could come out of this with a strong bond that will stand both of our kingdoms in good stead for many years.”
Weylind gave a slight nod to this. “We are facing either mutual trust or mutual destruction.”
“Exactly.” Averett nodded and pointed at the treaty again. “Thanks to my sister, I know you. I know you’re a king who cares about the welfare of his people and who loves his brother very much. I am also a king and a big brother. I understand the burdens of duty you face. Now, if my chatty, overly optimistic sister and your shy, skittish brother can make their marriage work, then surely the two of us can manage to work together long enough to see this war through to victory. What do you say?”
Averett stuck out his hand across the table, as if he were a merchant haggling over a bargain in the market.
Weylind stared at the offered hand for several long seconds. Averett didn’t withdraw it. Perhaps Edmund had warned him that it might take Weylind a few moments to figure out how to react to such a human gesture.
With a slump to his shoulders, Weylind turned to Jalissa and switched to elvish. “What was your impression of them?”
Jalissa glanced at Essie’s brothers, her gaze lingering longest on Edmund. Probably because she realized Edmund could fully understand this conversation, since he spoke elvish. Finally, Jalissa turned to Weylind. “They are surprisingly honorable and good-hearted, for humans.”
A month ago, those words might have been said with derision. Now, Jalissa’s tone held a warmth, almost a teasing.
Essie had to resist the urge to lean over and hug Jalissa.
Edmund’s mouth twitched. Averett remained still, hand outstretched across the table, while Julien sat straight and regal, as if he knew he was being evaluated even if he couldn’t understand what Jalissa and Weylind were saying.
The hint of a smile dropped from Jalissa’s face. “And Farrendel likes them.”
Essie clenched her fingers beneath the table until her nails bit into her palms. She swallowed back the rising lump in her throat, her chest aching again.
“And we like him,” Edmund stated, in Escarlish.
Weylind’s gaze snapped to him, though Essie didn’t think he should have been surprised. They had pretty much established that he was a spy, and Averett hadn’t been at all concerned sending him off with an elven scouting party.
Averett waggled his fingers. “I’m willing to drag my entire kingdom into a war for the sake of my new brother-in-law. If that doesn’t prove my sincerity, I don’t know what does. So how about it? Friends?”
Weylind stared at Averett’s hand yet again before pointing and asking in elvish, “What does he expect me to do now?”
“It is a human custom for greetings and farewells and sealing bargains. It is apparently a varied, all-purpose custom similar to ours.” Jalissa made the mouth to forehead gesture.
Essie smiled, though it still felt strained. “I know. It’s unsanitary. But you’re supposed to grip his hand and shake.”
Had it only been a week since she’d had the same conversation with Farrendel? She’d been filled with so much hope and optimism and excitement at seeing her family again. The week had been one of the best in her life...until yesterday tore her heart out.
Farrendel wasn’t dead. She had to keep reminding herself of that. While he was alive, there was still hope. No telling what shape he might be in or how long it might take, but as long as he was alive, they could—and would—rescue him.
As long as he wasn’t dead, she wasn’t going to mourn like he was.
With a curl to his mouth that was probably disgust, Weylind reached out and shook Averett’s hand. Not a hearty handshake by any means. But it was a start. “Very well. I will allow both your brothers into Tarenhiel. But I wish for your sister to come as well. I believe her presence may be necessary to smooth tensions when they arise.”
“Essie?” Averett turned to her. “It’s up to you. I have no wish to push you if you do not feel up to it.”
She was scraped raw from the inside out, and nothing sounded better than one of her mother’s hugs and a good cry with her sister-in-law Paige, Averett’s wife and Essie’s longtime friend.
But after that, she would end up stuck at Buckmore Cottage missing Farrendel and frustrated that there was nothing she could do to hasten the glacial pace at which bureaucratic matters in Escarland moved.
In Tarenhiel, she could be useful. She was