Excerpt from Fall of Thrones and Thorns
My hand lingers on the window frame, thinking. I’ve read book after book about Nereidium. Every spare bit of text on a page that I could get my hands on.
Not one of them mentioned a history of earthquakes in the country.
I try to quell the pit of uneasiness that is my stomach. The instinct that tells me that, somehow, Langdon is responsible for this.
“You’ll want to add sauce to that dough.” Trycia calls my attention back to my abandoned work, nodding at it as she kneads the crust of what she’ll be serving to those who wandering their way in for a bite. “Preferably before you add the cheese and put it on a stone in the oven.”
I leave the window. Worrying over Nereidium is Breena’s chore now. I have food to make.
Still, while my hands stay busy, my mind keeps churning. This is no coincidence. That quake. Geological changes happen, of course, but the timing is too coincidental.
“So, these earthquakes… They’re a relatively recent development, then?” I ask, unable to suppress the question.
Trycia sighs, not giving me an answer as she tosses the dough into the air and catches it deftly.
Maybe she would have answered me. But I don’t find out. The door swings open, soft footsteps pad inside, and I look up as Tregle enters. My stomach flutters at the look in his eyes when he catches sight of me. The hope of a new day’s sunrise is painted on his face. Hesitant and just blooming, but beautiful.
Trycia raises an eyebrow. “Friend of yours, Fancy?” I glare at her, and she lifts her hands in a mocking show of surrender. “Sorry. Mind the fire. I can afford a break. Not as though we’ll have a crowd tonight after another quake. I’ll see myself out.”
Only when the door swings shut behind her do I let myself speak, my heart dancing a slow step in my chest.
“Adept—” I pause, collect myself, and address him, for once, without a title. “Tregle.”
This is the one good thing to come from learning that I’m not who I thought I was. I’m a commoner, just as he is. An Elemental, just as he is. We’re finally on equal footing.