestured to Hayes at the head of the table. “We have come to the agreement that the most suitable candidate is one of our own, Councilor Hayes.”
“It is my most humble honor,” Hayes said, bowing his head slightly.
Eloryn’s jaw dropped. A few Councilors offered muted applause and congratulations.
“I don’t understand,” Eloryn said. “What about the list of other candidates?”
Madoc grumbled from next to Bors, “The list, unfortunately, somehow made its way into public hands. It has been trouble enough quieting the furor that entailed, with families demanding to know why their sons weren’t selected, and those who were selected suddenly receiving proposals from across the land. I’m afraid every one of those candidates had to be removed from selection.”
Eloryn felt the breath knocked out of her. She’d so flippantly handed the list to a group of giggling girls. She didn’t even consider the consequences. She was thinking of nothing but the name that wasn’t on the list.
“But a member of the Council?” she said.
Bedevere, who rarely spoke up, grumbled from beneath his frown. “Believe me, we debated this decision at length. We had very little choice. I’m sorry, your majesty.”
Hayes left his position at the head of the long table and paced down to stand by Eloryn’s side at the other end. He held his walking cane horizontally in both hands.
“My peers are all in agreement that I am the most magically powerful contender and thus the most obvious choice for king.”
Eloryn felt sick to her gut. Should this go ahead Hayes would have more power than her. Not only would he be king, but should they have children - Eloryn swallowed rising stomach acid - his children would be heir to Avall’s throne, before Memory, before anyone.
Is that what he was after all along? Every foothold of power she’d given him over the past weeks had been begged and manipulated from her, and now he would have it all.
Her own indecision and naivety had brought them to this juncture. She couldn’t let it continue.
“No, I can’t. I won’t,” she said. Her words felt clumsy in the face of this man’s arrogance.
Hayes frowned sympathetically, and put a hand on her shoulder. “This is the decision of the Council and we must go along with their wishes. Your majesty, we must do this for Avall.”
“No, for Avall, for myself, I deny you.” Eloryn tried to stand, but Hayes pushed her firmly into her chair under his grip. He bent a little and whispered in her ear.
“You cannot go against the council’s decision, girl. Even if you would, here’s something else to consider. I have full control of the military. Control of Avall’s police and militia is in the
hands of those loyal to me, and I have complete domination of the trade guilds. Should you refuse to marry me then I will simply cripple the economy of Avall, punishing her people, and force control through a coup.”
Eloryn winced then set her face firm. She did this. She gave him the power to force her into this position. She had to find a way to undo it. Even if she stripped him of his power now, he had armed militia under control of his loyalists who would wage a war to take it back. But there had to be a way.
Hayes squeezed her shoulder as if consoling her, but his words were venomous. “Keep in mind, you’re not the most popular monarch or figurehead at the moment. Even your dim-witted sister is more popular than you. You’re much too young and weak willed to rule a kingdom on your own. I deserve this position.” Hayes straightened back up and addressed the whole room again.
“The Council recognized the leadership I have displayed as we suffered and survived Thayl’s rule, the cunning that saved us. I vow to devote that same ingenuity to my role as King. I vow to do anything required to save Avall.” Hayes pounded his walking stick on the floor with each intonation. He moved away from Eloryn and she stood up, but made no move to run from the room despite it being her greatest desire.
Hayes bowed to her, but the look on his face remained cruel. “You must do this for your kingdom, your majesty. You cannot simply marry some Sparkless thief.” Hayes rumbled a deep, mocking laugh that some of his allies echoed. “That fool had the audacity to come to us, the Wizard’s Council, to ask for your hand. A seventh son of a seventh son asking for the hand of a Maellan?”
The pounding in Eloryn’s chest seemed to wake her from the numbness of what was happening. Roen formally asked to be with me. It shouldn’t have been the most important piece of information she’d taken in so far, but it was, to her. It was all she cared about, and that realization gave her the hunger to find a way to make it happen. And she would find a way to destroy every greedy goal of the man in front of her with the same act. I know exactly what I can do.
Eloryn spoke, making her voice loud and firm. “Very well. I will marry you, Hayes.”
Hayes looked like a wolf who’d just had a lame goat cross its path. Eloryn smiled sweetly and spoke over him before he could say anything in reply. “On the condition that upon signing of a behest-bound pre-nuptial agreement, you hand all control of the militia and trade guilds to the ruler of Avall and to not use them against myself or our heirs.”
Hayes smirked. “For what difference it will make, being as I shall be king.”
“I want it drafted and signed now.” Eloryn lowered her eyes and bobbed a short curtsey as though signaling he had won.
Bors unfurled a roll of parchment and began scrawling the words in large flourished script. As he worked, Eloryn heard a small scuffle from the corner of the room and saw Erec holding Roen back. The sight of him almost chased her resolve away. Eloryn caught Roen’s eyes and warned him with the tiniest shake of her head. Trust me, she mouthed. He bared clenched teeth, but nodded.
“I am now binding the agreement with the required magic,” Bors said, and uttered a few behest words. “It is ready to sign.”
Without delay Hayes moved over to the contract and signed it.
Eloryn stepped over to the paper and also signed.
Eloryn turned to the Council, purposefully ignoring Hayes.
“Good sirs, I hereby formally announce my abdication as queen.”
All around the table voices grumbled, outraged and confused at her announcement. She could hear Hayes breathing hard behind her.
She turned her head, barely looking over her shoulder at him. “Someone once told me, that sometimes the best thing someone in power can do is hand that duty over to someone who will be more capable in the role. I trust we will find my sister to be more capable.”
