Page 10 of Water and Wild

But it was as clear and bright as the morning star.

He loved her. He’d always wanted to protect her, even if she’d be the first to adamantly insist she needed no such thing. How many times had Kit listened to her brother gripe about wanting Elyria to let him in just a little more? To let him help shoulder her burden, to lighten the load of whatever inner turmoil she carried with her.

Kit knew the feeling. She would do anything for Ellie too.

But this?

“Stars damn it, Ev.”

“The Crown of Concord⁠—”

“Yes, yes, I remember. ‘With its power, we could fix so much.’ ” Kit let out a bitter laugh, pressing a hand to her temple. “You don’t want to fix the world. You just want to fix her.”

His jaw ticked.

“And if I were to tell you there’s nothing to fix? That she’ll be fine? That she’s always been fine?”

“I know you pride yourself on knowing just about everybody’s business, little sister, but you will simply have to trust me when I tell you that you don’t know everything. Not about her.”

Kit swallowed the surge of defensiveness that bubbled up at his implication. “I know enough. And unfortunately for you, big brother, this decision isn’t just up to you. This is about all of us.”

Evander ignored her, turning toward their mother. “I wanted to tell you both privately, before the official announcement tonight.”

Laeliana’s lips pressed into a thin line, and Kit thought it might have been to keep them from quivering. “And if I forbid it?”

His golden eyes gleamed with a desperate fire. “You won’t.”

Their mother inhaled slowly, staring at her son as though searching for something—the right words, some way to dissuade him. And then Kit watched her mother’s hands clench into fists as she rose from her chair and took several measured steps toward her son. She placed a palm on his cheek, some unspoken thing lingering in the air between them, then turned on her heel and walked out of the room.

That was it, then.

When the ice-blooded, steel-spined Duchess of Aerithia turned away in quiet acceptance, Kit had no choice but to accept it too. Nothing would change his mind. Evander had made his decision.

She just had to hope they could all live with it.

5

CONTEST

ELYRIA

“I’m entering the Arcane Crucible.”

Evander’s words landed like a physical blow. They rang in her ears, pierced between her ribs like knives, each syllable sharp and heavy. Elyria’s stomach dropped and, for a moment, all she could do was stare at him.

“You’re—” She shook her head, words dissipating on her tongue before she could grasp what she wanted to say. “You can’t be serious.”

Evander’s jaw tightened, but his voice was steady when he said, “I am. I will represent Nyrundelle in the Arcane Crucible. Become a champion of the realm and win the crown for glory and country.”

A sharp, bitter laugh escaped Elyria. “No, you won’t.” Rage surged up from her chest, blazing through her composure. “Are you insane? Do you realize what you’re saying?”

Evander didn’t flinch. “I do.”

Her wings twitched at her back, the darkness deep in her gut starting to roil, agitated. “You know what happens to the champions who go through the Gate.” She took a step closer, pointing a finger at his chest. “It’s stars-damned suicide, Evander. Tell me this is some kind of joke.”

His expression didn’t waver.

“Why?” she demanded, her voice rising. She wasn’t sure if it was the wind or the way her power flared that had the air between them crackling. “You’re the heir to the duchy! You have everything—you don’t need to prove yourself, you don’t need glory, you⁠—”