He sank into the motorcoach seat, the leather creaking as he did so. “And anyway, I don’t know how you do it out in the mountains, but my sort of people don’t like to waste time on something terrible like this, so it won’t be a long ordeal. The Shackleys are too important for overzealous public drivel if you ask me. Just a few words about Zeke’s service to the army and such. They’d much rather grieve in private.”
Hallie shrugged. She couldn’t tell Ellis the rest of what was bothering her. He wouldn’t understand. A day after their arrival in Kyvena, she, Kase, and Saldr, the Yalven emissary sent to barter an alliance with Jayde, met with the High Council to discuss the mission. She hadn’t seen Kase since, and the thought of him awash with the light from his brother’s funeral pyre tied her stomach in all sorts of wicked and frayed knots.
The memories of their last week in Myrrai, the Yalven city housing the Gate, were all a blur of meals and books in her mind, but Kase’s strong arms folded around her, holding her in the hours after Zeke’s death, made Hallie’s cheeks heat, even in the shadowed interior of the motorcoach. She remembered his soft kiss on her messy hair as she soaked his shirt through with tears, his own blending with hers.
They hadn’t talked of that since, and she was going to see him tonight.
Get a hold of yourself for moons-sake. It’s just Kase. And you’re going to a Burning.
But it wasn’t just him. He’d be there with the rest of his family and the wealthy elites of Jayde. As the city streetlamps faded behind them in the dusky sky, the knots in Hallie’s stomach tied themselves ever tighter. She smoothed the creases from her gray skirt. She’d thrown her only black dress in the inn’s dining room fireplace after Jack’s Burning. She couldn’t stand to keep the blasted thing in her wardrobe.
Thinking it would help her fit in better and draw attention away from the fact she wasn’t wearing mourning black, Hallie had also twisted her hair into a proper lady’s bun free of stray hairs. She ran a hand over it. Her hand shook slightly.
“Stop stressing. I promise you no one’s going to be judging your attire or station here. The flames will be a little distracting,” Ellis said softly.
Hallie peeked over at him, still jiggling his leg. She took a deep breath, the rush of oxygen in her chest calming her nerves for the moment. “Easy for you to say. If Petra were here, you’d be primping your hair in the window reflection the entire time.”
“She’s getting married in five months. Surely, she hasn’t allowed you to forget that fact.”
He was trying to lighten the mood, but over the years they’d known each other, she’d learned to read him like a book. His eyes dulled at her next words. “You could talk to her father.”
Ellis rubbed a hand across his face. “That’s not how you do it in the city. Especially with a family as eager to rise in society as Petra’s. My family doesn’t mind being lower than say the Shackleys, but that doesn’t mean I can have my pick of a bride either. Father might not much care if or who I choose, but Mother’s got her eye on someone.”
Hallie chewed the inside of her cheek. “Who?”
Ellis shrugged. “Dunno for sure, but she’s been busy planning dozens of dinner parties. I think I’d be happier living life to myself. Somewhere on the coast. Maybe I’ll buy a ship and become a captain.”
“Didn’t you tell me you get seasick?”
“I’m sure I’d find my sea legs eventually. Just imagine spending the rest of your days with the spray of the sea brushing your face as you ride the waves toward the sunset.”
“And you’d leave me here with the wolves? How dare you?” Hallie punched him lightly on the shoulder.
“I’ll make you my first mate if you want, but you’d have to follow my orders.” His eyes were bright for the first time that evening and lifted the somber mood from moments before. “You’d probably forget I was in charge, so I’d have you walk the plank to the awaiting sharks just below.”
“But you’re atrocious with directions. Almost got us killed when you gave us a tour of that port city on school holiday.”
“Just because you made a better grade in Geography doesn’t mean you get to rub it in,” Ellis huffed.
“If you’d studied more instead of flirting with Petra in the library that night before the final, then maybe you would’ve scored higher.”
