Page 28 of The Eye of the Fifth
‘This way,’ Dovella said as she glided up the stairs, the small train of her silk, no doubt hand-made gown trailing elegantly behind her. Even with the dilapidation around her, she held herself with a regality to rival a monarch.
Movement on the landing caught Naal’s eye as they rounded to the west wing, and she looked over to see a girl younger than Dovella by a few years peeking her head out from behind a door. For a moment, Naal was lost in time, staring at Eirinna as a child. Rounder and kinder-faced than her sister, the girl’s eyes widened as Naal caught her gaze and smiled.
Tentatively, she returned it without any of the wariness Dovella had demonstrated.
After following Dovella through an infinite amount of hallways, they finally halted outside a door much like the others, though this one was decorated with a bronze knocker. Dovella used it, the clinking sound bouncing through the empty hallway. A couple of long seconds passed before a voice sounded from within, a voice that Naal still heard in her deepest dreams: ‘Enter.’
Dovella twisted the round handle and swung the door open.
Nothing could have prepared Naal for the rush of emotion that swept through her in that moment, as she looked upon Winvara for the first time in twenty-four years.
Win had always been, and would always be, the most beautiful thing Naal’s eyes had ever had the privilege to see. Brown skin as rich as fertile earth; long dark hair streaked with silver and piled neatly on the top of her head; piercing, light mahogany eyes that saw everything; dark features that only smiled when truly happy. It had once been Naal’s ambition to get that scarce smile blossoming as frequently as possible on Win’s lovely face.
That ambition had long since been lost.
Win was sitting at her desk, a mess of parchment covering its surface as her quill scrawled across a large book of blank pages. She didn’t so much as look at her. Instead, she turned her attention to hergranddaughter. ‘Thank you, Dove. Please close the door on your way out.’
Dovella’s eyes narrowed at being dismissed so quickly, but she nodded once and departed, the door clicking shut behind her.
A tense silence ensued, and Naal watched as the quill continued to whizz across the page. ‘You can sit,’ Win said bluntly without looking up.
Naal slid into the chair opposite, slightly lengthening her wings out so they did not get caught on the back of it. ‘Your family has grown,’ she commented, breaking the silence that had again settled between them.
Winvara didn’t respond.
‘I was not aware you had more than one granddaughter,’ Naal continued, trying not to sound accusatory for Win’s lack of communication.
She appeared not to care. Brusquely, she said, ‘I have three.’
Naal whipped a quick breeze around the manor. ‘I sense only two are here. Where are the others?’
The writing hand became more agitated. ‘You know where Kyraena is, for that is the point of your being here. Recent events would reveal my grandson also resides in the city.’
‘And Eirinna? Where is she? I would like to see her, if you’ll permit it.’
Win promptly stopped writing. She slowly placed the quill down, then her bitter eyes finally met Naal’s. ‘Eirinna is dead.’
A weight dropped into Naal’s stomach, heavy and ice-cold. Her heart shattered at the deep and profound grief in Winvara’s eyes. Hidden and buried to all but Naal. Through a constricted throat, she managed to ask, ‘How long?’
‘Twelve years.’
Naal whispered, ‘How?’
Win’s glassy gaze did not waver. ‘Murdered. She and Falthor. Naturally, the Union did nothing to find the killers.’
‘Falthor… he was Eirinna’s-?’
‘Yes,’ Winvara said tightly. ‘A clueless boy smitten with Eirinna since their childhood. He deserted Valfell to come here and profess his love for her when he came of age. I let him stay, else my father would have killed him for abandonment. As their family grew, Eirinna wanted to integrate into Avaldale’s society. Against my wishes, she wanted her children to find companionship amongst the humans. But it was that stupidity that saw my only daughter butchered in the street like an animal for slaughter.’
She said it all with such apathy, though Naal could sense the anger simmering beneath the blank exterior. ‘You have dealt with this pain by yourself for twelve years?’ Naal probed quietly, though the question was not met with an answer. ‘I wish you had told me, Win. I would have been here in less than a heartbeat.’
‘And disrupt the important life of the great Air Warden?’ Winvara said with a small sneer. ‘I wouldn’t have dared do such a thing.’
Once upon a time, sweet Eirinna had been like a daughter to Naal. That she had suffered, and left behind four young children, when all she had ever wanted was peace for her family, was an unfathomable cruelty. ‘I am sorry, Win. Eirinna was… she was a beautiful soul.’
‘I did not invite you here to talk about my dead daughter,’ Win clipped as she leant forward in her chair, her hands clasping to rest on the desk in front of her. ‘Every second you have been in this manor has been wasted thus far, and still Kyraena remains locked away in a cell.’
It would have been far too easy for an argument to ensue, and it seemed to Naal that Win was begging for one. She would not give in to it. ‘How did her powers come to pass?’
