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I stood there, dumbly staring at him. Athelyn’s expression shifted to amused. “You did not know that King Goll had sent us conscripts to help rebuild the burned and ravaged villages?”
King Xakiel had razed many towns and villages nearly to the ground, leaving our people destitute and barely able to survive. While Goll had come in and finished the war with his final battle on Issos, it never occurred to me that he might concern himself with the Lumerians his father had harmed in the years of war before his reign.
“No,” I answered, dumbstruck. “I did not.”
Athelyn donned a more serious expression, speaking as if he were giving a report at the palace.
“While King Gollaya left his garrisons at Valla Lokkyr, he left more soldiers behind for Baelynn to send across Lumeria where they were needed. He didn’t just send warriors but also craftsmen to assist with the rebuilding. King Goll’s ambassadorshave expressed his intention that helping rebuild might mend some of the hatred between Lumeria and Northgall.”
My throat was thick with emotion and hoarse when I asked, “Did King Goll say why he was giving Lumeria this boon? He’d already won the war. We’d surrendered.” And he’d taken me as his prize. “He did not need to offer this assistance at all.”
Athelyn clasped his hands behind him and tilted his gaze to the floor. “The ambassador from Northgall told Baelynn the king wanted a true alliance between the dark and the light fae. This could not happen by sheer force of a king’s will, even if he did win the war and occupy the land. King Gollaya understood there may yet be hostility after you were taken from Issos, but his intentions were for peace between our people once and for all. The exact words conveyed to Baelynn were, ‘King Gollaya does not intend to remain a tyrant like his father. He wants only to be the King of Northgall and Lumeria, and for his new, wider kingdom to thrive.”
After a moment of absorbing his words, I cleared my throat, only able to say, “I see.”
“It’s a slow process, but we are making headway in the rebuilding.”
“That is good to hear.” I wondered at the fae I’d tied myself to, knowing there was much more to him than I’d first thought. “Come, Athelyn. Goll has planned a feast for this evening, and as our guest, you are invited.”
His brow shot up curiously. “Now I am a guest? I was sure that I was a prisoner.”
“In Silvantis, those can mean the same thing. But I promise you will be able to leave tomorrow after you’ve seen all is well for me here, and you can report back to my brother.” And hopefully ease his mind.
My gut soured again at the thought of my brother becoming ill. A new sense of urgency pushed me to go to Dragul Falls. I must speak with Goll.
Athelyn nodded and followed. Though my life in Silvantis had not been easy so far, I was making my own path now with confidence. And I wanted my brother to feel safe in the fact that I’d made the right decision. That even though Lumeria had a new king—shrewd, cunning, and domineering—he was now an ally. Not an enemy.
The gods often played tricks on us mere fae but I was still sure I was walking the right path. If I could cure this plague, I would know for certain that the gods hadn’t made a mistake and that my painful tragedy here at Näkt Mir hadn’t been for nothing.
Chapter 28
UNA
“Thank you,”I told Meck and Ferryn who were posted outside the door of Goll’s war room where they’d escorted me. After my visit with Athelyn, I’d told Goll that I needed to speak with him urgently about Dragul Falls. He’d nodded and told me to meet him here with my book.
I was about to knock, but then the door opened and Keffa stood there. “Mizrah.” He dipped a shallow bow of the head. “We’ve been waiting for you.”
We?I didn’t know Goll had summoned anyone else.
When I stepped inside, I was expecting a table of maps and walls of charts, perhaps weapons decorating the room. Back in Valla Lokkyr, that is what my father’s war room, and now Baelynn’s, looked like. Though there was a giant map on one wall next to the long table, Goll’s war room did not appear at all like my brother’s.
There was a long black oak table, polished to a beautiful shine. Chairs of gray leather with brass nail-heads lining the seats surrounded the table. A white-marble mantel framed afireplace large enough for a wraith fae to walk inside of it upright, horns and all. Surrounding the hearth were a semi-circle of velvet-cushioned chairs and a rug of red and gold embroidery.
Standing in front of the crackling fire was Goll, his hands behind his back, his gaze on me. Soryn sat in one of the chairs as Keffa escorted me over. There were two other wraith fae. One I recognized as the white-haired councilman, Bozlyn. The kinder one who greeted me on my arrival. The other was a fierce-looking, orange-eyed wraith fae with a barrel-sized chest and a little gray in his black hair as well.
Goll stepped forward to greet me. I was surprised when he leaned down and brushed his lips against mine. “Did you sleep well?”
I arched a brow. He knew that I had since he’d slept beside me. I’d awoken to a grinning Hava in his bedchamber, chirping that the king demanded I eat a hearty breakfast.
“Yes, my king.”
A low purr rumbled in his chest before he escorted me with a hand at my back toward a red-velvet chair beside Soryn. All of the males stood as I approached, so I remained standing next to the chair while Goll took care of the introductions.
“You know Soryn and Keffa, of course. This is Bozlyn, who is head of my royal council and also a member of my war council.”
“I remember Bozlyn. Good to see you again, my lord.”
“And you, Mizrah.”
