Page 109 of The Moon Blessed King
‘I never thought I would,’ he confesses.
It is a wondering, awe-filled tone. Consumed by a reverence that Fen has never once felt for another. She has felt attraction before, certainly. Though she doubts Rodans will ever be someone she can connect with on a deeper level now. Perhaps if he proves himself. Perhaps he, too, requires a test of his own that reveals who he really is and what he really wants. Maybe then, he will be worthy. Maybe then, she could feel more than a base desire to be wanted, to be noticed, and to thrill at the thought of another’s eyes on her. Maybe then, she could feel something closer to what she sees here, now. Where Elician has nothing at all to prove to his husband, and Alest has nothing more to prove to Elician, and still – always – they gravitate to each other as two halves of one soul.
‘I’m going to leave with Cieli when the negotiations are finished,’ she tells her brother. She does not ask for permission. She does not need it. ‘We’re going to travel, and she’s going to teach me how to be an intelligencer like my father. When I come back, I will offer my services to the crown if you will have me.’
‘I might not be on the throne long enough to accept your bid,’ Elician muses, though his good humour fades with each word past his lips. ‘It won’t take long for blame to be aimed at me for what happened with the plague. Once Adalei is ready…once we have a basis of a system between the two nations and the alliance is confirmed, I’ll be abdicating.’
‘Where will you go then?’
‘Altas…I’ll be with Alest in Altas, and I too will serve where I can. But Adalei was impressed with how you handled Hamad. So was Lio, for that matter. Your request would be accepted, I’m certain.’
‘How can you give it up? You fought your entire life for this crown.
Your parents made you lie and pretend and you suffered so much just to become king, and now…’
‘I suffered to bring peace. And now, if we have it, what more could I ask for? I did my part. And I think…I think what I want now is to just see this peace through, and then find my own.’
‘And you can do that with him?’ Fen asks.
‘Yes, I believe I can.’
Once, Fen might have asked something inappropriate.Even if he’s Alelunen? Even if he’s a Reaper?But now, here, watching a campfire burn and seeing two armies who have never liked each other mix with tepid curiosity side by side, she says instead:
‘I hope it makes you happy.’ And she means it, with all her heart.
‘There’s something you should know,’ Elician says next, lowering his voice. ‘Your father’s final mission was to try to save Alest from the Reaper cells. He died in the process. Alest only found out who your father was after your altercation in Kreuzfurt. He’s been afraid to tell you.’
‘You shouldn’t have told me for him,’ Fen says. But it’s an absent thought, one that comes instinctively to her lips. She thinks, instead, of her father. Of his final goodbye. Of him promising to come home and never following through. She has always known he died serving his country. Now, she knows he died trying to help an enemy prince escape a horrible fate. He would have been disappointed in her, for treating that enemy prince as poorly as she did when they first met. ‘I have a lot to learn if I’m to be half as good as him,’ she says. ‘I might be gone a long while.’ But she thinks, with Cieli, she will have the best opportunity to learn.
Elician cups her cheek, and she closes her eyes to receive his benediction.
‘We’ll be here when you get back,’ Elician tells her, kissing her brow. ‘And whenever you need to speak—’
‘I’ll contact you. I promise.’ Then, wrapping her arms around his neck, she presses her head to his shoulder and breathes in the sweetsmell of lemongrass on his skin. He holds her close. ‘Thank you, for not giving up on me when I was the worst person I could have been to you all.’
A kinder man would lie and tell her she wasn’t as horrible as she truly was. But for all of Elician’s kindness, it is his honesty that Fen values more than anything. For she believes him when he kisses her brow one more time and says: ‘Thank you for being willing to learn.’ Then, for the first time in her life, he tells her: ‘You made me proud.’
She lets out a breath of air that she feels as if she has been holding since the day she discovered she became a Giver. Her head tilts forward in a final bow, weighed now by relief as much as faith.
Fenlia knows her path, and she knows she will always strive to do better for ever more.
One week later, adorned in their regalia, crowns perfect and flawless on their heads, Fen suspects no one in attendance could doubt the divine right that led Cat and Elician to this place. The clerics have built a great theatre on the main grounds with seats on all sides permitting equal access and viewing to all. The sanctum where Alenée was murdered serves as the backdrop to the negotiations taking place now. Elician and Cat stand outside it. They don’t enter in secret at this enclave.
They each take turns speaking to their delegations. Their speeches are precise and formal. Fen hears little of their personalities in the strict and formal way they describe their intentions and their goals. There are moments of applause, moments where cheers go up through the entire assembly. They are common-ground moments, unifying moments. The war is over. The plague is gone. Their cultures, rich and unique as they are, will not be expected to assimilate or change, merely be aware and cognizant of a chance here, at long last, for peace.
‘We are not a unified people,’ Elician says. ‘We won’t be, not for decades. Not, perhaps, for hundreds of years. Our feelings and histories are too different, too scattered. Everything from our architecture to our food is at odds. But that doesn’t mean we can’t find benefit or value in knowing our neighbour.’
‘We are storytellers in Alelune,’ Cat says. ‘Our lives and each other’s lives are our memories. We don’t know the story of Soleb, but we have an opportunity to know it now. To hear their stories and to bring our stories to them.’
‘This isourshared dream,’ Elician continues, easily slipping in and around Cat’s speech as Cat finds footholds in Elician’s.
‘But the only way to realize our dream is to ensure that our people can coexist politically…and socially.’ Cat glances at Elician, and Elician nods once. He raises his voice just a little, making sure that all those gathered hear himperfectly.
‘We cannot be Soleb and Alelune if we are united. But to ensure both countriesareunited…we need both countries to really live in unison. We are countries of sun and moon, day and night. And from this moment forward, we will have no boundary between us.’
‘Soleb and Alelune will be two separate states. Their laws and regulations will remain their own, but our intention is to establish understanding and cooperation with each sister kingdom. Change will happen, and we will embrace it to ensure lasting peace between Soleb and Alelune both.’
‘And, to ensure this transition runs smoothly, we will create a new institution, its members forming a bipartisan political body in both countries, to guide the ruling branches of each nation.’ Elician clears his throat. ‘I nominate my cousin, Adalei, to fill this role on behalf of Soleb.’
