at Essie. “We just need to give them a reason to rally.”
Essie wasn’t sure if she should smile or blink away tears or what. Right now, she just felt too numb. What sort of expression should she wear as the human princess missing her elf prince? How should she look when trying to rally both peoples to get Farrendel back?
Essie glanced around the table in the royal dining room. In some ways, this wasn’t much different from her first time dining with her new elven family. The vaulted ceiling of the dining room soared, held up by pillars made of living branches. The long table filled the center of the room while the elven servants set the plates before them in serene efficiency.
But in many ways, this time was very much different. Not Farrendel’s absence. He had been absent during her first dinner with his family.
This time, Farrendel wasn’t the only one missing. Jalissa was missing, still in Escarland. Melantha was also missing, and her empty seat made everyone shift awkwardly and talk around her absence. Perhaps it would have been better if they had filled that seat or moved it or something.
Beyond Melantha and Farrendel missing, Edmund and Julien sat in two of the seats at the end of the table near Essie. Julien conversed with Ryfon on Escarlish military techniques while Edmund chatted with Brina about Escarlish cities.
It was the most conversation this table had probably seen in a long time. Before Essie had left, Ryfon and Brina had barely begun to open up to her after the troll ambush near Lethorel. But now, it seemed King Weylind’s somewhat more welcoming attitude—and the deepening ties with Escarland—had relaxed the tension.
Perhaps Essie and her brothers felt safe compared to the betrayal that had ripped apart the elven royal family.
Essie picked at her food and tried to participate in the conversation between Queen Rheva and Farrendel’s grandmother Leyleira.
Eventually, Queen Rheva joined Brina and Edmund’s conversation while King Weylind joined Ryfon and Julien.
Leyleira turned to better face Essie. Due to all the missing family members, Essie had somehow ended up next to Leyleira.
With a soft smile, Leyleira patted Essie’s hands. “How are you holding up?”
“As well as can be expected.” Essie forced herself to smile. Leyleira had always been kind to her, even though her words often felt like a test. What would Leyleira read into Essie’s words and expression this time?
A flare of pain shot through Essie’s chest. She gasped, but the pain faded quickly. Farrendel again?
Leyleira’s gaze studied her. “Anything you wish to ask?”
What did Leyleira want her to ask? Or expect her to ask?
There was one thing...Essie hadn’t been sure who to ask about the heart bond. But surely Leyleira would know, if anybody would. “How much will Farrendel be able to sense through the heart bond? I know it connects us, but besides the explanation of how it forms and how I saved Farrendel’s life with it, I don’t know much about it. No one really seems to talk about what having a heart bond is like. Farrendel and I have talked about it, and I know he feels it differently than I do, and I don’t know if all elves feel it like that or...” Essie swallowed back her nervous chattering. “Or, well, I don’t know. How much can he feel?”
Leyleira’s mouth twitched with something almost like a smile, though it faded quickly. Good. At least Essie had asked the right question. Leyleira glanced around the table, everyone else still distracted with conversation, before she turned to Essie. “We elves do not often discuss our elishinas publicly. Often not even with close family. An elishina is considered something private.”
Essie suppressed a sigh. This was another one of those elven propriety things. Seriously, it was amazing the elves managed to actually reproduce, considering all their rules of propriety.
Leyleira’s hint of a smile was back. “Unless, of course, that elishina becomes as obvious as yours and Farrendel’s. Then everyone talks about it unabashedly. I do not know what it is about elishinas between humans and elves that capture our imaginations so.”
The elves’ greatest love story was of a human, Daesyn, and the elf princess Inara, who formed a heart bond that kept Daesyn alive when he should have died, much as Essie had kept Farrendel alive after that troll ambush.
“So glad we can provide plenty of gossip for the elven court.” Essie grimaced and rubbed her chest. The magic of the heart bond, normally so warm with the