Perhaps it is better to forget, I responded. I would rather not remember any more.

“You did not deserve what was done to you,” Lyra insisted. “Forgive me, but customs or not, that is terrible. What I am assuming was an accident, gods, to punish a child in such a way…” Her voice trailed away like the words were too bitter to form.

How do you know it was an accident?

“I suppose I don’t.” She pointed at Thane. “But your eyes when you mentioned the dead prince looked a great deal like they do now—with this prince. Fear is in them, the kind that comes when someone does not want to live through heartache again. I had the same fear when Kael was dying on the jarl’s floor.”

I studied my palms for a breath. Emi would not have let him die.

“But I didn’t know that.” Lyra cleared her throat. “I understand you were under orders to force out the melding craft; Kael holds no bitterness…nor do I any longer. I know there is no returning for the two of us, but”—Lyra shifted in her chair, hesitating—“but Edvin and Hilda, they left behind children, a wife, and a new husband.”

I knew what she was asking. I am not the king here. Nor is Thane.

Her face fell. “Thought it was worth the ask.”

I leaned closer. In time, you could have enough of Damir’s respect to barter for their return.

“In time.” She closed her eyes for a moment. “How long might that be? When Edvin’s eldest boy is a man himself?”

I didn’t know how to respond. Once Damir had a crafter in his walls, the king became a bit of a collector of magic, believing it only added to his power. I doubted the two crafters would ever be welcome to live on the shores of Skalfirth again.

“I don’t mean to offend, but Dravenmoor sounds harsher than even Stonegate.” Lyra forced a small smile and picked at some of the fruit she brought for me. “Emi told me why she fled the clans.”

I nodded. The Draven clan holds little patience for bone crafters. Even when they are born of their own blood.

“How did Emi escape when she was only a girl?”

I sighed and sat back in my chair. She managed to send a raven to me with a plea for help. I had been here two summers already, and with Thane’s aid, we saw her safely behind the walls.

Lyra watched Emi sleep for a pause, then grinned. “I thought I’d hate her, but she’s rather likable. Started liking her on the longship when she forced Kael to walk.”

She is stubborn and aggravating. A little like another woman in Stonegate.