Ferran's Map by T. L. Shreffler

Author:T. L. Shreffler [Shreffler, T. L.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: romance, assassin, adventure, fantasy, magic, young adult, quest, new adult, cats eye
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

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Ferran sat for some time watching Lori sleep. Tumultuous thoughts raged within him. Eighteen years since he last knew her. Eighteen years. She was so different, so much less buoyant than he remembered. Now he knew why.

The thought of Cedric Daniellian awakened an old, iron-strong hatred. The First Tier carried too much power. Ferran originally stole his Cat’s Eye from the Daniellian house, and it was Cedric’s father—Maverick Daniellian—who ultimately turned the Prince against him. Maverick saw it as a chance to weaken the Ebonaire family, and caused Ferran’s exile.

Ferran knew men like that were common in the world; he had been one, once. He assumed Cedric was still the same spoiled, selfish brat of his youth. Perhaps even more now, as an adult. Living a life of privilege did not offer much chance for personal growth.

He supposed he was lucky, in a way. Life on the road had taught him much. Through all the fiery, conflicting passions of his heart, he had found a way to navigate. An inner compass, one could call it; the ability to let go of distractions, to recognize and thwart temptation. Yet he remained a creature of habit in too many ways. The whiskey told him that much, and all the memories that resurfaced as he traveled with Silas’ crew.

He once spent eight years traveling with Silas on the Glass Coast, wandering the great sand dunes on the border of Ester, an abandoned country far to the Southeast, where war-spells from the time of the Races still ravaged the land. Many lost artifacts were discovered there, and many of them had been sold since. Where did the time go? Where did the coin go? He glanced at the whiskey bottle suspiciously. Did you steal it from me?

On the Glass Coast, he spent many drunken nights staring at the desert stars, pondering the mistakes of his past, wondering if Lori’s daughter was his, if she still lived happily with Lord Fallcrest as a noblewoman of the Second Tier, raising her daughter in comfortable wealth. He had wished that for her, making silent toasts to the stars, comforted by the thought that even if he hadn't done the right thing, he did the best he could.

After his falling-out with Silas, he had contacted Lori by letter, too much of a coward to show up on her doorstep. Not his grandest idea, but as he was sitting next to her now, he didn’t regret it. That’s when he learned her address in the lowlands. It had made him wonder. Teased him with the chance that he might have a family to discover, a home waiting for him.

A home. A family. In that moment, he had never wanted anything so badly.

But the carefree, youthful spirit of his imaginings differed greatly from the Lori before him. Perhaps she had never been that girl. Perhaps over all the years of memories, he had distorted her face into some perfect image, a grand portrait fit for palace halls. Now she was a complicated brew of past bitterness and honest mistakes.

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