A day later, Erin was still unwillingly ensconced in her room, her house arrest continuing until it could be proven that it was safe to let her loose. She knew Koben had only taken her to the meeting with Coyrifan as some sort of last-ditch bargaining chip if needed, but that was the least of her concerns.
Every time she thought of her merling friend, she again saw him writhing in agony as he transformed, then the flash of his claws as they swiped at her, and the ugly, wild expression on his face. It was as if he hadn't even known her. After all of that, he'd left Erin and Koben standing in the surf with no indication of where he was going or why.
She tried to speak to him a few times through her moonstone necklace, but without Imyra nearby to transmit her messages, it was useless.
Erin took to pacing around her room, unable to focus well enough to distract herself with a book, or to stop thinking long enough to lie down sleep away the time. She longed for her tablet so she could check the wiki, or see if any new chapters were available that might tell her what was going on with Coyrifan. At the very least, she could look at all the photos she'd taken of her griffin Phoebe. But the tablet was gone, and no one had said a word to Erin about it. She could only guess who might have it now.
At the click of the outer lock being retracted, then a knock on her door, she jumped and hurried to open it. She expected to see Koben, or her unpleasant host and citizenship sponsor, Captain Tannoran. Even Kaleit would have been welcome. She was just that desperate to interact with a familiar face.
When she swung the door wide, Erin blinked at the impossible sight of her uncle Desmond looking up from the floor to meet her eyes. Reality caught up a moment later, the memory of his face filtering away into the more refined features that belonged to Leslyn.
Even as her eyes unexpectedly began to moisten, she couldn't help but notice the bright red sunburn that blanketed the pale skin of his nose, cheeks and ears. It made him look like he was blushing fit to explode. She couldn't bring herself to laugh, but the tears dried, and she smiled.
“Are you all right?” he asked, his suddenly-tense jaw making it sound a little forced. Oh, yes, he was well aware of that burn, and sensitive about it.
“Yeah.”
“What happened with Coyrifan?”
Erin told Leslyn how she’d been caught talking with Coyrifan through her necklace at the pond, and how she’d convinced Koben to go meet with him at the one-tree beach. Reliving the days that she’d been in the underwater caves made her feel a bit ill now that she was back on dry land, but she soldiered on, describing her time with Coy. She left out the part where they had almost kissed, of course, moving on to the strange and somewhat scary encounter with Zeriva. After that was her definitely scary capture and imprisonment by Chief Ferrifan and his men, with Zeriva watching gleefully on the sidelines. There was little else to tell after that, for she was never informed of their intentions, or why they later released her just offshore.
Leslyn digested the story was a sober face, barely taking his eyes off of Erin. He continued to gaze at her once the story was over, lips parting as if to speak, but unsure what to say. There was something in his look that made her self-conscious, and then annoyed.
“What is it?” she demanded.
“You make no sense.”
For some reason, that made her feel a little guilty, though she couldn’t see why. It was his still-serious expression, or maybe his tone. “What is that supposed to mean?”
“You trusted your life to a complete stranger, yet you wouldn’t even trust me enough to at least consider that it might be a bad idea. After what you just told me, it’s a miracle that you’re still alive to regret it, Erin.”
Erin bristled at the unexpected criticism, jerking in a movement that was half-shrug, half throwing up her hands. “Why do you always care so freaking much about what I do? You’re a stranger, too.”
That threw him for a loop, his brow furrowing and eyes going distant for a brief moment before they locked back on Erin. “I’m not a stranger. We may not have known each other long, but we’re family.”
“What?” Her shoulders sagged and her jaw dropped, teeth showing in a sneer of disbelief. “Are you demented? You are the one who told me you weren’t my uncle.”
“I said I wasn’t Desmond. I just wanted you to get my name right.” He shrugged helplessly. “I didn’t intend to imply anything else. Anyway, when Liren gets back from his assignment, I’ll speak to him on your behalf and convince him to claim you so that—”
The laugh that cut him off was bitterly sarcastic. “Weren't you listening? That man is not my father. My father died three and a half years ago when a building fell on my entire family.”
Their conversation halted into an uncomfortable silence as they both processed the awkward mistake.
Finally, Leslyn spoke again, his voice painfully quiet. “Whether we’re blood kin or not, you’ve been my only friend in Nilvar since the start of all of this. Did I do something wrong to make you suddenly take that friendship away? Was it what I said about Desmond?”
“Yes." Erin crossed her arms, uneasy eyes sliding away from his. "I thought you were trying to push me away.”
“I didn’t intend to. As I said, I merely wished that you would call me by my own name, not someone else’s.”
“The constant nagging didn’t help, either.”
“I wasn’t—oh.” Glancing aside with a guilty look on his face, he ran a hand down the back of his head and neck. “Yes, I understand now. I didn’t realize you saw my advice in that light. To tell the truth, you wouldn’t be the first.”
