by Lisa Rector
But this freedom—she didn’t deserve this. How could she ever make amends for all her past deeds? How could she live with herself knowing she caused Einion’s death?
Siana stroked her hair and spoke soothingly. “There now, Rhianu. Wait. Wait, my dear one.” Her voice dropped lower. “Oh, how I’ve longed to hold you again, my darling.”
“Mother,” Rhianu whispered through her tears. No other words were necessary. Her mother never harbored any resentment for Rhianu’s past deeds and ill treatment. How could Siana be so forgiving when Rhianu had done the worst to her? Rhianu wept harder.
Another hand touched her shoulder. She looked up expecting, hoping, to see Meuric, but it was not him.
Urien smiled at her. “Rhianu, you can go to him.” She looked into his face, trying to understand what he meant. But Urien looked past her to Siana. He spoke again to Rhianu, sparing her a small glance. “Go to Einion.”
Rhianu released her mother, and Siana fell into her father’s arms, happy to be reunited after centuries apart. Siana and Urien clutched each other with desperation as they cried. Rhianu was glad to see them together at last.
Such a sudden change of heart, Rhianu, Aerona said. I like it.
Rhianu blushed. Aerona, I’m afraid.
Just go to him. Say goodbye.
She left them in their embrace and turned toward Einion. Rhianu was not sure she wanted to look into his lifeless eyes, having seen death too many times. But she should say farewell to this man she loved and who was the father of her unborn child. She caressed her flat stomach as if in reassurance of the light she still bore.
The emrys around Einion’s body parted to allow her through. She knelt beside Einion and touched his face—his still warm face. She stroked his cheek, and a tear ran down hers and splashed beside his nose. Rhianu gently wiped it off and laid her head against his chest to hold him for one final time.
Einion’s chest quivered. He moved. How did he yet move? Was this the final expiration of his breath? A thrumming beat filled her ears—a strong beat—a steady beat.
The beat of life.
A cough jarred her. “Woman, you’re going to be the death of me.”
What? What! Rhianu lifted her head and looked into his face. “Einion!” His brown eyes were open, and he grinned at her, though somewhat feebly. Rhianu covered her mouth to hide her amazement and to stifle a startled, little laugh.
Einion lifted a shaking hand to hers in a weak attempt to unveil her smile. The rest of his body lay limp, his vigor not yet recovered.
Rhianu dropped her hands, and in a move that astonished her, she leaned forward and kissed him tenderly on the cheek. And she kissed him again. And in another spot. Again, and again, desperately covering his face with kisses and laughing through her tear-stained cheeks.
Einion poked at a tear on Rhianu’s cheek, clumsily wiping it away. “Rhianu, hold still,” he whispered.
She stopped kissing him and looked down, pushing her lips out in a pout. She hoped she hadn’t misjudged his feelings. He did love her, right?
“Oh, now, don’t do that. Let me make myself clear.” Einion pulled her face toward his.
Her lips fell on his, ever so slowly, ever so carefully. Their mouths pressed together, and her lips yielded into the softness of his. They lingered there in quiet petition, the yearning tangible. When they reluctantly parted, Rhianu remained close, her face inches from Einion. She found her hand holding his.
“Rhianu, are you all right?” Einion’s brows creased. “Are you hurt?” He was always so concerned.
She shook her head hard enough that her braid smacked her neck. “Meuric, I don’t…” The tears came again. Her joy at Einion’s being alive was swallowed up in the loss of her brother. “He’s gone. He was here… until the blast.”
Einion pulled Rhianu against his chest, and she lay with his arms around her while she cried.
***
Time passed slowly before Einion had the strength to move. Trahaearn lingered close while Rhianu smothered him with tears. Einion winked at his dragon, who patiently waited for Rhianu’s grief to ebb. He longed for his dragon stone—longed for the link to their minds to be restored.
Rhianu pushed away, but she kept her hands on his chest. Einion spoke to Trahaearn. “Old friend. It feels ages since I’ve seen you.”
“Feels the same way, Brother.” Trahaearn cleared his voice and pawed the ground. “It seems I have to give you bad news and more bad news.”
