Page 69 of The Silent Mountain
After dinner, Elio retires to bed, leaving the rest of us behind to have one more glass of wine.
“You know”—Alana takes a sip of her wine—“I hope you don’t mind me speaking my mind.”
“No, go ahead,” I encourage her.
“I believe we can all agree that what Elio did today was reckless…“ she starts.
“Indeed,” Stefan mutters.
“I talked to him,” I reassure her. “I am sure he understood.”
“Yes, my king was very stern,” Stefan says, without doubt teasing me.
“We don’t always need to yell to get our point across,” Alana comes to my defense instantly.
“That I can only agree with,” Stefan says.
“I think—“ Theodor starts, eyeing Stefan now.
“I don’t want to hear it,” I interrupt him. “Not just you specifically, Theodor, but both of you. I don’t care about either of your opinions on how I should discipline or not discipline my younger brother. Elio has had a very difficult life, and he is a very good kid and diligent prince.” I look at Stefan. “I don’t want anyone to judge him for the way he dealt with his traumatic loss today, and most importantly, I don’t want to be judged either.” I say before turning towards Theodor. “And I don’t want my ways to be questioned. My and Elio’s relationship is not for debate for anyone, except maybe for my mate.”
“I understand and apologize, my king,” Stefan says smoothly.
Theodor looks flustered again, but nods.
“We are straying from what I originally wanted to say,” Alana speaks up again, skillfully shifting the topic. “Elio acted spontaneously today, but I actually believe he had the right intuition.”
At that, she has all our attention. “You mean following the birds, my princess,” Stefan muses, suddenly all business again. “A dangerous approach, but-”
“But you agree with Alana,” I conclude thoughtfully.
“That I do,” he says, frowning. “The birds have already attacked us. We don’t know where they came from.”
“I don’t like how passive we have been either,” I agree. “These birds usually don’t cross the ocean, but Elio had followed them quite a while over the sea.”
“They have to be coming from somewhere,” Stefan says. “When is the new witch arriving? If I remember correctly, her name was Erin?”
“She should be here by tomorrow,” Theodor says. “The warriors accompanying her sent a note today.”
“Let’s hope she will be more useful than our current witch,” Stefan says.
“Are you serious?” I ask bluntly. “Whose idea again was it to invite Cassie to our clan?”
“Well, my options were limited,” he says. “Very limited.”
“Cassie isn’t that bad,” Alana says. “She just needs to grow into her magic. But Erin is said to be a fantastic witch. I am sure she will be able to help us.”
I can feel my patience wearing thin, again, with every comment I hear from Stefan, so I decide it’s probably best to quit that talk for today. “We will need to come up with a proper plan,” I say.
“Leave that to me,” Stefan says. “Once Erin is here, I will make sure to talk to her and hear her advice.”
“Well then, there is nothing left to discuss for tonight,” I say, turning towards Alana. “I will retire to our chambers for tonight.”
To my relief, she stands up too. I just rest so much better when she is with me. “I will do the same. It’s been a long day.”
twenty-two
The New Witch