“Actually, it was something Kaleit said, too.” She found she could not meet Leslyn’s eyes as she thought about what that tall jerk had accused them of. “He… thought we were a couple. It just freaked me out so much that I didn’t want anyone else to think that was the case, so I edited myself and kept my distance from you.” Unexpectedly, she was nauseatingly embarrassed by the admission. It just sounded so juvenile when she said it out loud. “I mean, it must have been really gross for you. You didn’t even know me and I was all touchy-feely right away like some kind of weirdo. I’m sorry, I really thought you were Desmond at first. I’m really not like that. If I had known, I never would have—”
Leslyn silenced her babbling with a press of the backs of his fingers to her lips. His eyebrows were screwed up and the rest of his face had that pinched look that screamed, I am totally disturbed right now. To Erin’s relief, his expression softened a moment later as he removed his hand, satisfied that she had successfully received the strong hint to shut up. “You were speaking so fast that I didn’t understand half of what you just said, but I understood enough. It’s all right, you’re forgiven.”
They were in the middle of sharing a warm look when Koben edged into the doorway, glancing around warily. "Am interrupting anything?"
"No, Sire," Leslyn replied, rolling his eyes for Erin's amusement before turning to face his master.
The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.
"Good." He joined them, clapping a hand each on Erin's and Leslyn's shoulders and nearly knocking them both over. "I've just returned from the shore. According to Chief Coyrifan's messenger, all is well in the deep."
"Chief Coyrifan?" Erin yelped. "What happened?"
"Chief Ferrifan was killed yesterday, effectively ending the blood feud between the Mivusa tribe and the Ghaleri tribe. It seems our friend Coyrifan was promoted for the duration of his rather permanent absence."
"I can't believe it," she breathed, her eyes focused off in the distance as she thought about the previous chief. "Ferrifan was a monster. I never saw a man so big and angry-looking as he was. I can't see how anyone could have beaten him, even Coy."
"Not directly, no," Koben agreed. "Though our young merling friend never was the sort to go about things directly, wouldn't you agree?"
"No, he definitely wasn't. Is he okay?"
"Aside from a few bruises, he is quite all right. And happily married, or their equivalent, so I hear. To the daughter of the Ghaleri chief, no less—Zeeva, I believe it was?"
"Zeriva," Erin automatically corrected. She was surprised when the name came out of her lips with zero hint of jealousy. In fact, she didn't feel much of anything at all except relief. What was with that?
“Soooo,” Koben drawled with his lips jutting out in an exaggerated manner, pointing a finger apiece at the two young folks, “am I correct in overhearing that you are not, in fact, a couple?”
“We are not,” Leslyn confirmed, his nod matching Erin’s agreeing head-bob.
The prince hummed his surprise, brow furrowing. “Interesting. I was on the verge of offering to marry you two officially, until you suddenly appeared to become distant in a way that I felt it was safer not to mention the idea.”
“Just a series of misunderstandings. We’ve just discovered that we’re not actually blood kin, either.”
“Ah. That explains your little outburst the other day.”
“Yes, about that…” Leslyn’s sunburn again made him seem to be blushing, this time with shame. “My apologies, Sire.”
Koben waved the apology away. “Accepted and forgotten, dear squire. Oh, and Erin, you’re free to come and go as you please. I’ve seen a true merling charm in action, and your infatuation was nothing like that.”
“Then why did you tell everyone that’s what it was?” she yelped.
“Dear girl, isn’t it obvious? It was merely a convenient explanation for your feeble attempts at being secretive, at least until we understood what that necklace of yours was capable of.”
With that, he excused himself, directing Leslyn to meet him at the Aerie in the evening. Erin and Leslyn both breathed a sigh of relief when his footsteps faded away down the stairs to the foyer. It was nice, but it wasn’t long before an air of awkwardness settled over the pair again.
“So, uh…” Erin was back to having trouble looking at Leslyn, and sat down on the bed to take off some of the pressure. “About the whole marriage thing… I never actually thought about you that way. I’m sorry if I ever made you think otherwise. You know, back before I convinced you that you were my uncle.”
Leslyn looked down at her and pursed his lips in a way that made Erin squirm, expecting a harsh response. “Well, I have to admit it was a little strange, having a girl I’d just met act so brazenly toward me. Don’t worry, though. I wasn’t going to act on it—you’re not exactly what I’m looking for in a wife.”
The bristle was pure reflex, Erin’s cheeks puffing out in an indignant double-take. She let the air out in a rude noise a moment later, laughing at herself. “You’re not exactly my type, either. I’m curious, though. What do you want?”
“My birth family is small, and not in the best shape.” He shrugged. “I grew up dreaming of a quiet life with a loving mate and a large, well-organized household.”
“I’m guessing that means lots of kids in that large household.”
“As many as two can manage, anyway.”
“I’ve dodged a bullet, then,” Erin said with a bemused laugh. “My limit is one, or maybe two kids.”
Leslyn grinned. “I had a feeling that would be the case.”
He was about to go on when they heard footsteps in the hallway. The sound of their pace about matched Koben’s but seemed faster, as if covering more ground with each stride. They belonged to Kaleit, who appeared in the doorway in much the same way as the prince had, his eyes moving from Leslyn, to Erin, then back to Leslyn. “Is this a good time for it?”
