Page 29 of A Fractured Song

“Well, that makes you look foolish, too,” Zev informed him, lowering himself into a chair across from the younger man.

“Enough with the bickering.” Their father was understandably impatient. “Zev, this letter. It was truly carried here by magic, like the last one?”

“I don’t know how else it could have gotten here,” Zev told him. “I saw it fly to the front door myself. But it’s not like the other one. It’s not a survey parchment, and it wasn’t taking in information.”

“How did it get through the land’s defense?” Azai demanded.

Zev shrugged. “Weren’t you listening to what I just said? This is an ordinary letter. It’s not a tool to spy on us, and it’s not trying to read or record information. I think the magic was only involved in actually getting it here.”

“Oh, how reassuring,” Azai said sarcastically.

“Actually, it is,” Zev said, his own voice calm. “If the land chose to let it in, doesn’t that tell you something?”

Azai looked like he had another mocking reply ready, but their father cut in before the brotherly spat could escalate.

“What does the letter say, Zev?”

Zev tried not to show his tension as he tightened his grip on the folded paper. “It says that Marieke is back in Aeltas. She’s planning to go into Sundering Canyon, looking for the monarchists.”

His parents exchanged swift looks. “Looking for the monarchists? Why would she do that?”

“She didn’t explain her reasons,” Zev said.

“Then why write to you at all?” Azai demanded.

“I suppose she thought I’d want to know what was happening,” Zev said. “And she was right.”

Azai made a scoffing noise, but their father quashed it with a frown. “Don’t let your prejudices blind you to the main point, Azai. Zev is showing good sense. The more informed we are, the better. If Marieke’s group is searching for an explanation for our land’s prosperity, we want to know all developments in that search.” His voice turned grim. “I can’t say I like the idea of her group searching out the monarchists.”

“There’s no group,” Zev corrected him. “I don’t think she’s here with a delegation. I think it’s just her.”

There was a moment of silence as everyone took in thisinformation. Three pairs of eyes came to rest on Zev, each with varying degrees of suspicion.

“What questions is she asking that she thinks the answers will be found with the monarchists in Sundering Canyon?” His mother’s question was slow and thoughtful, and she searched his face as she asked it.

“Zevadiah?” His father’s voice held a sternness he hadn’t heard since his youth. “What questions is she asking? What exactly did you tell her?”

Zev sighed at the suspicion in the older man’s eyes. “I didn’t tell her anything. I encouraged her to ask the right questions, and challenged her version of the coup. But I left her to figure out what she thinks.” Seeing that his father wasn’t satisfied, he added, “She has no reason to connect any of it to us, even if she does accept that she’s been lied to about what happened back then.”

“No reason other than the fact that you’re the one who prompted her to investigate,” Azai said.

Zev didn’t reply. He wanted to ignore Azai’s caustic words, as he usually did, but honesty compelled him to acknowledge that his brother had a point.

“Well…” Their father gave a slow nod. “I suppose there’s nothing to fear in her going into the canyon.”

“What do you mean?” The words burst from Zev before he thought them through. “There’s everything to fear. Last time she barely survived. Those fools down there answer to no one, and they’re even more prejudiced against singers than you all are. Who knows what they’ll do to her!”

His father’s eyebrows were halfway to his hairline by the end of Zev’s speech. There was a painful moment of silence before the older man spoke.

“I meant there’s no reason to fear exposure. The so-called monarchists know nothing of us. But thank you for makingyour position clear, Zevadiah. It’s good to know that you think us unreasonably prejudiced against singers.”

Zev sighed. When his father used his full name twice in one conversation, he knew he was in trouble.

“I didn’t call anyone unreasonable.”

Azai made a noise in the back of his throat. “So you remain in full agreement with our position on singers, do you?”

Zev ignored the hint of sarcasm in his brother’s voice. “You know where my loyalties lie.” He kept his eyes on his father. “I will never soften toward the singers who murdered our ancestors. But they earned our contempt. And the Council of Singers earns it by perpetuating lies. But ordinary singers like Marieke are different. Shouldn’t they have the chance to show themselves trustworthy before we assume their intentions are evil?”

---