Page 57 of Winds of Darkness
She stepped closer to the map, her finger sliding along untilit hovered over the mortal kingdom of Toreall and the Dresden Forest.
Briar’s brows rose. “We cannot access our magic in the mortal lands. The enchanted wards prevent it.”
“The winds forewarned me that I would need Talwyn’s ring,” Ashtine replied.
“Her Semiria ring? You stole it?”
“Is it stealing if an item is returned before someone realizes it is missing?”
He couldn’t stifle his laughter this time, and Ashtine finally turned to look at him. She eyed him for a moment, looking at him as though she’d never heard such a sound.
“You find amusement easily,” she murmured, turning back to the map.
“Do you not laugh on occasion, Princess Evermorn?” he asked in a teasing tone.
“I do not remember the last time I found something joyful enough to produce such a sound,” she answered. Before he could comment on that, she asked, “What if history is wrong?”
“That is …”
He was going to say an odd question, but that wasn’t necessarily true. He just needed to work out what she was trying to say. Their times in the Citadel catacombs had allowed him to slowly start learning to converse with her, but it still took a conscious effort to understand what she was truly saying. So instead, he studied her for a moment. Watched her bring her focus back to the Edria Sea and trace along the left side of the frame while rolling her words around in his mind.
Finally, he asked, “What history do you question?”
“All of it,” she replied. “Some texts I have read suggest there is power that once walked our lands, but no longer does. But does that mean it left our world altogether? Or does it simply mean it has been trapped somewhere else?”
He watched her trace the edge of the frame again, understanding finally dawning. “You speak of Avonleya.”
“You lived decades during the war.”
“Yes, but I was born long after the Avonleyan Wards went up. I was born well after the wards around the mortal lands were erected. I remember my parents trying desperately to keep the peace with Deimas and Esmeray,” Briar answered.
“And yet their blood was still spilled.”
He swallowed thickly as the memories flashed in his mind. Standing stoically beside his brother and Sorin. Hidden among the crowd and glamoured. Forcing himself not to react, not to make a sound. Slipping a hand over Sawyer’s mouth to keep him quiet when he couldn’t stifle his cry.
“Yes, it was,” he finally managed to say, just as a knock sounded. “Leave the food outside, please,” he called.
“I apologize,” Ashtine said. “I did not mean to stir such memories.”
He lifted his hand, as if he was going to touch her, then quickly dropped it when he realized what he was doing. “Still reading social situations just fine,” he replied with a sad smile before he moved to retrieve the food.
When he returned, tray in hand, he asked, “Do you like fish?”
“I am not opposed to a creature that lives in the sea,” she returned, her tone slowly returning to her signature mystical lilt.
Briar smiled, placing the tray on the small dining table near the balcony doors. There was seating for four, though when he dined in his rooms, he was usually by himself.
“I should have asked if you enjoy eating seafood. Fish. Shellfish,” he explained, lifting a lid off a platter of salmon and lobster.
She took a single step closer, then stopped. Her hands were at her sides, fingers curling into the fabric of her gown.
“If you do not, I had chicken prepared as well,” he added in a hurry, revealing the other platter. “There is also fruit, bread, and cheese.”
“But I told you I was not hungry?”
It was a question, and he picked up one of the two stackedplates. “You did, but if that has changed, there is plenty here,” he replied, beginning to fill his plate.
He was cutting a piece of bread from the loaf when he felt her approach. It took everything in him not to react as she peered over his shoulder. “I have dined with you in the Water Court before.”
