Page 23 of Enchanted Crown
“He can hear you,” Reyald said from around his coughs.
“She knows,” Esta laughed before turning to her grandmother. “Nana, it is not that easy when crowns and thrones are involved. No matter how much I wish it were so. You should know that better than most.”
She leaned back into her chair. “Isn’t it, though?” She took a sip of her own tea. “Change is on the wind. The land is healing. Ours now, the rest of the realm soon to follow. The former king of Wylan was savage, but that doesn’t mean the current one is. Each king may only be judged on his own rule.” A long pause. “Imagine your skills and his joined together. Now that would be a Dra Skor which would truly be...unstoppable.”
Her words blanketed the table, and I found I was barely remembering to breathe. Had this woman, who I was certain I would never gain the approval of, somewhat approved of a union of a Dra Skor queen and a Wylan prince? She had lived through my father’s rise to power and unraveling because of it. Yet she still foundmeworthy?
All this time I was looking for someone to see me as something other than my father’s son. I had found it in the most unsuspecting place.
“I see I have given you all much to think about,” she said with a smile. Her first true smile of the day. “And you have given me equally as much to think about.”
Esta grinned. “We hope to see you again soon.”
“No you don’t,” she countered.
“You don’t even really need your cane,” Reyald said, having watched her walk around the cottage our entire visit without it.
She scoffed. “A frail old woman like me? Of course I do.”
“I get the sense though you might be old, you have never been frail,” I admitted, taking a sip of my tea that I had to admit was damn good.
She laughed. “Your instincts are spot on, Prince Keir. It was lovely to have met you.”
On the way back to the castle, I asked Esta to fly over Arava. There was still so much of her kingdom I hadn’t seen. It was a sprawling city, but a mostly clean one. By the time we headed for Halikaara, lights dotted the landscape, laughter and meals sure tobe had behind closed doors. It would be difficult to power a city this large, electricity being part of the treaty. Krew and I were already discussing using the newest form we had in Wylan, lanterns and even buildings powered by the sun.
Keir?Esta asked, interrupting my focus on the city. Plans already beginning to slide into place.
“Yes?”
Can we visit Wylan?
CHAPTER 10
Without using my Enchantment to help stop me, I was fairly certain a normal human would have fallen to his death.
Esta snorted a laugh beneath me, clearly amused.
“Es,” I scolded as I used my magic to put me back in place between her wings. “I am on your back right now, a hundred feet above the ground. A warning would be nice.”
She said something to the others, and we left them to bank in a turn, wrapping around the outskirts of Arava.I would like to know how hostile things are in Wylan if I were to visit with you.
“When can we leave?” I asked, longing to take her there. To show her...everything. “It may take them a while to fully trust you, but Nerede made a makeshift raft for Kian and set me on my way immediately, no questions asked. Wylan is not the Wylan you have always heard of.”
Since a ship from Wylan is due to arrive tomorrow, it seems unlikely that we can leave right now.In her pause, her massive wings beating was the only thing heard beyond the rushing wind in my ears.I have a proposition for you.
She knew the terrain in this area far better than I did. Still, I noted the lights of the cottages and homes beneath us. I vaguely noticed that we flew over an epicenter of sorts with a larger building, where I assumed the city functions were held, along with a beautiful garden area. And then we were in an open field. An open field above where Arava laid, which reminded me far too much of the mountain of my childhood. My other home.
With one movement, she bolted to the right and I did fall this time. I again caught myself with my power before I smacked into the ground, lowering myself slowly.
And then she shifted, back to human form. I was never going to get used to seeing it. And I wondered how many years of seeing her shift back and forth it would take before I stopped being hit with emotion over the fact that she could. Her nine years of torture were over.
“Bond to me.”
My magic flared fast and harsh. Likely because my heart stopped beating, my breath vanished. What was it with these Mallick women and rendering me speechless?
“Keir?”
I inhaled sharply. “Do you know what you ask?”
