Chapter Fourty-One

CHAPTER FOURTY-ONE

DUAL LOYALTIES

G ia squeezed my hand, a violent wind whipping hair in our faces. The small fishing boat made good time, especially when aided by the Air Witch Dane had scrounged up from the slums bordering the docks.

I blinked at her. It was a wonder, really, that Gia made it onto the boat, that they had stumbled upon her by the docs. I still couldn’t believe it—she’d somehow escaped the king’s men when they came for Jana. And though I suspected Jana held some responsibility for that miracle, I wasn’t in the mood to question the fortune. I just squeezed her hand right back.

“Can you believe only two months ago I fretted over Spring Day while we shopped the market?” I mused.

Gia shook her head. “It feels like a lifetime ago.”

“This place is very different from Argention… from the human lands,” I whispered, my words nearly stolen by the screams of the sea.

“You have no idea,” Gia breathed.

I looked at her, cocking my head at the maturity in her voice. I didn’t want to imagine the horrors she might’ve witnessed since I’d left for the Sk?l.

Gia’s expression remained distant for only a moment, and then it shifted back into concern. “Sanah and Dane found me a day or so back, during that competition—the Sk?l, was it? And, well, they explained everything—Spring Day, Fayzien’s involvement, how Jana, the woman who took you, is your aunt.” She gave a small, somewhat guilty shrug. “I’m sorry I cast doubt over them. Sanah is truly lovely, and I trust their story. We’re safe now. And we are together. Let that be a small victory.”

I shook my head, suppressing the need to correct her is with was. “No apology needed, my friend. I’m only glad you are here.”

She shifted her gaze back out to the sea. Her mention of the Sk?l tickled something at the back of my mind.

“You know what’s ironic? Jana brought me to Viribrum to show the public Drakkarians didn’t murder me, to weaken King Darlan’s support for an invasion. To prevent this very war. And turns out, bringing me here could have caused the invasion itself.”

“What do you mean, you coming here caused the invasion?” Gia’s brows scrunched together.

I let my oldest friend see the fear in my eyes. “Leiya and Ezren said, ‘of course they would attack, Darlan forced their hand.’ But, I’m not so sure. In the Sk?l, when they invaded… it was me the Drakkarians were after. Their leader said as much at the palace.”

Gia looked stricken for a moment, clearly weighing carefully what to say. She squeezed my hand once more. “That may be true, but we’ll get to the bottom of all this. We’re safe now, Terra.”

She was right—we’d made it out of Viribrum alive—almost all of us. Olea. Jana. Their names repeated in my head, leaving little scores, etchings of regret and pain in my chest alongside the ones I bore for my human family. And for all I knew, the queen could be added to that list… at the very least, the Drakkarian’s had captured her. Whether Fayzien or Xinlan had escaped, I had no clue.

But Gia was safe. So were Leiya and Leuffen. Cas. Dane. Sanah. Cobal. And Ezren. I’d lost so much, my own blood and not, but I’d also gained. And though I felt uncomfortable with the semi-royal treatment I’d received earlier, a familial atmosphere now lingered on the ship, a sense that laced every conversation and interaction.

That feeling was loyalty… and, perhaps, even family.

And my new little family was safe.

But as I uttered those words in my head, they rang hollow. I’d appeared safe for years in Argention, and that was an illusion. Had I ever truly been safe? And now… a sinking feeling wound tight around my chest. I didn’t know how our voyage would go, or what our acceptance at Nebbiolo would look like. I didn’t know how to save the queen, or even if she could be saved. Or how in the gods’ names we could defeat a kingdom like Drakkar. I didn’t know why they’d called me “the key,” what that could mean, if the people of Nebbiolo would kill me for it, or call me to the throne. The one thing I knew, with chilling certainty, was a war had just begun. And for reasons still outside my grasp, I seemed to be at its center.

And if that wasn’t harrowing enough—everyone on this ship seemed to believe I could save the world from conflict.

I shuddered, brushing off the constricting feelings of pressure and looming disappointment that always seemed to accompany thoughts of duty. “And you—you’re okay with this? With coming to Nebbiolo?” I turned to face Gia once again. “I wish I had time to bring you home.”

“Even if you could, I know traveling back to Argention pregnant is a fool’s errand. You are my home now. And you are the queen expectant of an unfamiliar land—you will need as many allies by your side as you can get. These past few months have been… so unexpected. But no matter what happens, no matter what you face, you can always trust in me.” A hint of a smile played on Gia’s lips as she rested her hand on her swelling belly. I had the distinct feeling she wanted to say more, but I didn’t push her. The gods knew it was a miracle she even made it here, carrying my brother’s child.

“Your confidence never fails to surprise me.” I chuckled silently. “But thank you. You are my truest friend.” I rested a gentle hand on her round stomach. “My little niece or nephew could not be coming into this world to a better mother.”

A sadness flickered across her face, but she only nodded and headed below deck, no doubt seeking respite from the biting sea air.

An unexpected couple of months, indeed. I’d been a human in a small mining town facing the sheer dread of conventional arranged marriage. If only I’d known what was coming for me on that Spring Day. If only I knew what was coming for me now. The cold air should have forced me to follow Gia below deck, but I remained still, frozen in time, anticipating what was ahead, my gaze fixed stubbornly upon a horizon that did not yet reveal an island.

Nebbiolo. My birthright. And perhaps, one day, my home.