Taliesin Ascendant (The Children and the Blood) by Skye Malone, Megan Joel Peterson Page A

Five
     
    “…and two cousins,” Elias concluded.
    “Two?” Ashe repeated.
    “On your mother’s side,” he clarified. “On your dad’s side, you only had one.”
    Her temple resting on her hand, Ashe’s brow furrowed as she traced the wood grain of the table with a fingertip. Isolated in an office in an infrequently trafficked part of the factory, they’d spent the past hour running the gamut of every question she could think to ask, coming at last to the touchy subject of her family history that no one back home had ever wanted to discuss.
    “What were their names?” she asked, still studying the table.
    “Peter and Olivia were your cousins on your mom’s side. They were about…” he thought for a second. “Maybe two and four years older than you, respectively? Madelyn was on your dad’s side. She was three when she died.”
    Ashe paused in her tracing and glanced up at Elias. He shrugged, a sympathetic look in his eyes.
    “And my uncle?” she asked after a moment, returning her gaze to the tabletop. “Cornelius said my dad had an older brother.”
    “Alexander,” Elias confirmed. “His wife was Yvonne. On your mom’s side, Rebecca had an older sister named Lily, for whom your sister was named. Her husband was Michael, who was a cripple, actually.”
    She glanced up again.
    Elias nodded. “They met when Michael was in college and Lily was… auditing classes,” he said with a grin. “After a fashion, anyway. Your maternal grandmother, Imogene, wasn’t too fond of the match, but as I remember her, your aunt was nothing if not headstrong. She–”
    He cut off as the office door opened. Ashe turned, irritation surging at the interruption.
    Cornelius glanced into the office and then stopped at the sight of her. Expressions chased themselves across his face so fast she almost couldn’t catch them, racing past surprise and alarm and then vanishing behind the mask of meticulous propriety she was starting to suspect he wore nearly all the time.
    “Your highness,” he said tightly. “Councilman de Vila.”
    With a small nod toward them both, he stepped into the room and let the door shut behind him. “I’ve been looking for you, my lady.”
    Elias glanced to her. “Perhaps we can continue our discussions later, your majesty.” Pushing his chair away from the table, he rose. “Did you catch the Taliesin?” he asked Cornelius.
    “No, they had already fled by the time we arrived. Discussions?”
    “Her highness and I discovered we had acquaintances in common from my region,” Elias answered easily. “Among the cripples, that is. We were just sharing stories, reminding me of home.”
    Cornelius paused. “Ah.”
    Elias eyed him briefly, curiosity flickering through his gaze at the man’s tone. With another look to Ashe, he grinned, though the comfortable humor was missing from his eyes.
    “Take care of yourself, highness,” he said.
    He gave her a small nod, glanced to Cornelius again, and then left.
    Cornelius waited for the door to close. “I asked you to return to your room.”
    She didn’t respond, uncertain what she was supposed to say.
    He grimaced slightly. “I was concerned,” he continued more softly.
    “I’m fine.”
    “I can see that.”
    She watched him as his gaze ran over her.
    “You were helping the wounded,” he said.
    Ashe nodded, assuming it was obvious. Engrossed in talking with Elias, she hadn’t paused for much more than washing the blood and dirt from her hands.
    “You should get cleaned up,” he said with a look to the door. “People should not see you like this.”
    “Elias said it just makes them think better of the monarchy,” she commented dryly.
    “It also scares them.”
    His tone made answering difficult, and after a moment, she pushed away from the table and stood. He stepped out of her way as she crossed to the door.
    “Once you’re clean,” he said. “Come to the conference room.”
    “Why?”
    “Because we have an agreement, and your