Bressal was in a mood. Rhoane sat at his desk, half-listening as his brother ticked off the reasons Rhoane should never have accepted Taryn as the Darennsai. Each of them was incredibly shortsighted and self-serving, but Rhoane had no intention of telling this to his younger brother. When Bressal finished, Rhoane put his feet on the desk, crossing his hands behind his head.
“Thank you, dear brother, for your informal education on my many mistakes. The first of which would seem to be my birth. Now, if you will excuse me, I have work to do before we leave.”
“What do you mean, leave? Father thinks you have returned permanently. And now that you have brought the abomination with you, he thinks you mean to make good on your oath.”
Rhoane took a deep breath before walking around his desk to face his brother. “I will only say this once. If you continue to insult Taryn, I will personally dole out your punishment. She has shown her merit, and Father accepted her in front of the court. What is more, Nadra and Ohlin have given her their blessing. What I do not need from you is a compendium of what ifs and why nots. I need your support.”
“That I cannot give, no matter what Father thinks. He was a fool to let the empress and her lot through the veils. He is a fool to think this gyota is anything but an ignorant girl. She stinks of Fadair and offends me.”
Rhoane slammed his brother against the wall, his Shanti tight around Bressal’s body. “I said I would not tolerate any more slurs against the Darennsai. What you have said here is tantamount to treason, and I could have you hanged for it.”
Bressal’s face paled a fraction. “Father knows my opinion on this matter.”
“Yes. And now so do I. Again, I thank you for elucidating your thoughts.” Rhoane released his brother from his power.
“It is not too late. You can still undo the bonds, as long as you have not united your bodies as one.” Bressal looked at Rhoane and groaned. “Do not tell me. When? Last night? Is that where you disappeared to?” He slapped his head in frustration. “I knew I should have followed you. I could have prevented this disaster.”
Rhoane clenched his fists to keep from striking his brother. “Your assumption is inaccurate. As you will not heed my advice to stop this maligning of the Darennsai, I will thank you to leave my chamber.” His body shook with barely contained anger.
“Then you can still undo the bonds.”
“I will undo nothing. Taryn was chosen for me by Verdaine. I will not go against the wishes of our goddess. I will, however, ask that you make an effort to accept Taryn for what she is—the Darennsai of our people and my betrothed.”
“I have nothing against the girl. It is what she will do to the Eleri that concerns me. If you cannot see that she will be the destruction of our people, then you are blind.”
“The prophecy is unclear, as you well know.” Rhoane ran a hand through his short hair, a constant reminder of his sheanna status. “Perhaps if you tried harder to find a way for her to succeed, you would see that she could be exactly what the Eleri need right now.”
“We need nothing,” he spat, disdain laced through every syllable. “We have been here for as long as the first seed of this great tree.”
“It is that thinking that will be the downfall of the Eleri, not the doings of an innocent girl.”
“We will see in the end, will we not?” He half turned to leave. “You had better inform Father you will not be staying. I think I saw him polishing your crown this morning.”
“Is that what all of this is about, Bressal? You think I want to take the throne away from you? I thought you knew me better than that, my brother. It has been too long since we shared our secrets. Too much fear has crept into your heart. I am the chosen one of the Darennsai. I can no more sit on this throne than I can the Crystal or Obsidian Thrones.”
Drained by their conversation, Rhoane sank into his chair. “I am a prince without a palace. My place is at the side of a girl whose fate is undetermined. I might have one season or a thousand on this terrarae. Nothing in my life is certain right now, so if you want to be concerned only with what crown you will be wearing, then let me assure you, I will not fight you for something as trivial as that.”
The sadness in Bressal’s eyes bespoke a fear his words would not convey. “You have changed, brother. Your time with the Fadair has corrupted your thinking. I can remember when there was no greater purpose than protecting the Weirren Throne.”