“Oh?” Einion was not sure what else had happened during the tumult. He braced himself, waiting for Trahaearn to find the words.
“Well…” The dam inside Trahaearn split open.
Witnessing a dragon cry broke the hearts of the most strong-willed emrys, and Einion didn’t need a stone to feel Trahaearn’s anguish. Deep lines creased the dragon’s face, and drops the size of Einion’s hand soaked into the sand around them. Tiny, pink, mossy flowers sprouted on the barren desert ledge everywhere the tears fell. They would be covered in a mound if Trahaearn didn’t stop. Einion reached out, and Trahaearn laid his claw beside Einion so he could touch it. The contact caused a brief decrease in his dragon’s tears.
“It’s all right, Trahaearn. You can tell me,” Einion said.
“Well, first, our stone is gone.” With that, Trahaearn wailed greater dragon tears.
“Our dragon stone?”
Trahaearn nodded his big dragon head up and down.
“Oh, Trahaearn!” This was an undeniable blow, but Einion perceived worse news was to follow. “It’s only a stone. Our bond goes beyond that.” It was a feeble attempt to buoy each other up before Trahaearn shared the other bad news. Rhianu’s grip tightened on his hand.
“You see… Catrin…” Trahaearn gulped. “She was wearing your stone…”
Einion’s heart skipped a beat. Where was Catrin?
“She was right here—right next to me. The blast… Catrin… she’s gone!” Trahaearn finished with another wail.
Rhianu interjected. “Like Meuric.”
What were they saying? Catrin gone? Meuric gone? His stone gone? “Trahaearn, do you feel a connection… anywhere?” Einion asked.
Trahaearn shook his head. “Nothing. It happened on impact when the shockwave rushed over us. That’s when I felt the connection severed.”
“But what does this mean?” Einion didn’t want to believe Trahaearn. “How can this be? People don’t just disappear.” Einion leaned to the side, struggling to rise. He wanted to see for himself. Rhianu pulled him up.
Einion looked around. Emrys were everywhere, limping around, healing each other and their dragons. The sun was rising in the sky. The battle had taken the whole of the night. Einion’s journey under the smoking mountain had started with the moonrise. He remembered when he emerged from the chamber. Meuric grabbed him, and they suddenly materialized on top of this jutting cliff, high above the battle. Einion remembered remarking that he never knew such abilities existed. He last saw Catrin being thrown into Meuric’s arms.
“How does he do it, Rhianu?” Einion asked.
“I’m not sure. I only recently guessed at his ability. He never openly used it in front of me until a few months ago.”
“Siana?” Einion called. She was close and moved to his side quickly. She came with her father. “What do you know of Meuric’s abilities?”
“Nothing, I’m afraid,” Siana said. “I wonder if he recently learned this craft himself. Perhaps he might have felt it unsafe or unwise to use it unless absolutely necessary. My power emerged gradually. It took time to understand. The case might be the same for Meuric. He probably didn’t want to risk using his power until he knew it was stable.”
“Perhaps Meinwen will have answers,” Urien said. “I’m always astounded by her abilities, which she reveals only rarely. She might know of this one.”
“Perhaps,” Einion said. Meinwen knew many more mysteries than she divulged.
***
No answers surfaced about Catr
in and Meuric that day. Einion promised Rhianu he would not rest until he found out what had happened to them—if that was even possible. And Einion needed closure where Catrin was involved. He needed to make sure she was happy, to make sure she forgave him for everything and every way he had ever hurt her.
Catrin and Meuric had to be out there somewhere. Though where they could have gone that the connection of the dragon stone was severed…? The dragon stone connection even worked across the portal into Gorlassar, so where could they be? They had to be alive. Deep within his being, Einion felt that if Catrin were dead, he would know it.
When the healing of the injured was finished, the grim job of making funeral pyres started. Many dragons and emrys had been killed on both sides. Einion watched while they reverently laid the bodies in rows. Fallen emrys were laid lovingly in the arms of their fallen dragons. Some dragons survived their emrys and stood weeping nearby, clutching desperately retrieved dragon stones to be passed on to another generation of riders. Other emrys mourned their lifeless dragons. After the bodies were laid out, the dragons blew a steady stream of fire onto their brethren.
