Page 106 of The Moon Blessed King
Alest just snuggles his cat more.I am too, he thinks.I am too.
It takes three weeks to travel to the Blessedsafe at the pace their delegation requires.
They stop frequently. At each town they pass, Alest meets his people as their king for the first time. Some of their travelling party break off in these instances, returning home. Sunny sits curled around Alest’s shoulders or on his saddle in most cases, staring at the world around her, spoilt by everyone who sees her. She’s been given a jewel-encrusted collar with a little leash that keeps her from getting hurt or lost. Not that she seems interested in going very far.
‘But you’re a Reaper,’ Madame Leonde says when she realizes just how much the cat enjoys Alest’s company.
‘During my ordeal, when I spoke to Death, I learned how to control it. I…have found balance in what that means to me. I hope I can help others do so as well. It would mean a lot to our kind. Sunny is living proof of that balance.’
‘Yes,’ she murmurs. ‘I’m sure it would mean a lot.’
In some ways, the cat itself becomes something of a mascot for their journey. It seems to grow bigger the longer they travel, and its antics are boisterous and exuberant enough that when people stare at Alest, he can pretend they are staring at his cat instead. Elician, of course, spends the entire time trying to befriend Sunny only to get hissed and swiped at. ‘You’re named after me, you know,’ he growls at the grey-and-white beauty when she once again tilts her ears back and complains.
‘She is not,’ Alest lies.
‘Sunnyisn’t named after your beloved husband, King of theSun Kingdom?’ Elician asks him incredulously.
‘No,’ he lies again.
‘I don’t believe you.’
‘When have I ever lied to you?’ Alest asks him. Elician squints like it’s a trick question and wags his finger at the cat. Sunny swipes at him.
‘You’re on thin ice, princess,’ he warns her.
Alest wonders if he can just give the monarchy to a cat. He supposes things like warfare and plagues would be far beyond a cat’s ability to comprehend, but perhaps that’d be for the best. It would certainly be easier than whatever it is he and Elician are trying to build now, though ease is not and has never been the point.
It’s a test, Alest knows.
He hates tests.
Still, at least for now, he lets his fingers softly pet the neck muscles of the horse he rides too. He feels its hair between his fingers.Live, he thinks the whole time.Just live a bit longer for me.And the horse does exactly as it’s told.
CHAPTER THIRTY-EIGHT
Fenlia
Fen needs to stop herself from whooping with glee when she sees Alelunen banners in the distance. Cieli is far more reserved, but she is smiling too.
Fen wasn’t surprised to receive a summons to the Kingsclave, but Cieli had been at her own. ‘You were the first Reaper that Cat assigned to Soleb on a proper mission,’ Fen had to explain. ‘Of course you’d be there!’
‘There’s still not much I can offer a council of kings,’ Cieli argued, more than a little uncertain.
‘You can offer your perspective,’ Zinnitzia cut in. Then she told them to get moving and they did.
Letters came in for weeks on both sides of the border; accommodations were hastily arranged, tents were pitched, foundations plotted out, flags put on display. The clerics are still running around, desperately trying to get everything in order.
After months of healing the sick and mitigating the fallout of the plague, Fen is almost glad for the reprieve of the summit. She is more than a little happy that it means that both Cat and Elician are on their way back as well. What they’ll do next is still uncertain, but at least for now she’ll be able to see them in person and be there when those final decisions are made. By collective agreement, no onethought it best to tell Elician exactly what transpired with Kassandra and Hamadjustyet. It is a delicate matter that has already been handled; it can wait until he arrives in person.
Still, even with the anxiety and uncertainty swirling around the summit, Fen feels nothing but joy when the Alelunen party draws close enough for her to make out her brother’s face amongst the crowd. She turns expectantly to where Adalei and Lio have been putting their own final preparations into place. They walk out to stand before their delegation, and Fen doesn’t think she has ever seen Lio look so dignified in all their lives. He’s dressed in a beautiful medley of silver, black and gold. A faint streak of white can be found only in the sash that is tied about his waist. He is a perfect complement to his betrothed, who is nothing less than a work of art.
The dress she wears is bold and stark in its presentation. Bisected straight down the middle, the fabric is black down the left side of her body and white along the right, silver moons and stars embroidered delicately in the black, while golden suns and rays of light sparkle in the white. Her headscarf is black at its base, but it twists and ties at the curve of her neck and drapes over both shoulders in long folds of white. The back half-circle of her crown is now decorated with silver and gold chains that hang from the careful weave of the precious metal band itself. And dangling from these chains are tiny stars and moons and suns. Only her face is clear of the strands and their delicate beauty.
They are a couple who match each other and the mood of this meeting with undeniable grace, and were it not for Elician and Cat, Fen wouldn’t be able to take her eyes off them.
But arrive the kings eventually do. They are at the head of their company, and they dismount only when they’re a short distance away. There is something…crawling around Cat’s neck, but Fen cannot quite tell what it is. He scoops it up as he gets off his horse and leaves it there on the saddle, and ityowlsin displeasure at being left behind. Cat…has a cat. Fen gapes a little, losing track of therest of the procession until Adalei sinks low into a deep curtsey, one hand over her chest, Lio mimicking it with an effortless bow. Both stay low, as is correct, until the kings tell them to rise.
‘It is a joy to see you, my kings,’ Adalei says.