“You can’t do this,” Hayes hissed. She knew he’d calculated what she’d done. Since they were not yet married, Memory was still the legal heir and through abdicating Eloryn ensured Hayes would never be king through marriage to her. With the contract, she’d stripped him of any power he’d accumulated through control of his militia. They were now under Memory’s control, and he was behest-bound to never use them against either of the twins.
“No one will support your halfwit sister in power,” Hayes warned, salivating at the mouth with rage. He looked around the table, but all other voices remained silent. Bors kept shooting panicked looks at Hayes.
Eloryn still refused to turn and face him. She made her case to the rest of the Council. “Memory will make a better queen than I ever could. She has been diligently studying the laws of Avall and has consistently made better decisions than I have. She has always stood by her own instinct, rather than what I did, which was almost handing the kingdom over to a greed-driven warmonger. I was never made for this. It was never truly what I wanted.” She flicked Hayes a sparkling glare. “Besides, I have recently heard that my sister was a more popular choice than me anyway.”
The Council looked back and forward between themselves and her. They muttered to each other as though she were barely there.
Hayes snatched Eloryn’s arm and spun her to face him. Bedevere and two other Councilors jumped to their feet. Erec and Roen appeared by her side, and Hayes snarled and let go.
“Is that all who would stand with me against this man, who would threaten our land with military might for his own ends?” Eloryn said, daring each man around the table. “I will no longer be queen, and he will not be king through me. He will be punished for what he has attempted, and do not doubt that any who stand with him will be as well.”
Bors joined the other Councilors on their feet. He licked his lips, eyes darting. “I cannot remain silent any longer. Hayes’s crimes exceed what any of you may imagine.”
“Bors,” Hayes growled.
Eloryn raised her hand to Hayes. “Not another word from you. Bors, please tell us everything. You are safe.”
He nodded, his voice lifting with each word as though fearful excitement drove it louder. “The entire threat from your uncle was a fabrication. Hayes killed Waylan for challenging him too much. He dressed it up as an attack on you in order to also remove your uncle. And Hayes was the one who put the bounty on the Faerbaird boy. These were all things he did to get what he wanted and to remove who he didn’t.”
As Bors continued, the words Eloryn heard behind her lifted the hairs on her neck.
“Guidhe beag lugha ob—”
Eloryn turned and slapped Hayes across the mouth, stunning him silent. He stumbled back a few steps, fury dripping from him.
There was chaos in the room. Every other Councilor got to their feet, calling accusations and demands to each other, to Hayes, Bors, and Eloryn.
Eloryn finally looked him in the eyes again. “I trusted you, Hayes. I freely gave you all my trust, and this is what you’ve done with it?”
Hayes yelled across the clamor in the room. Everyone drew quiet. “Everything I have done was for the kingdom, and I would continue to rule as I have begun, doing anything that needed to be done for our kingdom! You, foolish thing, should reconsider your abdication.”
Hayes lifted his hands in an offensive manner.
Some of the people in the Round Room moved clear, anticipating danger. Roen remained near Eloryn, but she stepped away from him, toward Hayes.
“Strike me with what you have, Hayes. You cannot touch me.” Eloryn stood defiant, ready for him. “I am Maellan. You bred me for this.”
In a roar of words, Hayes cried a behest as though each word would physically strike her.
Eloryn’s voice, calm and focused, was lost under his shouts. She spoke with the world as though they were oldest friends, every element understanding her, knowing her intentions, on her side. She smiled and waited.
Hayes’s spell echoed through the room. Everyone tensed. Nothing happened.
Hayes growled and repeated his behest.
“Give up, Hayes. You are done,” Eloryn said.
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Hayes stuttered and drew a scroll from his pocket to read from. Eloryn recognized the intention of the behest and watched as Hayes seemed surprised when the air did not solidify around her.
Desperation filled his words as he turned to his vilest spell. “Guidhe beag lugha ob ciorram greim-bàis eucail spad eug!”
Eloryn’s body did not turn on itself. She did not retaliate. She watched silently and waited as every attempt Hayes made failed him.
“The world will not listen to you, Hayes. I have asked that all your behests be denied.”
Hayes reached to his side again, and Eloryn shook her head at his stubbornness. He grabbed at his walking cane and twisted it apart in his hands, pulling the handle from the length. The zing of metal filled the room.
She barely realized what was happening as the concealed sword swung at her neck.
An inch from her beating veins the blade stopped, blocked by another. Erec held his sword firm, and Roen burst passed him. He grabbed Hayes’s arm and wrenched the thin sword from his hand.
“I may have no Spark of Connection, but I believe we’re now even in that regard.”
With a second strike at the wizard’s chest, Roen knocked him to his knees.
Roen lifted his chin, daring Hayes to keep fighting. Hayes remained on the ground.
Behind them, guards, Councilors, and servants all moved forward to defend Eloryn. Everyone stood with her, and she knew she’d made the right decision.
Eloryn had Erec and men he trusted take Hayes to the dungeons. He shouted curses and blasphemies as he was dragged away.
The room was in turmoil. With their leader gone, and their queen abdicated, the Council were at a loss, arguing amongst themselves. Bedevere’s voice cut through the chaos, trying to get his bewildered companions in order.
Eloryn caught Roen’s hand in hers and dragged him from the room. He followed without a word. The two of them slipped away silently, not missed by the crowd they left behind.
In the quiet hallway, Eloryn stopped and turned to him. She kept his hand tight in hers. He looked at her with the golden eyes she loved.
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