Daughters of Fire & Sea
Page 39
“What time is it?” Elaina rasped. She reached for a glass of water by the bed.
“You slept an entire day, your highness,” Lada said.
“A day?”
“Yes, your highness.” Lada set the tray down on the bedside table, moving aside the water-filled jug, and uncovering a bowl of orange broth and slices of dark spice bread. “There’ve been reports of dragons, your highness!” Lada flushed, laughing nervously. “I know it sounds ridiculous, no one has seen a dragon in thousands of years, but a merchant coming from Elesieayn sent a Skyrunner to Lord Yaender, claiming he’d seen one west of Lisos! The poor bird arrived half-dead from exhaustion with a singed wing! Can you imagine? The merchant claimed Ayanar is on fire, and a white dragon attacked one of Elesieayn’s border cities.”
“Dragons?” Elaina asked. Her thoughts felt slow like they were caught in heavy mud. Surely she’d misheard Lada.
“I’d say he was in his cups, of course,” Lada continued, “but there have been other reports as well. I don’t understand it. I thought the Old Ones were dead.” Lada paused and stepped back from the table. “Begging your pardon, your highness.”
“No, it’s all right, Lada,” Elaina said. “It does seem impossible.” What did it mean? Who had brought them back?
“My father,” Elaina asked, “how has he taken the news?”
“King Rakarn has called a council with his strategists, your highness. They are in the War Room. He’s set to address the city, I believe. The townsfolk are clamoring for a response. People are both excited and concerned. No mobs in the street yet, but there are no dragons here. Not yet.” Lada laughed nervously. “I thought the Old Ones were wise and helpful. Didn’t they mediate concerns between the kingdoms, after the Demon War? Why are they destroying cities?”
Dread twisted Elaina’s stomach, and she pressed her hand over her belly. “I don’t know,” Elaina said. “Thank you, Lada. Please let me know if you hear anything more.”
Lada nodded then put a hand in her pocket, laughing. “Forgive me, your highness. I almost forgot that I have a letter for you.”
“A letter?” Elaina frowned.
“Yes, it was delivered by a stable boy.” Lada flushed, staring at the folded paper in her hand. “Were you not expecting one? I’d thought you might have a ... a male friend or …” Her face turned bright red, and she looked up at Elaina worriedly.
“Yes, yes I’m expecting it,” Elaina said quickly, holding out her hand. “Thank you. This is something I’d like kept private.”
“Of course, your highness.” Lada gave her the letter then left the room, closing the door.
Elaina held the letter in her hands, examining it curiously. The paper was rough, not the silky parchment the highborn used, but one available to anyone in the market. It bore no seal and had been skillfully folded, the ends tucked in such a way that the letter stayed closed. Opening it with her fingernail, Elaina unfolded the paper.
They are safe, it read. It was not signed, the words centered in the paper.
Who had sent this? She didn’t recognize the handwriting, but to who else could it refer other than Lyric and Runa? Eleden must have sent the letter, which meant someone was in the city who could tell her what had happened to her daughters.
Smiling with relief, Elaina tucked the letter inside her robe. She’d have to burn it. She could not let her father know she had an ally nearby.
Looking at the window, Elaina’s thoughts returned to the dragons. She stared hard at the glass as if she could see through it to the lands west of Raendashar. Was her father involved? If anyone could summon the dragons, it’d be him. Is this what he’d tried to do, all those years ago? Had he finally succeeded?
But if he’d brought the Old Ones to life, why were they on the other side of Erith in Ayanar? Why weren’t they here?
Elaina thought about Kell’s mother, the Daughter of Valen she’d seen speaking with her father all those years ago. Could she be connected to Thenda or the dragons? What secrets might she have shared with Rakarn? What mysteries about death and the Veil? Why was she helping him? And why hadn’t she tried to find Kell?
“I need to get out of this cursed bed,” Elaina growled. She reached for her tray and lifted it with shaking hands onto her lap. She needed strength and clarity. She needed to find out what in Hel’s name was going on. Lyric and Runa were out there somewhere. They needed her. She would not leave them to fight on their own.
She’d find Eleden’s man in the city and learn where the girls were. She’d let them know she was alive, and tell them to stay away from Raendashar. She’d find out her father’s connection to the dragons, and his plans for the Sireni, for her daughters, and for Erith itself. Her father’s lust for conquest had never been confined to the Sea. Everything that now threatened her children was because of Rakarn’s obsession with power, with control.
“I will find you,” she said, thinking about Kell’s mother. “And you’ll tell me how to break my father.”
Eyes blazing fiercely in her gaunt face, Elaina ripped apart a piece of bread and imagined the look on Rakarn’s face when she tore his kingdom down around him.
Author’s Note
Thank you for reading Daughters of Fire & Sea, the first book in the Daughters of Fire & Sea series. If you’d like to find out about new stories (including the next in the trilogy), you can join my mailing list or visit my website byhollykarlsson.com.
If you enjoyed the book, I’d love it if you left a review. Reviews help me craft better stories and help other readers find this book. Thank you for your support!
Lyric and Runa’s adventure continues in The Dragon Flute, the second book in the Daughters of Fire & Sea trilogy coming in 2020.
This book would not have been possible without the endless encouragement and support from my husband Kent, who always graciously listens to my ideas and short stories, often presented enthusiastically at inopportune moments. Thank you for inspiring and challenging me. Thanks to my kids for growing old enough to entertain themselves and giving me lots of little moments throughout the day to furiously type on my computer.
I’d also like to thank my developmental editor, Kendra Olson for understanding the heart of my story and helping me see where it needed to be strengthened. A big thank you to my friends and beta readers: Amanda Alling Andrén, Allison Carr Waechter, Ashley Pfohl, Beth Okamoto, Heather Maddox, Jenn McGuill, Jim Karlsson, and Tove Maren Stakkestad. Your critique and enthusiasm have been invaluable.
And thank you, my readers for taking a walk in Lyric and Runa’s world. I’d love to hear from you, so please feel free to send me a message on www.byhollykarlsson.com, Facebook, or Twitter.
Lyric and Runa will return in
The Dragon Flute
(Daughters of Fire & Sea Book Two)
Coming 2020. Available for pre-order on Amazon.
Also by Holly Karlsson
A Wish in the Dark & Lawbringer (available on www.byhollykarlsson.com)
Daughters of Fire & Sea (Book 1)
The Dragon Flute (Daughters of Fire & Sea Book 2) Coming 2020
SECRET NAME* (Daughters of Fire & Sea Book 3) Coming 2020
Unusual Diction: Volume One
Unusual Diction: Volume Two
About the Author
Holly Karlsson is a speculative fiction writer who roams and writes in the Pacific Northwest with her husband, children, and a dragon’s hoard of journals. She’s the author of Unusual Diction Volume One and Two and a new epic fantasy trilogy called Daughters of Fire & Sea.
rethis-inline-share-buttons">share