“Indeed, your words are true.” Rhoane rose and placed a hand on his brother’s arm. “The Weirren Throne is never far from my thoughts. Do not ever doubt that I hold its safety close in my heart. It seems Verdaine had something else in mind for me, however, and I must go where she wills.”
“Then there is nothing more for us to discuss. May the next time we meet be in sweetness and not sorrow.” Bressal touched his thumb to his heart.
Rhoane echoed his gesture. “When next we meet.” They put their foreheads together in the ancient custom.
How many Eleri shared his brother’s feelings? They would accept Taryn as the Darennsai out of respect to his father, but would they support her when the time came?
He paced his room a few times, checking hiding places he’d used as a small boy and re-familiarizing himself with his childhood home. He’d been gone nearly sixty Aelan years. To an Eleri, it was but a moment in time, but spent away from the Weirren, it seemed an eternity to him.
He breathed in the musty scent of the tree and was lost in memories of his youth. Many bells had been spent at that very desk still sitting near the window overlooking the courtyard. How many times had he hidden beneath it, waiting for his brothers to find him? If he hid there now, would they even bother to look?
A distressing melancholy hung over him. Bressal was right; he needed to talk with his father and explain why he must leave the Narthvier. Rhoane left his room and hastened up the steps leading to his father’s study. When he stood at the door, he took a deep breath and gave a quick knock before entering.
His father sat at his desk with papers strewn all about. Rhoane picked up a sheet of parchment and studied the writing with a frown. “It never changes, does it?”
“Unfortunately, no.” He walked around the desk to greet Rhoane. “It is good to have you home.” He sat in a chair, indicating Rhoane do the same. “You are not going to stay, are you?”
Rhoane was surprised by his directness. “No, Your Majesty, I will be leaving with the others.”
His father ran a hand over his face. “I thought as much. Verdaine works in mysterious ways. When she took your mother, I thought my life would end, but then when you told me you had to leave the Weirren for an Aelan girl, I thought she was playing a cruel joke on me. Your mother used to tell me you were special. If only I had listened to her, I would have understood what she meant.” He studied Rhoane. “You have sacrificed everything for this girl, and she does not even know what she is. You should have told her.”
“She is young and frightened. Telling her will only make it worse.” He held out his right hand to his father. “You see what these symbols mean. You know what is coming. Would you have me tell her what she will have to do one day just to satisfy your desire for her to fail? What if she succeeds? Have you thought of that?”
His father scoffed. “An Aelan surpassing Eleri, to sit at the side of Verdaine herself? No, I will not believe it. Your mother,” he paused to clear his throat, “could not even conceive of that.”
Rhoane swallowed his hurt. “Then why did you claim her Darennsai last night?”
“Because, my son, I need the other Eleri to believe it possible.” He stood, as did Rhoane, and embraced Rhoane with surprising force. “Tonight, at table, I will declare you no longer sheanna.” He touched Rhoane’s short waves. “Grow your hair and let the world know you are Eleri.”
Tears stung Rhoane’s eyes. “Thank you, Father.” He held his father close, wishing things could be different. “You saw last night what is in her heart. She will not fail you.”
“For the sake of the Eleri and Aelinae, I hope you are right.” A clash of metal drew their attention to the courtyard outside his window. “One cannot say she takes her obligations lightly,” he said as he watched Taryn jump aside, narrowly missing a slice of Baehlon’s sword. “Does she always exhibit such abandon?”
“In everything she does.”
“Is this what you wish for yourself?”
For a long moment, Rhoane didn’t answer. The previous night he, too, saw into her heart. Saw her innocence and her anguish. Saw the entirety of the life she’d lived with Brandt, saw her conflicted love for him. Over the long seasons of waiting for her, he’d asked himself many times if honoring Verdaine’s prophecy was what he truly wanted. He at last had an answer. “If ever I had the choice, this is what I would choose.”
His father nodded slowly. “So be it.” He indicated his desk. “I should get back to this.”
“Then I shall leave you to your work.” He moved a few steps and faltered. “Father, Carga…?” He could not bring himself to finish the question.
