Page 67 of A Legacy of the Light

Reyne said I would be doing her a favor today, but I don’t want her to feel like she has to stay with me if she wants to be with her family.

“Aye, I wouldn’t have asked if I wasn’t,” she replies warmly.

We walk quickly through the streets of Elfayne City, taking a direct path to her aunt’s store. While the palace grounds may have been cleaned, the same cannot be said for the city beyond the palace walls.

The main pathway from the palace is littered with black scorch marks and patches of dark crimson. Curtains remain drawn in the homes, and there’s a general air of sorrow and fear. The streets are quiet, and any Seelie who are out and about, walk as quickly as us and nervously glance around.

Reyne wasn’t kidding about the increased patrols. Every few minutes we spot groups of guards strolling the streets in neat lines as they carefully watch for anything untoward.

We stop in the square with Raghnall’s statue. Across the bottom, scrawled in paint as red as the blood still staining the streets, is the word mealltair.

“What does that mean?” I ask Reyne.

“I’m not sure, I don’t speak the old language.”

Something about the word makes my stomach drop, perhaps it’s the way it looks like it’s been written in blood.

When we enter Cait’s shop, she immediately sweeps Reyne into a hug. “Reyne, thank Dhia. Is your daddy okay?” Cait asks, cupping her niece’s cheeks in her palms. Reyne nods and her eyes line with silver.

“Oh, my wee lass, it’s okay. You know he’s tough as old boots, that man. It will take a hundred Dorche to kill him.”

Cait pulls her into a tight hug again and Reyne wraps her arms around her aunt’s waist, a small sob escaping her.

I step back to give them a private minute, and run my fingers through the different fabrics hung along the wall, wishing I could comfort Reyne too. Reyne wasn’t okay this morning, despite her telling me that she was, and I knew it. Seeing Cait has brought her emotions to the surface.

“Are you ready to see your dresses?” Cait asks, after Reyne has calmed herself. I give Reyne a warm smile that I hope conveys that I’m here for her if she wants to talk to me.

“Thank you for helping us, Cait,” I tell her.

Reyne and I take it in turns trying on Cait’s designs. Reyne looks stunning in her gown, the soft blue complimenting her eyes and her coloring.

When Cait first brings out my dress I’m hesitant, and an uncomfortable feeling sits in the pit of my stomach. The dress is far more revealing than anything I would normally wear. The black satin is strapless with a contouring corset and the skirt drapes dramatically downward. A split that runs up the length of my leg and stops mid-thigh.

But the feeling quickly disappears when I step into it. I have never felt more beautiful in my life. It’s perfect, and I feel like a queen.

Chapter 18

After Cait carefully packs the dresses into garment boxes for us to take back to the palace, we spend some time with her. She makes us tea and, as time passes by, I can see the tension that Reyne is carrying disappear entirely. She needed this time with her family to process what happened.

It was nice for me, too. Cait is full of life, and makes jokes and tells me stories of the trouble Reyne got into when she was young.

“Reyne,” I laugh, wiping the tears from my eyes. “I had no idea you were such a troublemaker!”

She and Cait tell me about how she accidentally set off the alarms at one her father’s camps, sneaking about to watch the guards. It was after that her father decided to allow her to train with them. I haven’t laughed this hard since . . . well, a long ass time.

“Well, a girl’s got to do what a girl’s got to do,” she says with mock seriousness and takes a sip of her tea. Then she checks the time and rises from her seat. “We should get back if you’re going to the library and you want to train.”

We say our goodbyes and return to the palace, not bothering to visit anywhere else in the city and keeping our heads low. Out in the open streets, anxiety wraps itself around me, and I’m glad we don’t waste anytime lingering.

As we approach the wall surrounding the palace, I slip my arm through Reyne’s. “I never thanked you for last night, saving me and then keeping me company. I know it was hard for you, and I appreciate you being with me.”

Reyne looks at me and smiles warmly, squeezing my hand. “Not at all, Elsie.”

“And I’m always here if you need to talk. We’re friends, right?”

For some reason, asking her that question makes me nervous. After every friend—but Rach—has abandoned me, it’s hard to put myself out there again. It hurt me that those people didn’t stand by me at the lowest point in my life. Friendships can be just as tricky as relationships, but I like Reyne, and I think we will only grow closer the more time I spend here.

I’m painfully aware that my insecurities are showing, but after seeing how Reyne needed that comfort from her aunt today, it’s clear we both need a friend.