The bodies swiftly turned to ash in the magic of the dragon fire. Einion would never forget the sight. Ash blew upward in the wind, to find a final home for the Guardians of Light, the protectors of the dragons, because that was what they were. They had failed in this duty. The dragons shouldn’t have died. Rhianu cried beside him. Einion felt immense guilt—heavy and deep—surface from her and float toward him.
He squeezed her hand. “Rhianu, I know this feels like it’s your fault. But the only one to blame is Cysgod. He led you to do this.”
“No, Einion. This was my choice. I’ll carry the burden. I appreciate your support though. I understand and take full responsibility for what’s been done. I’ll answer to Deian and suffer the consequences.”
“He’s a forgiving Master.”
“I’m glad. It will take some time for me to know him.”
Einion turned to her. “I love you. You know this, right?”
Her eyes shimmered at him. “Yes. I know.”
“We’ll pull through this.”
What was to be done? Einion had a kingdom to rule. Rhianu had a kingdom to rule. Would she go home and leave him? Should he go with her?
The dragons headed back to their respective homelands while the final ashes lifted into the sky. Einion watched them fly off in the distance until Rhianu, Urien, Siana, and Einion remained alone with their dragons. During the melancholy day of laying the dragons to rest, Nimue had caught up with Siana as well as Meuric’s dragon, Derog. He’d been in the battle waiting for his rider to return. Now he mourned his lost connection. He seemed to have a kinship with Aerona, and she comforted him.
“So…” Einion looked at the three emrys—Father, daughter, and granddaughter, reunited. “What’s the plan?”
Rhianu grabbed Einion’s hand. “My place is with you, but I have a whole country that needs repairing. I’ve left my people desolate. My lands are not a happy place. I need to restore much.”
“I should not abandon my people,” Einion said. “They’ve waited a long time for their king, only to lose him again.” This seemed hopeless. Would they always be parted?
Urien spoke. “I’ll go with Siana and Rhianu to turn rule over to the nobles of Morvith. It will take time. They’ll learn to govern themselves as separate realms working together. The dark dragons should be taught to protect the land as our Dragon Patrols do. Siana and I will seal up the entrance to this Uffern. No other mortal or emrys should ever find their way inside.”
“Sounds like a plan…” Einion looked at Rhianu. “And our child?” He hoped she wanted to raise their child and not pass him off to some wet nurse. But he wanted to be there with Rhianu, for the birth and for the child’s life.
“I had hoped his father would come for the birth. I expect after I reorganize my realm I’ll be too big to fly home.” Rhianu winked at him.
Einion grinned at her. He pictured Rhianu with her belly swollen, her radiant red hair cascading down her back, and her deep brown eyes glaring at him for getting her in this state, but dissolving with love while she smiled with those sweet, full lips. Her lips. He still remembered that first night in Eilian and how he wanted to kiss them. He wanted to kiss them now. Was that where the trouble started?
“You said home,” Einion realized, shaking his head, blinking back what he hoped he heard correctly.
“Yes,” Rhianu said. “Home, with you.”
Einion stared at her. More light glowed inside her besides their child in her womb. She carried her own light now that she was free from the evil. She was still a half-emrys as he was, with the same ever-balancing scale tipping to either light or darkness. They were the same. He was no longer the only one in this part of the world. They would balance their powers together. Never alone again.
“You’re not just a Dark Emrys anymore,” Einion said. “When did that happen?”
Rhianu blushed. “I think it happened when I told you I loved you, when I promised my soul to you. It brought light back inside me.”
“Well that’s something different. Who would have thought pledging your soul to someone would do that?”
Rhianu shoved him. “Einion, you’re a hopeless tease.”
“About home… you plan on returning to Hyledd with me?” Einion asked.
“After our child is born, and I can fly. Yes. If you’ll still have me. Does your marriage proposal still stand? Do you still want me for your wife?”
