The King's Messenger

Chapter 27

Kazya wouldn't come to Amar until after the succession was settled, they decided via the rings. It pained Eden to have to wait longer to see her, but it wasn't worth the risk. She would stay out of town in an inn suitable for a queen.

Eden hadn't expected that Messenger would be able to find the emerald he needed so quickly, if at all. He accepted it with a wide grin when Messenger brought it for him.

"What do you plan to do with it?" he asked as Eden inspected it.

Eden didn't want to say it aloud. To say it, to make his hopes real... it would only be all the more painful if it failed. "You know me," he said instead. "I love my jewelry."

"It's too big for jewelry," Messenger pointed out.

"That's where I fear you're mistaken, my unimaginative friend. I'll show you when it's done," Eden said. "How's the captain?"

"He's woken up now," Messenger said. "He wants to come here, but he's still not well enough."

"Good to hear," Eden said. "I'll come to the palace tomorrow, to formally invite my guests to my Autumn Hail celebration... and to talk to my father."

"I'll escort you," Messenger said.

"Alright. How is Alyssa's poison coming?" Eden asked.

"I believe it's nearly finished," Messenger said.

Eden sighed. "Good. Now, I have some work to attend to, if you would excuse me."

"Until tomorrow, then."

Eden found himself unconsciously turning his head to the right as he worked, trying to put light back in this newly darkened space. He felt vulnerable, as though something could be lurking just out of sigh, just waiting in the blind stop.

He hated it. He hated it and couldn't do anything about it; artificing could create marvels such as artificial limbs or jeweled, functional eyes... simply not him. It took a master, not a skilled amateur.

Having said that, it wasn't as though he could make nothing useful. The device he was working on was a simple one, like his earrings, on a much, much larger scale. Kalis and her family, not just the children this time, watched him curiously as he chipped painstakingly carefully at the emerald, using his rune pen to etch complex designs and pathways into the facets.

When his eyes blurred and his hands shook, he took to his other work: drafting paper after paper, various titles and legalities and whatnot that would give Alyssa, Adrian, and Torre more power, stamping each with his royal seal.

He never did get a chance to bring Lady Mirene in, or even consider it, really; it might have been a good thing. She reminded him too much of himself sometimes, with calculated words and movements.

His writing and stamping was interrupted with a brief dinner, then he went back to his artificing, hoping desperately that he could finish before he could no longer work. No such luck, but a few days' work more and it would be finished.

The next morning came. Eden, exhausted as usual and sustaining himself on the hope that his sleepless nights could end soon, scratched a few delicate runes on the emerald, going over some lines multiple times to get the perfect width. Brow furrowed in concentration, he glanced between his notes and the emerald before every stroke, feeling half-blind.

He jumped when a knock came at the door, cursing nearly setting himself back hours of work. He couldn't afford that now.

"Ma says we shouldn't say those words," Melle said reproachfully from somewhere to his right, and Eden nearly jumped again. He hadn't seen her approach.