Earthborn — Chapter 7: She Who Brings Light

The ship slid along Selavetia’s coast, through mist that clung to the skin.

The sea had taken her mother.

Now it brought him to the daughter they called blasphemy.

And in that, something like faith returned.

Eirran stood at the prow, hands tight on the rail; the wind stretched his wings wide.

“My lord?” Keth approached with two cups of steaming tea. “An hour more to the hidden cove. Do you see those rocks? Ulm lies beyond.”

“Keth… how do human children behave?”

A warm smile. “Mischievous. Loud. And they adore toys.”

Eirran’s gaze drifted to the box with the carved wooden horse. “What if she fears me?”

“Then we return tomorrow. And the day after. Until she does not.”

“Perhaps we should send servants first.”

“No, my lord. If you wish to be a father, you must go first.”

Father.

The ship moored at a sheltered dock at a hidden cove. Eirran landed on the sand; the chill stabbed his feet.

“Send two men into the village,” he ordered. “Discreetly. Where does she live?”

Keth nodded. The servants vanished among the first houses. His heart pounded like a drum.

What if she rejects me? What if she’s afraid?

They returned an hour later.

“The widow Foyd died when the girl was two,” said the elder. “She now lives with the widow’s sister Mirna Hamad, her husband Jereh, and their eleven-year-old son, Evan.”

Eirran clenched his fists. “Her name?”

“They call her Lily, my lord. Her full name… Eilleah.”

His knees weakened. Eilleah. In Old Ilarian: She Who Brings Light. The name he had once, half in jest, told Noemi he would give their daughter.

“Where is she?”

“A fisherman’s hut at the end of the village. Red roof, on the shore.”

Keth placed a hand on his shoulder. “Slowly, master. Step by step.”

Eirran turned his face toward Ulm. Somewhere in there, beyond the crooked alleys and poor cottages, his daughter lived.

He had flown into battles. Led legions into war.

But nothing had ever terrified him like this:

Meeting the daughter he had already buried alive.

Next chapter:

Earthborn — Chapter 8: Death from the Skies 

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