Einion scratched his head, making her sweat. The desperate look on her face was endearing, and he melted. “Woman, do you not know me? I need to teach you how to sense emotions.”
Rhianu punched him in the shoulder. It hurt.
“You’re killing me. I think I’ll die from being parted for even a short while,” he said.
“Einion…”
He wrapped his arms around her and pulled her in to his chest, whispering in her ear. “I need to teach you to relax.”
“Aww, Einion,” Trahaearn nudged him in the back. “Can we finally show them our roll?”
Rhianu laughed. “I’ve seen your roll.”
“Were you impressed?” Trahaearn asked.
“So impressed that Aerona was even jealous.”
Aerona scowled. They all laughed.
“Wait, I missed this roll?” Einion asked.
“It was during battle, with Catrin.” Trahaearn frowned.
“Oh, I would’ve liked to have seen that,” Einion said. Catrin in the air—upside down on Trahaearn. The world had truly turned upside down. Much had changed. A new beginning waited for them. This was not the end.
EPILOGUE
VAGUE ANSWERS
Parting from Rhianu was not the painful task that parting from Catrin had been. Because of the strength ground into her from years of service as Cysgod’s vessel, she didn’t cry. All her tears had been used up. For this, Einion was grateful. It was hard enough to watch her fly the opposite direction from him with Aerona shrinking on the horizon.
Einion made the long journey back to Terrin alone with his dragon. His voice had become hoarse from shouting at Trahaearn instead of conversing mentally. Eventually they gave up. Living without a dragon stone would not be easy. Trahaearn moaned about aging, and secretly, Einion felt this would be a good opportunity for him to mature and possibly find a mate.
All was well in his realm. Used to ruling, Arthfael had managed in his absence, but he was nonetheless relieved to see his lord alive. Einion stayed a few days before heading to Gorlassar for that promised meeting with Meinwen.
He and Trahaearn paused on the ledge outside the portal. Einion held his hands up to the energy. He had always been able to enter. His darkness had never been enough to prevent access. Einion had truly been surprised when Rhianu couldn’t enter. He closed his eyes, crept his fingers forward, and pushed his hand through the void. The warmth of a spring day greeted him.
He sighed
and merged through the portal.
“Didn’t think you could come home, did you?” Trahaearn asked as he stuck his head through.
“After being the Vessel, I wanted to make sure. I wasn’t in the mood to have my face smashed when we flew through—if that was a possibility.”
They flew over the rolling countryside until they reached Mared. Meinwen was waiting for Einion in the palace. As they stepped outside into the rear gardens, hummingbirds skittered through the air.
“You made it, Einion. Did you ever need to doubt? How is your sparrow?” Meinwen asked.
“You know.” He smiled and flicked his sister’s ear.
“Know what?”
“I love her. I’m sure Urien has told you. She carries my child.”
“Yes.”
“I’m going to marry her.”
“I expected nothing less. But that’s not why you’re here.”
“No. I want you to tell me what you see. Where’s Catrin? And don’t mince words. Don’t pretend you don’t know. You know everything. Don’t do your High Emrys sidestepping and keep the truth from me. What has Deian revealed to you?”
“Oh, Einion. Your heart steers you in the correct direction. Catrin is not dead. She has her own destiny to follow now.”
Einion huffed. She avoided the question by being vague—her usual High Emrys tactic. “Which is?”
Meinwen pinched his cheek. “You’ll have to wait and find out.”
Einion groaned. “Don’t do this, Meinwen. Why can’t Trahaearn hear her? What about Cerys? Can she hear Catrin?”
Meinwen plucked an early rose and sniffed it. “No, she cannot.”
“Then where is she?”
“Catrin is beyond your reach and mine. Deian has a purpose for her. But her heart is broken. You broke her heart, dear brother.”
Einion frowned. “That’s exactly what I was afraid of.”
“Your absolution will have to wait until she finds herself. Has Rhianu found her absolution? She told me she had no need for it.”
“Meinwen! You sneaky minx. You’re changing the subject. I never have straight answers from you.”
