Eleri Lanfear's Arc

Chapter 7 of 8

In the weeks after Eoghan's birth, Eleri wrote to her mother again and again. She told Mellyora about the baby, about his stubborn chin, about the Murray house that now held her. She begged her to come. No answer came. Senara found her one morning at the window, a sealed letter in her lap, her eyes red. "She won't forgive the book," Eleri said. "Not even for her grandson." Senara took the letter from Eleri's hands. Months ago these two women had called each other enemy over a stolen chronicle. Now Senara set the letter aside and crouched by her chair. "I'll go," she said. "You can't ride, and Rhydian stays here. Let me try where your words failed." Eleri stared at her. A Murray, riding to beg a Lanfear. "She hates your family," Eleri said. Senara stood. "Then I'll make her hate me a little less." Senara rode out that same hour. Eleri waited through two long days. She fed Eoghan, she paced the stone halls of Rossmore, she listened for hooves. Rhydian stayed close. "If anyone can drag your mother out of that keep," he said, "it's my sister. She's stubborner than you both." He said it lightly, but his hand gripped Eleri's shoulder hard. On the second evening, Eleri heard riders in the yard. She came down the stairs with the baby against her chest, her heart pounding. Senara entered first, mud on her skirts, tired to the bone. Behind her came a woman in dark violet, grey hair braided, her chin high. Mellyora. She stopped in the doorway and looked at her daughter. "You came," Eleri whispered. Mellyora's clipped voice broke. "This one would not stop talking," she said, with a glance at Senara. "She rode all night. She told me I was a fool to let pride keep me from my own blood." Her eyes dropped to the small bundle in Eleri's arms. "Is that him?" Eleri crossed the floor. She placed Eoghan in her mother's arms. Mellyora, who had taught her to guard a locked tower, who had chosen her over Jory, went still. The hard lines of her face loosened. "He has your father's hands," she said quietly. Then she looked up. "I was angry. I should have come when you first asked. Forgive an old woman her pride." "There's nothing to forgive," Eleri said, and she meant it. She put her arms around her mother and the baby both. Mellyora held her back, fierce and sudden. Senara watched from the door, arms folded, saying nothing. Rhydian came to stand beside his sister. The feud that had nearly broken them all stood quiet now, a grandmother cradling a Murray child in a Murray hall. Eleri had wanted her family whole. For the first time, under one roof, it was.