Stephan shook his head. “Your sister knows when her punishment is complete. Only then can she part the veils.”
“I know the man, and it was not her fault. Zakael is clever and manipulative. He was using her to find Taryn.”
“Stop. Is it not bad enough that one of my children is destined to share his body with a Fadair? Once your sister is purified, I will forgive her. Now, go.”
When Rhoane approached the door, his father called to him. “I do not completely trust the empress. There is something unsettling about her. A force I cannot name that has permeated her ShantiMari. Tread with care. Because you are no longer sheanna, when you are at her court, you are beholden only to Eleri law and not her whims. And Rhoane, as Darennsai, neither is her daughter. I will explain this to her when I meet with her later today.”
“I do not envy you that.”
Lliandra liked her control over Taryn a little too much. His father’s declaration would anger the empress, but Rhoane vowed to not let her take that anger out on his beloved. He’d been livid at her treatment of Taryn after the Aomori scandal, going so far as to question Lliandra over her actions. Not only did she deny abusing Taryn but she warned him it was not his place to debate her actions regarding her daughters, which included Marissa.
Her thinly veiled threat to leave the crown princess’s affairs well alone confirmed his suspicion Lliandra knew Marissa was involved with Zakael. More than likely, Lliandra was using her daughter as a spy, but Rhoane couldn’t be certain. If he so much as mentioned Zakael’s name to Marissa, she immediately changed the subject.
Rhoane took the winding staircase to the back entrance where he could find peace in the dense forest. He walked through the woods, touching buds that yearned to ripen, and coaxing saplings to grow straight and tall. It had been too long since he’d been home. Too long since he’d been one with nature.
He returned to the Weirren as the sun was setting, casting shadows through the leafy canopy. He had just enough time before dinner to check on Taryn, make certain the paste he’d made for her wound was intact, and then change for the evening. On the way to her rooms, Rhoane caught sight of Marissa at the end of the hallway. Dressed in her dinner attire, she stood a hand’s width from an Eleri youth Rhoane didn’t recognize. From the way he leaned in toward the princess, it looked like the conversation was more than casual.
Changing course, he headed for them, whistling his approach. Marissa feigned a giggle and slapped the boy’s hand before taking it in her own, lacing her fingers with his.
When the lad saw Rhoane, he straightened, a furious blush staining his cheeks. “Your Highness,” he stammered. “I, we, uh, the crown princess was lost.”
“Yes,” Marissa purred. “And this lovely young man was helping me find my way.”
The boy’s thoughts hammered against Rhoane’s. Confusion. Embarrassment. Fear. Arousal. Escape.
“You may leave us,” Rhoane said to the Eleri. “I can direct the princess where she needs to go.”
The boy apologized several times before fleeing in the direction Rhoane had come.
“What a charming race the Eleri are. So helpful, too.” Marissa tilted her head, giving him a coquettish smile.
“Do you know the Eleri share a collective bond? That is not to say every Eleri knows what the other is doing or thinking at any given moment, but in times of severe duress, it is possible for one Eleri to feel another’s emotions.”
“Oh? That must be rather tiresome.”
“Indeed. Especially when someone I have trusted her entire life tries to bribe one of my brethren.” He towered over her, using his size to intimidate her. She didn’t cower, but straightened to her full height, her chin jutting out defiantly. “Do what you will with your own courtesans, but leave my people out of your schemes. Am I understood?”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about, Rhoane. We were just having a friendly chat.”
“Then why does he have Talaithian gold in his pocket and the scent of you in his mouth? Your actions could have cost him his home. The Eleri do not use their bodies as Fadair do. I will kindly ask you to remember this.”
He stormed away before he did something he might regret. Later, he would find the lad and return Marissa’s gold. The taint of her ShantiMari lingered in his senses all the way to Taryn’s rooms. At her door he paused, letting the realization sink in. He could sense another’s power in much the same way Taryn could see it.