Episode 227: Mel (Endymion)

He dressed in his Maelvish clothes, because it made him feel more official, more like he had a right to be doing what he was about to suggest to his dad.

He looked sharp in them. He knew he did because of the way girls looked at him on Maelvish, but all he cared about was how Eury looked at him when she straightened the drawstring bow on the front of his shirt and kissed him.

Eury wished him luck with one more worried kiss, and he made his way to the dungeon. He tried not to rush or look worried in case he encountered anyone in the halls, but it was still a relief when he got to the dungeon and Corban buzzed him through a series of doors until he stood in the doorway of a white-walled room, looking at his father.

“Dad?” he asked.

His dad had been lying on his stomach, face toward the wall where the cameras couldn’t see it.

Unlike most people, Endy knew that his dad was vulnerable, as fragile as Dead King Drey was rumored to be. He just hid it better, but Endy knew this would be…the absolute worst for him. To be arrested, stuck in a cell. To have lost his wife and then have the suspicion cast on him. To be here instead of helping find her.

His dad hadn’t hurt Giana because his dad wasn’t that type. He’d never fought in any battle. He’d never done an animal slaughter or even set out ant poison in the kitchen.

Even now, arrested, he’d just been lying there. Endy bet he hadn’t even argued, he’d just waited until Konrad figured out it wasn’t him.

Now he sat up and looked at Endymion. “How are you?” he asked.

“Worried,” Endy admitted. It was one thing, with Giana, but all the other stuff… “What happened?” he asked.

“Konrad is concerned about things. This is temporary.”

Yes, it was. Very temporary. Endy might not be crown heir, but he knew the laws. “Mom vanished too,” he said.

His dad’s face was totally blank for a minute. “She did? Is she untraceable?”

“Yeah. Her and that new guy.”

“Have you told Konrad?”

“He was locked in your room,” he said. Konrad knew, he was sure, because Konrad was a pixie, but he hadn’t felt the need to talk to him. “So…” he knew this was going to come off as a power play, but really it was the most obvious solution. Giana was gone, Mom was gone, Greg was gone, Dad was in prison… “If you appoint me Regent, I can free you.”

His dad looked at the door, which Endy had left wide open. “I shouldn’t leave,” he said. “But you are Regent.”

Endy felt the power fill him. Not quite the power of an ascension, no right to declare war or treat with another country, but the claim on serving the needs within the land.

“Why shouldn’t you leave?”

“If your mom has vanished, there is even more reason to keep me here a few hours more. Prove my innocence through disassociation.”

But his mom had already vanished while his dad was in the jail. What else was there to prove? Unless his dad thought others would vanish.

Worry sprang up in his mind – first about Dreya, his twin, and then about Talise and Ach, and Nim and Terren.

He straightened. “Then I won’t free you. How long is long enough?”

“The morning is long enough. Sooner, if we’re attacked more directly. Do you have a plan to secure the family, with two missing? Talise above the others.”

“No,” Endy admitted. His plan was to free his dad and have him make a plan. Now…he was in charge. Not just of the whole country, but of their family, all because he’d had this great idea. “I need to find Spence,” he realized. If Konrad was busy…Corban was free too, but he trusted Spence more because he and Talise had kids together. “I’ll have him do whatever we need for anyone. Do you need anything? Have any advice?”

“Use those you trust,” his dad said, which definitely boosted his ego a little bit because he’d already sorted out the trust thing. Maybe he could do this, after all. “Be wary of others.”

“I will,” he promised. “Can I ask for help by dragon if I need to?”

“You may. I’m available all night. If you become whelmed, step away. Anywhere. And take five minutes to remember you can only operate within your abilities. Anything else is beyond your control.”

That was good advice. “I’ll try to be methodical and calm.” He wondered if he was promising his dad, or himself, that time. “Eury will help.”

“You can manage this.” His dad stood up and hugged him, and for a minute he really felt like he could do it, because his dad believed he could.

Then he remembered the world didn’t actually work that way.

And then he remembered… “Are you okay? You had the elixir…”

His dad chuckled. “You seem to be the first to consider that side. I’ll recover.”

He’d felt Giana die.

Endy couldn’t imagine going through that with Eury. It would be the worst possible thing he could ever imagine, ever.

“They’re still trying to find her,” he assured him. Then, because he’d had the thought and he definitely believed in honesty more than sparing feelings, “Whoever it is might have burned her, that’s my guess.”

That would mean she was gone gone. Forever.

“It didn’t feel like burning,” his dad said. “Go. Work. I’ll be fine.”

Maybe.

He left, his gut in knots. Three quarters of his parents and step-parents were missing or dead, and the last was in prison. It was going to be a long night.

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