Then I marched back to camp. The final battle for Aquinon now had a prize more important than a crown.
Kiera.
Chapter 55
Kiera
The journeyto Aquinon was fairly uneventful.
I thought I would come across border patrols like we had last time. But perhaps the fall of Calimber had scared them off. Or Renwell had called them back to Aquinon to defend it.
Regardless, I was happy to keep my sword in its sheath for the whole journey.
When I passed the gaping hole that used to be Calimber, I said a prayer for Nikella and any other lost souls. Then I added another to Mynastra for luck with our next battle.
I caught my first glimpse of Aquinon a week after leaving Yargoth. A long, cold, lonely week.
But staring at the royal city with its warm stone walls and sparkling palace and formidable city gate, I wished the journey was longer.
“This is it,” I whispered to my horse, a friendly roan mare. “Hopefully, you have a better time than me.”
She huffed and kept carrying me to the gate. To whatever fate lay beyond.
The gate was—unsurprisingly—shut, with archers on top aiming at me as I rode up to them.
“Nobody gets into Aquinon by order of the king,” a voice boomed down to me.
“My name is Kiera Torvaine. Renwell is expecting me.”
The guard didn’t bother to correct my purposeful lack of a royal title for Renwell. Instead, the archers lowered their bows.
The gate doors cracked apart, startling me. A guard in the violet Rellmiran uniform slipped out. The sun beamed off his helmet, nearly blinding me. He had a thick mustache for a mouth that moved when he said, “He’s been expecting you for weeks.”
My mouth went dry. Of course Renwell had. He still held Everett and Delysia captive. He knew I couldn’t stay away forever.
“Dismount and leave your sword,” the soldier barked when I said nothing.
I slid off the mare and handed over the reins. They could take my sword, but I would put up a fight if he demanded Mother’s knife.
But he said nothing. Didn’t search me. Just gestured me to go ahead of him through the narrow gap between the gate doors.
I fought the sudden urge to get back on the mare and ride hard for The Hollow to meet up with Henry. Come back with an invading army, rather than alone.
But Aiden needed me. Everett and Delysia needed me. As did Aquinon.
I have monsters to defeat.
I squared my shoulders and stepped back inside Aquinon. And into the sharp embrace of a dozen guards with spears.
They marched me through the city like a prized prisoner. Even if my shackles were invisible, they were still there.
We passed dozens of Shadow-Wolves prowling through the streets. Hardly any other people roamed about. Perhaps Renwellsensed a coming attack and had ordered them to stay inside. But a city could not operate without its lifeblood—the people.
My heart ached unexpectedly as I strode past new and old memories. Things I now saw in a different light. Like the white dome and four bell towers of the Temple. Aiden and I had climbed to those towers. The Temple was where he’d first met Mother.
The taverns were dark and quiet, not full of life and laughter as they’d been when Aiden, Maz, Ruru, and I had met up atThe Weary Traveler.
Maz would be so disappointed he couldn’t get a pint of Sunshine. But he wouldn’t be here for the mead when he came.
