“Where are you going?” she asked, cocking her head to the side.
“Off to find the astrolabe which once made The Hearthlands so great. And then? If I live? To search the city for my wife.”
I hunkered down at the exit of the throne room and ducked out into the hallway, glancing right and left. The corridor was empty, and I took the moment to pause and scrawl a message onto the yellowed papyrus of the oracle’s love letter.
Nell—wife, I wrote, I have infiltrated the Hearthlands castle with help from an unexpected ally. I am very near to you now, and I will find you, if you do not find me first. I hesitated, but as the words were fading from the parchment, I added one final postscript. Please forgive me for what I have done. It was only because I could not bear to lose you, even if it made me a coward in doing so. I could not bear to lose you then, and I cannot bear to lose you now. Forgive me, my love.
Nell
I was scrubbing the basin of a dark, slimy substance at which I refused to look too closely, thinking about Theon, thinking about the war, thinking about how to get out of this washroom, away from the steaming, spraying faucet and this rank filth. I had known that coming here would thrust me back into the fray, but I hadn’t quite known that the fray would include… this. Knowing Michelle, I should have anticipated that absolute power would be ugliest on her. On the other hand—I was not completely powerless. If I could just get word to the fire dragons that the stars remained on their side, or if I could make off into the night with the astrolabe again… but that wouldn’t work. Not twice. Security was bound to be tripled now.
In the misty washroom mirror, words traced themselves onto the glass as if by some invisible fingertip.
Nell—wife.
My heart quickened. Oh my God! Was Theon near? Or was he seeking to contact me, not knowing that I was already here? In an instant, in a flash, my anger at being deserted on the beach at Beggar’s Hole drained away, and a desperate, clawing need twisted in my gut and up into my lungs. I wished, how I wished, I could respond.
I have infiltrated the Hearthlands castle…
My hands experienced a spasm of shock and joy, causing me to drop the now clean basin which shattered on the tile floor at my feet. I gasped and looked down, too elated to even curse myself for the clumsiness. My eyes shot back to the mirror.
… with help from an unexpected ally, was in the process of evaporating from the mirror. My brow knit as I wondered who had dared bring the rival prince—the future king of the former dynasty—into this palace, knowing the risks.
I am very near to you now, and I will find you, if you do not find me first.
I grinned. I doubted that he had any idea just how true those words were. They evaporated with the mist of the steaming faucet, and I thought that the message was complete, when one final addendum came, halting and yet forceful.
Please forgive me for what I have done. It was only because I could not bear to lose you, even if it made me a coward in doing so. I could not bear to lose you then, and I cannot bear to lose you now…
My heart swelled with love and understanding. It was almost physically uncomfortable, how much I loved him, as if I was ballooning into something which no longer fit the shell of my body. As if I, too, was shifting into a new, beautiful, amazing creature. The wife of Theon Aena.
Forgive me, my love.
I racked my brain for where Theon would possibly go, if he had arrived in the castle. I doubted there was any way that he knew I was here. He would never confide in my masters and tormentors, the Eraeus clan, which meant that he’d be uninformed. No one else knew I was here, save the gentleman in the dungeon, the one with the fireball tattoo on the back of his hand. Altair.
If Theon was here, having no idea that I was also here, where would he go first?
Obviously, the first place I, too, had thought to go as an ally of the fire people: to the astrolabe. Their most certain defense. And if I was caught along the way, I could just say that… say that… I had dropped the basin. And I needed help cleaning it up. It wasn’t like I had been given a broom and a dust pan, after all. Not to clean bed pans.
I rushed through the corridors of the palace, toward the western tower where the astrolabe was kept, a watchful eye on every tapestry, every alcove, every mounted shield, when…
“Nell?”
I would recognize that voice anywhere.
It came from behind an arrangement of ferns, clustered in a corner around a marble pillar. I whirled and there he was. Theon. It felt like a dream. He had been crouched down, but when he saw me, he straightened his knees and rose over six feet into the air. His amber eyes glowed warmly from the shadows, touching on me like sentient flame, and a breathless half-smile graced his lips. I went flying into his arms with no regard for the possibility of a witness, no regard for the endangerment to both our lives—my heart exploded, tears stung my eyes, and I buried my face into his neck, relishing the familiar blast of heat which always buffeted off of his body and onto mine when we embraced.