The other members seem less impressed but I catch Mordona and Oletta’s eye, their promise for payment for their aid ringing in my mind. The council members stand, raising their glasses before them.
“To Sorin Rudhek,” they say. “Long live the king!”
Fifty-Two
Elora
My eyescross as I sign yet another piece of parchment. It’s been two weeks since we fought for our lives in the courtyard of Valebridge. Two weeks since Roman died. Two weeks since Mother Gaia has been freed, and in those two weeks, the paperwork hasn’t stopped for a moment. The Stones have been placed in a secret trove that only myself and Sorin knows about. There’s some relief in that, I suppose.
But between coronation preparation and rebuilding what’s been damaged, there is always something to do.
Growling, I toss my quill down and rub my eyes. “Who knew becoming a queen meant filling out so much bloody paperwork.”
Sam laughs, flipping through the pages of a book much too quickly to actually be reading. “Your mother says you were a terrible student.” She clamps her mouth shut and my stomach clenches. She glances at me, then just over my shoulder.
“Is she…” I follow her gaze, looking over my shoulder. Nothing but a bookcase greets me back. “Is she here right now?”
“Yes,” Sam says, drawing out the word. She sets the book down and places her hands in her lap.
“And does she still have that message for me?”
Sam nods, her dark curls bouncing. “Yes.” She leans forward in her chair. “But only if you’re ready, of course.” She bites her bottom lip, eyes drifting again over my shoulder.
Several weeks ago, I couldn’t imagine hearing a message from my mother. Couldn’t imagine the wounds it would re-open or the pain it would bring. But after everything we’ve gone through, after the realization of mine and Sorin’s connection, I’ve never felt more ready to face something. Have never felt stronger or more alive.
No more running.
“I’m ready.” I take a deep breath, my body keenly aware of the cold spot over my shoulder. My stomach somersaults, fear snaking its way around my heart, but this time, I push back. Not letting it control like I so often have.
“Okay.” Sam exhales through her nose, shaking her hands slightly before flicking her wrists up. “She wants you to know that she loves you.”
I smile. “Of course. I know that.”
“She also wants you to know…” She sets her hands down, cutting the connection.
“Sam?”
“Sorry.” Sam attempts and fails to laugh. A tear wells in her eye but she blinks it away. “She wants you to know that you were never alone out there. Not for a single moment.”
My mind flashes to the nights in the woods just after she died. The shivering cold and terrible noises that come from the forest after dark.
“She was with you, every step of the way.”
Tears sting my eyes, the cold in the corner drifting closer.
Sam’s hands raise again. “She also wants you to know…” She cocks her head to the side, confusion pinching her brows. “She wants you to know that whenever you need her, whenever youmiss her, just listen to the wind.” She shrugs, placing her hands in her lap again. “Whatever that means.”
But I know exactly what it means. My chest cracks and the dam that’s been holding my emotions breaks with it.
The wind has whispered to me before, in the darkest moments of solitude when my blade was heavy and my mind was weak.
Not yet, little susi, it said to me. And I listened to it, in the darkness of my cabin. I let its whispering tendrils wrap around me like a hug. I let it be the thing that saved me from myself even when I did not know it.
“Thank you, Sam.”
“Knock, knock.” Calix pops the door open. “I came to say goodbye.”
I wave him in and Evren and Tallulah come in behind him.
