“I don’t know how long it takes to recover from such a long lapse. We’re probably fortunate to be alive.”
“This is insane!” Charles protested. “Are you sure you’re not just imagining these symptoms?”
“Uncle Charles, Kaevin almost died, and I guess I did too. Believe me, the symptoms are real.”
“Well, I don’t like it.” He scowled. “It’s ridiculous!”
“It will be much simpler when we’re married,” said Kaevin.
Alora cringed as her uncle’s face turned beet-red.
“Married? Did you say married?”
“Uncle Charles—”
“She’s not—” He stopped to take a deep breath and turned to Alora, speaking between clenched teeth. “You. Are. Not. Getting. Married.”
“Of course not, Uncle Charles. He means some day in the far, far future. Years from now.” She squeezed Kaevin’s hand hard to keep him from contradicting her.
Charles squinted at them, his furrowed brows almost covering his eyes. “I’ll make a pallet for you here on the floor. Wait here, and I’ll get blankets and pillows.” He took two steps and whipped his head back around. “And I’m sleeping in here with you. Right there on the couch. And I’m a light sleeper!”
*****
Charles tossed and turned on the sofa, until he surrendered to his insomnia, sitting up to rub his eyes. He would get no sleep tonight without something to calm his nerves. Perhaps he needed to make a cup of chamomile tea.
On the floor, Alora and Kaevin slept soundly, their fingers still entwined. Alora’s face was the picture of innocence. Even the boy looked harmless as he slept, but Charles couldn’t know what his intentions were. I don’t know anything about this boy. Realizing his fingers had balled the blanket inside his tight fists, he forced his hands to relax.
He stood up, padding across the room to the fireplace. Reaching up on the mantle, he removed a small, framed picture, holding it with trembling fingers.
“Lena,” he whispered. “I don’t know what to do. I’m no good at this parenting thing. You were the one who always made the decisions.”
He stared down at his wife’s face, willing her to answer him. “How am I supposed to raise a fifteen-year-old girl without you? Why did you have to die?”
A tear rolled down his face to splash
on the glass. “I’m so afraid, Lena. I’m going to screw this up, I just know it. One wrong decision, and I’ll mess up Alora’s whole life. No one told me it would be this hard when we first held that tiny little baby in our arms. I didn’t know how scary it would be to be a father.”
He pressed the frame against his chest. “What am I going to do about this boy? You and I made up our dating rules for Alora a long time ago, and this boy doesn’t fit at all. He’s too old, and we don’t know his parents. But now they tell me they’re bound together. They say they’re soulmates, not that I really understand it. What should I do?”
Charles placed the picture back on the mantle, staring once again at her face… so peaceful… so beautiful… the woman he’d loved for so many years. He could still remember how her voice sounded. But that voice was only a memory. Lena didn’t answer him. He was on his own.
*****
The expedition group gathered to leave on horseback at dawn. Twenty-one men and women made up the search party, which would split into three groups after crossing the mountain pass. Graely intended to question clansmen in the towns along the way. Barring a blizzard or attack on the trail, the trip would take a fortnight. Graely, Morvaen, and Nordamen each carried one of three sightstones set in lanyards for the purpose of communicating with Darielle. And these three men would also be the group leaders once the party separated. Graely waited as each horse passed, set to take up the rear of the expedition.
“Wait!” he called to the last horseman, a broad-shouldered man whose face was hidden under a hood. “Bardamen, we’ve discussed this. We cannot afford to risk your life on this expedition. We have no other shaman for the clan. The rest of us can be replaced.”
The man halted his horse, turning to face him with barely controlled anger.
“But you will surely need more than just my father on the expedition. As it is, only one group will have a shaman. What happens if you’re detected? Water Clan has many shamans.”
“Exactly. And what happens if we leave the clan unprotected with no shaman?”
“We have wards here. Laegenshire is well-protected.”
“My decision is final.”
“But—”