THE FIRST THING ELARA DID WHEN SHE RETIRED TO HER BORROWED chambers was take a long soak in the bath, a claw-foot tub with carnation-scented water. The second thing she did was wrap a woven blanket around her shoulders and wander out to the balcony to gaze over the gorgeous lawns and elegant pools that made up the dark courtyards. Her hands shook on the railing from something other than the cold, and she forced herself to take a breath. And another. And another.
She felt so out of place there, in someone else’s palace, with the future of her island in her hands. But she just had to remind herself that her scores in etiquette, history, and politics at Hearthstone had been worth bragging about, as well. Aveline needed a partner, a support system, a piece she could move across the board to keep the other nations in line. Elara could do that. She could be that.
Still, Elara couldn’t help being glad she didn’t have to do it right now. For the moment, she needed to just be.
Two Queenshield guarded her door. A third patrolled the area beneath the balcony, to prevent any threats from climbing into her room. Elara sat in a wooden lounge chair and drew her legs up to her chest beneath the blanket. Late Harvest season in Joya del Mar was cooler than San Irie. Even without a wind, there was a bite of chill in the air. Moonlight beat down on the plants, edging each flower with a line of silver. The flowers that, apparently, lent strength to the nature spirits that Joya del Mar channeled for magic.
She was sure that Reeve had told her that once. A throwaway fact from one of his books.
In the years after the war, Reeve had become fluent in patois from reading, asking Elara to pronounce or translate words. In exchange for her favorite novels, he would teach her Langlish phrases, tell her what he knew about dragons, share his complicated feelings about his family and his former home. Elara hadn’t even noticed their slow slide into friendship. One day, she had just woken up feeling as though she had known Reeve Warwick her whole life.
Now he was gone, and she missed him. She missed him so much, it hurt. Elara’s eyes began to burn, so she closed them in an attempt to ward off tears. If she could just talk to Reeve… if he could reassure her that she was what the queen needed… gods, if she could even just find out if he was all right…
Faron is with him. With his body, she told herself. She’ll bring him back. She does the impossible all the time.
But she still missed him.
“Elara.”
She jumped. Aveline stood in the doorway between the bedroom and the balcony, dressed in a simple cotton dress with long sleeves and a high collar. Its vermilion color brought out the red undertones in her deep brown skin, and it covered enough to keep her warm as she approached the outdoors. Amusement flashed in her eyes at the sight of Elara holding a hand to her chest.
“It’s a good thing I brought as many guards as I did,” Aveline said, “though I suppose it won’t matter if you die of fear before a real threat sneaks up on you.”
“I consider you a real threat, Your Majesty.”
Aveline raised a hand to stop Elara from getting up, instead settling in the chair beside her. “Well, thank you. But I’m here for advice, not threats, if you don’t mind talking friend to friend.”
“Friend to friend,” Elara echoed, trying to tamp down a smile. From the twinkle in Aveline’s eyes, she didn’t succeed. “Okay. What’s going on?”
“We have a real opportunity with the Joyans, Elara.” Aveline leaned back in the chair, speaking only just above a whisper, as if she didn’t want to risk even the slumbering birds overhearing. “Not just for the conference, but for a potential alliance. They have a larger military than San Irie does, and their spirit magic has grown all the more powerful with the new gardens and parks they’ve built into their city planning from border to border.”
“Why would they help us, though? Before we fought Langley, we were at war with them.”
“Lightbringer—Iya—is not just an Iryan problem. If the Joyans leave us to fall first, they’ll have no chance of standing against him alone. If I can’t get Rey Christóbal to see reason, I’m almost positive I can get through to the doña.”
“I didn’t know you knew the doña that well.”
Aveline stiffened. “We have a certain history. She’s… susceptible to reason.”
It sounded as if the queen wanted to add something else. Elara got the sense that she was missing a key part of all this, but asking questions that Aveline wasn’t prepared to answer was the fastest way to get her to shut down.
“I think it’s a good idea,” Elara said carefully. “I mean, if we can get all the Novan empires to ally—”
“I see you’re finally starting to develop a mind for politics.” The tension slowly seeped out of Aveline’s shoulders, until she was crossing her legs at the ankles and sliding her eyes shut. “You’re already ahead of me.”
“Wait. What do you mean?”
“I’ll remain here to sway the Joyans to attend the conference and plant the seed for a treaty. I’m sending you ahead to Étolia to do the same.”
Elara twisted in her seat, her eyebrows leaping toward her hair. “Me? Aveline, I don’t even speak Étolian.”
“That won’t be an issue,” said Aveline dismissively. “You’re the Maiden Empyrean, the voice of the gods in the mortal realm, and second only to me in power. You will make a fine representative. Think of this less as politics and more… as a mission.”
“With all due respect, Your Majesty, I failed miserably at the last mission you sent me on. I’m a soldier, not a diplomat.”
“And yet, thanks to you, we can fly in and out of the Langlish Empire at our leisure, with the same dragons that once attempted to wipe us out now on our side.”
Elara’s lips parted, but she had no defense against that. It wasn’t the way she would have put it, but she couldn’t deny that it was true. Still, discomfort hummed through her blood, her mind already grasping at a myriad of ways she could mess this up. The headache she had fought off earlier returned with a vengeance, hammering at her brain stem until she felt it all over her body. Her resolution to be a useful pawn had relied on the queen being there to guide her. Could she do it alone without causing an international incident?
“I know I seem very good at this, but it’s only because of practice. This life was never something I wanted for myself.” Aveline’s smile faded into something more thoughtful. Her eyes opened, and she stared blankly at the stars. “I wanted to be a dancer.”
“You—what?”
To her surprise, the queen blushed. “When I lived on the farm, I wanted to move to Port Sol and be a dancer. To perform onstage, if the war ever ended. I was planning to leave once I turned eighteen, but, as you know, your sister found me first.”
“I didn’t know you could dance!”
“You don’t need to sound so shocked. Am I not graceful?”
Of course you are, Elara almost blurted. After all, she had noticed Aveline’s grace and elegance under the context of pining for her at the tender age of thirteen. Aveline Renard Castell didn’t walk, she glided. Her every movement was refined. But Elara had thought Aveline had trained herself in sophistication while alone in Pearl Bay Palace, ruling a country before she was in her twenties. She had never imagined this.
“Anyway.” Aveline sighed, that heavy, fatigued sigh Elara had become familiar with. “I just wanted you to know that you weren’t alone in being surprised at the twists that life has taken. For what it’s worth, I think you would have made a fine soldier. But you are also a magnificent Empyrean.”
Aveline had expressed a similar sentiment ahead of the Summit, even after Elara had snuck away to enlist in the Iryan Military Forces behind her back, but it meant just as much now as it had back then. Elara had grown disillusioned with the life of a soldier after failing to become a drake pilot, but she still wanted to help people and protect her home. She hadn’t imagined becoming the Maiden Empyrean, but the title would help her do what she’d set out to do. It would help her rescue her sister and defeat Lightbringer. It would empower her to bring Faron and Reeve home, to San Irie, where they all belonged.
It was hard to think of what she would do after. But for now, she could do this.
“All right,” she said, proud that her voice did not shake. “I’ll go to Étolia and win them over. I won’t let you down, Your Majesty.”
“I know,” said Aveline. “I’ve always known that.”