She hadn’t believed it at first, either. The Jinn, children of the Void itself. Allies? Samara thought Irene was mad. But when she looked through the box the late Queen had left her in charge of, her opinion changed.
Quickly.
“Sawyer knows about Lorkin,” Gaven said. “Won’t be long before they piece together that Semmena is working with the Jinn who killed Irene.”
“Too bad that knowledge doesn’t do much.” Samara extinguished the cigar with a tendril of Shadows. “Not until we figure out who gave him the order to kill her.”
Semmena didn’t know. He didn’t know Samara knew of his scheme, of his own alliance with the Jinn—the ones who shouldn’t be allied with.
“And Mavka? Has she said anything?”
Samara shook her head. “Haven’t heard from her.”
Aside from Semmena’s scheming, that was another thing that had Samara on edge. Their one and only Jinn ally was missing.
Behind them, students ran into the halls and corridors, surely curious to see the chaos in the gardens.
“Are you alright?” Gaven neared her. “You’ve been using a lot of Void Magic.”
Samara’s eyes burned, the raised veins around her cheeks heated. Keeping Jeriyah’s enchantments weak hadn’t been difficult—it was the fact Alix Bennet was now reinforcing them that exhausted her. But they needed the enchantments to waver, to quiver and weaken. They needed those tunnels open. “I’ll handle it.”
The man smiled at her, his brow slightly furrowed. “I will keep you informed.”
Samara dipped her chin in agreement before looking back to the gardens. Sol and her Court were gone, but she made out the slight violet outline of her brother’s Ward.
“So, what now?” Gaven asked, flicking his brown eyes to her.
“Sol Awakens?”
Nodding, she released a sigh to the sky. “And meanwhile, we fast-track the reach for the Relics. I don’t think they will find them quickly enough.”
Gaven nodded and gave her a slight bow, making his way back into the depths of the courtyard.
“And Samara??—”
She turned back to Gaven, who stood with his hand on the doorknob to the throne room. Wordlessly, he crossed his right arm over his chest and patted his shoulder four times.
Long may she reign.
Samara smiled, crossing her own arm over her chest, tapping it five times in response.
Long live the Yarrow Clan.
Epilogue
WEEKS PASSED AND SOLslept for days. The grief came and went in waves, like the tide at the beaches she once loved. It would sweep over her, leaving her breathless, then recede, leaving her cold and lonely. She didn’t eat or leave her bed. Nina had brought her pastries, stews, teas, anything she could think of to get Sol to at least seem interested in existing.
Initially, none of it worked.
Slowly, though, after a week of Sol being in bed like an earthworm, Sawyer dragged her out to the stables to help her with duties there. The rest of her Court was horrified when they found them covered in dirt and manure, but Sol began to feel better that day. She brushed Kahaida until the beast tried to maul her hand, and helped Sawyer chase the smaller mares around the gardens. Nina joined them at some point and took Sol on rides around the human sections.
Alix hunted down all sorts of comfort books for Sol, leaving a new one each night on her nightstand. Sawyer and Nina also settled into her room after Sol kept having nightmares and begged them to stay. The women didn’t argue, and though they slept in the living area at first, after a couple of nights, Nina sleepily migrated to the bed next to Sol. Sawyer held out a few days longer beforecomplaining about the awful couches and eventually took up the left edge of Sol’s king-sized bed. After a week of that, Sol felt the most rested she had in years.
In between bouts of numbness, she was thankful for them. Out of the four of them, the only one who had maintained a noticeable distance had been Cas. Emotionally distant, because physically he had been closer than ever. When Gaven returned to provide additional protection, at King Semmena’s orders, Cas gave him a nasty stare and shooed him away instead.
Which was fine. Sol felt safer with Cas anyway.
But she was disappointed that the comfort they reached through the literal death games they had survived together seemed to recede. Perhaps it was because she grew so used to speaking to him daily. Or because after the final duel, something changed between them, and she knew he felt it as well. Ultimately, though, he was meant to protect her. Feelings other than that were likely brought on by the stress of the weeks.
