more. She wasn't going to change Julian's mind and he wouldn't change hers. He was done trying.
“Either way, he's not on the council anymore, so he had better not be giving orders,” Julian said. “He may have started the Dunarians, but he is not the leader.”
“I think you should give him a chance,” she repeated, taking another sip of tea.
“If he proves that he can stay out of my way and let the council do its work without hanging on every word of his, then I will be fine.”
Nalani seemed to accept this, but he knew she was not satisfied. Before she could think of anything else to say about the matter he changed the topic.
“Have you thought about it?”
Her smile turned to a stern seriousness that made Julian know what she was about to say.
“I have,” she said.
Julian looked at her intently. Why was she torturing him by making him wait for an answer?
“I'm not sure how the council will feel about it,” she said.
“Plenty of the council members have been married,” Julian said.
“But not to each other, Julian.” She again set her cup down and turned to Julian, staring deep into his blue eyes. “I want to marry you. I want to marry you more than anything in this world, but I am afraid.”
“There is no law saying we can't,” Julian said.
She nodded. “I know.”
He placed his hand near her chin and she rested her cheek against his palm. “So, what do you say?”
“Come back from your brother’s with the medallion and I will give you an answer,” she said.
His heart was so light he thought it might lift him off his feet. He bent down to kiss her gently. She kissed back, softly yet passionately.
The answer would be yes, he just knew. It had to be yes. No two creatures were more meant for each other.
After a long goodbye, Nalani left reluctantly and Julian changed and gathered his weapons and gear for his trip to Farlaweer. He made his way up to the east tower and opened the large door where Eden waited for him. With the early morning sunrise shining through one of the large openings along the wall, Julian saw the silhouette of Ward Holden, petting Eden on the neck. Eden nipped at Holden's arm tenderly.
“Haha, steady girl,” Holden said.
“Hello, sir,” Julian said, announcing his presence to the interim council leader.
“I'm glad to have caught you before you took off, Julian.” The man stood in front of the sarian as Julian moved in to fill the saddlebags with everything he would need. Eden squawked in excitement at the thought of the coming journey.
“I wanted to talk to you about yesterday,” Holden said.
“My position hasn't changed,” said Julian. “I think we gave Teague too much power by letting him sit in on meetings. He has all the power of a council member except the ability to vote.”
“I believe he prefers Garland Ainsley now,” Holden said.
Julian shrugged.
“It should be good enough for you,” Holden said. “I've been in this since the beginning. Believe me, you want Garland Ainsley to be at the council meetings.”
“Do I want him to lead it?” Julian said.
“Well, Julian I am the interim council leader until Kaden gets back and I've been on this council for a long time. I think I know what I'm doing.”
“Well, so does the rest of the council,” Julian said. “He may be the founder of the Dunarians, but every one of us feels like we've earned our spot. He's had his chance in the past. If you don't even think he should lead then you should understand why I don't think he should be part of the council.”
“You shouldn't be worrying about this now, Julian. His position with the council has nothing to do with your task today. You know how important these medallions are.”
Julian rolled his eyes. “Yeah, I get it.”
“I don't think you do,” Holden said slowly.
Julian wanted to punch something. He did understand. It wasn't as big of a deal as most on the council seemed to think it was, but it was worth going after. The plans for stealing the medallions came to Julian only a year after he had been on the council. He remembered being told all about the secrets of the Jekyll Rock fortress. In a place that few had seen there was a large, flat, stone wall known simply as Marenon’s Map. It was ancient, and the Erellens laid claim to its handiwork, just as they did with the