Father leaned back in his chair, a sigh escaping his lips. “Then I suppose you should go. But you will keep in touch, and you will return when you are able.”
Mother protested, but Father calmed her with a hand on her shoulder. He waited for Alena to answer.
“I will,” she said. “If you wish, I can form a connection with you the same way I did with Brandt before he left. I should be able to reach you that way.”
Alena looked to Jace. Mother would eventually follow Father’s lead, but Jace was another matter entirely. He stared at the table, fists still clenched. When he did look up, his jaw was set. “I will go with you,” he declared.
“What?” Alena asked, her question joining the chorus of inquiries coming from their parents.
Jace shrugged. Once he made a decision, he rarely retreated from it. “I lost you once to the Etari. I don’t mean for it to happen again.”
A dozen challenges presented themselves to Alena, but one above all else. “But what about your promotion?”
His only answer was to meet her gaze. She saw then that nothing she could say would change his mind. He would follow at a distance if she didn’t let him join them. She gave him a small nod and he relaxed. He’d been preparing for a fight.
There was little else to discuss. Alena hated seeing Mother distraught, but there was little she could do to ease a mother’s worries. She would form a connection with both of them. It was the only comfort she could offer. She would reach out to them when she had the time.
“I’ll let Ligt know,” she said. “I imagine we’ll leave in the next day or two.”
“And I’ll let the governor know that I’ll be gone for a while,” Jace said.
And just like that, the decision was made.
She was going back to Etar.
And this time, she was bringing her brother.
5
Estern came into view long before they reached its walls. When he first saw it clearly, Brandt stopped to take it all in. He shook his head at the changes visible even from afar. The city had grown since he’d been here last.
He shouldn’t be surprised. It had been, what, a dozen years since he’d last visited? His travels with the wolfblades occasionally brought him through, but not for a while before his fateful visit to Landow. And since then the vast majority of his days had been spent in Highkeep.
Beside him, Ana seemed less impressed. “Looks dirty.”
Brandt smiled. “Still not interested in moving to the city?”
“Give me open air and clean water any day.”
Brandt and Ana shared a dislike of cities, although for different reasons. Brandt had grown up within one, the youngest son of a family of wage-earners. He admired his family, but growing up in a city where so much of the empire’s coin had been on display left him with little but bitter memories. He despised ostentatious displays of wealth, and there were plenty to go around in the larger imperial cities.
They spent the rest of the day reaching the walls of the city. Farms gave way to homes built beyond the walls. Brandt wondered if the city had run out of space or if those who elected to live outside the walls found life to be cheaper and the space more welcoming.
The wolfblade within him frowned at the new construction. He understood why people built in such places. Whether due to cost or space, they could build their homes outside the walls but still retreat inside in case danger threatened the area.
But there was little to worry about here. Estern, while not quite in the center of the empire, was hundreds of leagues away from any border that threatened it. There hadn’t been a meaningful threat in this region since Anders I established the empire two hundred years ago.
He still disliked it. Should the worst come to pass, the houses were a liability. They could shelter invaders or be burned, obscuring enemy movements. Though he didn’t feel the need to circumnavigate the city to prove his suspicion, it appeared as though the construction encircled it.
The houses ended about five hundred paces from the wall. From that point, nothing protected would-be invaders from the sight of the wall. Brandt supposed the short open field was better than nothing.
The gates to Estern stood open, and Brandt and Ana entered without problem. Brandt stopped before he made it a dozen paces into the city. How could such a city even be possible?
Every building in sight was more than a story tall. Several were more than three, and they all seemed crammed together. The noise, especially after the weeks on the road, deafened him. How did anyone get used to such a cacophony?
Ana gave him a small push. “You’re making us look like country folk who’ve never seen a city before.”
“It’s so much bigger than I remember it.”
“It’s still a city.”
“Let’s find someplace to sleep tonight. We can try for an audience with the emperor tomorrow.”
Brandt didn’t have any particular worries on that count. By now, Kyla would have sent a message ahead making the emperor aware of their impending visit. Hopefully accessing the palace wouldn’t prove too difficult.
They faced an overwhelming number of choices for food and shelter. Eventually, Brandt chose one more or less at random. The space seemed clean and the room and food affordable. They weren’t anywhere near the heart of the city, but Brandt suspected they didn’t have the coin for such places.
This suited them better, anyhow.
They enjoyed a quiet meal together, eating before most of the crowd arrived for the evening. That night they retired early. As had often been the case, even after long days on the road, they worked to make Ana’s dream of a family a reality.
That night Brandt fell asleep completely exhausted.
They greeted the rising of the sun
