Page 17 of Crown of Ellova: Vol 1

“What happened?” Cyanna’s caring voice is low as she thrusts a cup into my shaking hands. “Are you all right?”

The broth is rich with herbs and I inhale the earthy scent before I drink deeply, welcoming its warmth. “No, but I will be.” The answer is honest and the rest pours out, weariness woven into each word as I tell her everything that has happened. “If Grayden expects to see me again, he is a fool. He can demand the moon fall into the Elbasan Sea, but even kings do not get all that they wish. If he sends guards to the shop, he will find it empty and no records that Lady Arra ever existed, nor did her out-of-work blacksmith husband and her four children?—”

“Three,” Cyanna adds helpfully, checking on the other sleeping children in their cribs.

Despite the dark conversation at hand, a smile spreads over my lips. “—three children who never existed. Arra will be a ghost. The shop is registered under a false name.”

“I didn’t know Grayden even returned.” Cyanna grimaces. “He was at a meeting with the king and queen of Kalvorn. I heard he spoke of nothing else at court for weeks beforehand. I was hoping his ship would be lost at sea.”

I nod, swallowing. “Apparently, their king said Kalvorn would aid in all Adreania’s needs if Grayden surrendered the crown to him.” They’re fighting over a fae crown neither of them can control, willing to sacrifice their citizens for a relic of old magic, now a status symbol more than anything.

“Men and their quest for power will get us all killed.” Cyanna rocks a crib in the kitchen where a toddler sleeps fitfully, wheezing in his sleep. “I may need to call the healer again,” she says to herself.

Healer.

Leon.

I gasp, reaching into my pocket and pulling out the locket with my instructions to secure safety. A wave of gratitude for his concern hits me straight in the chest, leaving me breathless. I don’t need a safe place; Cyanna does. Leon can get her out.

I open the locket and hand Cyanna the tightly folded note. “I have a way for you to escape! Take everyone to the fisherman’s cove. Find the Black Bell tavern and the captain of theHanolis’ Sun. Give him this note. Safety is waiting there! Tell Oliver that Leon sent you. Do not take no for an answer.”

Her eyes go wide, filling with tears. “What?”

“Oliver will take you far away from here.”

“Oh, Della, I don't know what to say.” Cyanna clutches the locket to her chest and lets out a small sob.

I put my hands on her cheeks, wiping away her tears with my thumbs. “I just want you safe. That’s all I’ve ever wanted. Oliver will take you to Leon’s childhood home. I will find you again, I promise.”

For the first time since I’ve known her, hope lights her eyes. “I believe you but you must go!”

I nod slowly, not wishing to leave my cousin, but Nueena waits for me and I’ve been away too long already. Cyanna opens the back door to her dreary garden, scanning for any spying eyes. When she believes it to be safe, she motions me out and we cross over the dead grass at the back of the house.

We stand in front of the barn door that will lead me out of Adreania.

“Cyanna, we will see each other again, maybe not for a while, but one day. You have done such a wonderful job loving every child the crown has failed. I love you and I’m proud to call you family.”

She bobs her head, stepping into my arms, and we hold each other in a tight embrace. “I love you, Arra.” I kiss each tear-stained cheek as we pull apart.

Her whisper is raw and broken. “Thank you.”

When we break apart, I take a small step back quickly, trying to hide the tears in my eyes as I head back inside. The last noise I hear is Cyanna’s soft sniffles as the final lock slides into place, leaving me in darkness.

With the cart empty, it takes half the time to return to my horse. Onyx, sensing my distress, pushes his head against me affectionately.

Leon holds all my thoughts on the ride back to the fae realm. I said goodbye to him. After years of late-night imaginings of what it would be like to feel him against me, it finally happened, only for him to be ripped away.

Not that it would have grown into anything.

I press my forehead to Onyx’s warm cheek, centering myself with deep gulps of the forest air before I hitch the empty cart to him.

Traveling back through the dead woods out of Adreania seems endless, and with every passing moment my shoulders sink a little lower, my movements slower. I’ve been without my magic for too long. By the time Nueena’s form appears in the distance, I’m trembling.

Farren whines as he races towards me, weaving in between Onyx’s legs as we reach the Divide. Nueena’s eyebrows are knitted with concern. Just before crossing, I dismount on shaking legs and step over it.

“Del!”

My magic slams into me with such force I collapse into her and down into the bed of greenery that has burst under her feet, the large ferns and soft clovers cushioning my landing. The jewelsmith powers rush to every fiber of my being, bright as a forge fire; itburns away the emptiness created by entering Adreania, and the feeling of being reborn overwhelms me. My magic reserves are like a small pool, so it does not take long for it to fill up again. The bliss of its return starts at my feet as the magic swirls up through me, going over my hips, through my waist, and down my arms before pushing up again.

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