“Come on in,” Leslyn said, apparently knowing full well what “it” was.
Erin’s eyes darted suspiciously back and forth between the two boys as Kaleit came over to join them. Her jaw dropped when he reached into his jacket and pulled out her missing tablet, pressing the button to bring up the screen as he handed it to her.
Her stomach clenched as Kaleit’s face appeared on the screen, comically scrunched up and eyes wide with surprise at the blinding flash that had gone off when the photo was taken. It would have been great fun to laugh at, if she’d secretly taken it herself.
“We figured out how to use it,” he said, sounding slightly mystified at that fact. “It led us to the cave where the merling had kept you. We met him there, but we’d come too late.”
“Wait, what?” Gaping up at Kaleit, Erin let the tablet fall flat against her thighs. “You got into the caverns? How were you able to dive down far enough?”
“Very, very carefully,” he said, sending a warning glance to Leslyn. The other boy just pressed his lips together, smothering a knowing smile.
“No, wait…” Erin’s mind was racing as something shocking occurred to her. She pointed at Kaleit, squinting one eye. “Were you trying to rescue me?”
“Yes.”
“No.”
Leslyn and Kaleit spoke over each other so quickly that Erin wasn’t entirely certain who’d said what. She knew them well enough to make an educated guess, though, an amazed grin splitting her face so fully that she unconsciously covered her mouth with a hand. “No one’s ever done something so epic for me before,” she gushed.
Kaleit blinked at her effusive reaction, a partial word escaping his lips before he stopped and tried again, brows drawing down to their usual position that denoted obvious disgust. That attempt too failed, and he satisfied himself with a simple glare.
“So you just used it to look up a map or something, then?” she asked them about the tablet, her grin still shining mightily.
“Well, we had to learn how to read it first,” Leslyn said. “We discovered some dossiers and used them to figure out the cipher.”
“I read all about myself,” Kaleit said, his voice taking on an accusing tone. “Care to explain why you’ve been spying on me and taking copious notes?”
“I haven’t been spying on you,” Erin snapped. Her sudden Big Jerk-triggered pique just as quickly gave way to a stab of fear, which she tried to swallow down. She looked at the tablet again, already dreading the answer to her next question. “How many profiles did you read?”
“You mean the dossiers?” asked Leslyn. “Quite a few. Koben’s and Coyrifan’s were among the first.”
“Did you… read mine?”
Leslyn looked at Kaleit. They seemed to make a brief exchange using only their eyebrows, then they both looked at Erin. Their somber expressions told her everything she needed to know.
“I… I guess it’s time, then,” she said, then pulled up the profile in question. As she’d feared, the very first thing on the page was the photo of her scarred self and her uncle Desmond. She ran her finger just above the surface of the tablet, as if affectionately stroking a loose tendril of hair behind Desmond’s ear. “I’ve been putting it off and putting it off, but I don’t think there’s ever going to be a ‘right moment’ for it. I need to confess the whole story to someone about who I really am.”
“Yes, yes, we’re waiting,” Kaleit said, his arms crossed over his chest.
“I think this qualifies as a good moment for it,” Leslyn added, kindly attempting to smooth over the tall boy’s snark.
“So… everything in this profile is true,” she said, gesturing at the entirety of the tablet. “I’m from another world. This ugly thing in the photo is really me, back before I came to Emerrane. I thought I was dreaming when I got here and all of my old injuries were gone, but I realized way too late that I was wrong. I tried to pretend otherwise, but it was always nagging at the back of my mind. It was the wyverns that finally made me believe I could actually die here.”
“Death is part of everyone’s life, stupid girl. What made you think you were exempt?”
Erin was so disturbed by her own thoughts that she couldn’t even fake a glare at him. “I thought I made this place up. I dreamed about Emerrane for weeks, and was going to write a book about it. That profile of yours? I started working on it before I ever even met you. I didn’t know your name then, but I…” She looked away, recalling how lovely she’d thought he was, when he was nothing but a dream. Those dark eyes of his had held a look that seemed so strong and steadfast that she couldn't help but admire him. “I knew your face like the back of my own hand.”
“I told you so,” Leslyn primly snipped at Kaleit.
Kaleit didn’t seem to hear him, eyes locked on Erin.
When she looked up and saw him still looking back, she slapped the tablet down on the bed and jumped to her feet in an abrupt lurch, her fists balled at her sides. “Quit staring at me already, you big jerk!” Fully finished with embarrassing herself, she bolted for the door.
“Stupid girl,” Kaleit’s caustic voice followed her, spilling into the hallway behind her.
“Was that really necessary?” Leslyn loudly chided him. “I’ve been waiting for that conversation since we translated the slabbet.”
“Get over it, Uncle Leslyn.”
“News for you: Erin isn’t my niece after all. We’re just good friends.”
“Oh? So now we’re back to being very good friends again? Make up your mind, Leslyn.”
“I hate you both,” Erin yelled over her shoulder, and went down the stairs as fast as she safely could.
Now that she was free, it was Aerie or bust. There was a certain blue griffin keet whom she was absolutely dying to see again…