Echoes of Silence by Elana Johnson

Author:Elana Johnson [Johnson, Elana]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi, azw3
Published: 2016-05-03T04:00:00+00:00

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I opened my eyes to sunshine in a blue sky, not purple as Grandmother claimed existed in Relina. I remembered that she spoke of days on a ship, “crossing waters as endless as time,” she said.

Though she’d been only a handful of years old when she left Relina, Grandmother wore the sickness on her face for her homeland. She said the magic didn’t speak nearly as loudly here as it had in Relina, that though people in Iskadar were kind, gracious, and forgiving, they paled in comparison to the order and unity of Relina’s population.

I’d questioned her about returning to the land of her birth, but she claimed such things were not possible. “Those lands are lost. It takes a special ship, with a captain of the proper birthright, to find them.”

“Surely we can simply look to the sky,” I had said, repeating something Grandmother had often told me. Look to the skies, Echo, she would whisper. You’ll find me there.

She shook her head, lost inside her thoughts.

Sighing away the memories, I sat up and found my bedroom empty save for the scent of freshly baked bread. A platter of it sat on the night table next to my bed. I chewed through a piece while I stretched my muscles and exercised my joints.

Satisfied that my body worked the way it always had, I went into the courtyard.

Castillo stood abruptly and eliminated the distance between us. He took me in his arms and breathed in the scent from my hair. My maids had removed all traces of blood from my skin; my nightclothes had been replaced; my hair washed. I wondered what Lucia had done when she saw me. I would weep for her, as she was my closest friend.

I melted into his embrace and clung to him with worry in my grip, my insides suddenly swimming.

“Thank you,” he breathed into my ear.

I pressed my fingertips into his shoulders, then his back, then I explored down his sides, confirming that he was unbroken. “You’re alive,” I whispered.

“Thanks to you.” He drew back and looked down into my face. “You’re a remarkable healer.”

“Mariana—”

“She did nothing,” he said. “Her magical ability is only a fraction of yours.”

“I think she panicked,” I said. “How did you come to be so injured?”

He frowned and leaned closer. “I do not wish to discuss it.”

“Castillo.” Clear warning laced my voice.

“I went home, to Nyth.”

Images of the High King singing until Castillo’s bones split ran through my mind. He could wound with his voice and his fists—I’d already seen him raise his hand as if to strike Cris. The thought of the High King even looking at Castillo the wrong way made me sick.

“Nyth,” I mused. “I’m glad you’re well, then.” My words melted his stoic exterior. He pressed his lips to mine. I drank in his smell, the taste of him, greedily, thinking this might be the last time I could experience him this way. I feared the Prince would be making his selection soon, and I knew Castillo wouldn’t do anything to hurt his brother—which included kissing me.

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