“How do you think the Architects choose who to place in the stars?” she asked him.
Draven sighed, silence encompassing the moment as he contemplated his answer. “Perhaps Haerland presents them with those she chooses to be worthy.”
“No Lesser being has ever been chosen,” she noted.
“Name one that’s ever earned such,” he bantered.
She smiled despite herself and shook her head. Draven brought her hand up on his chest, and she felt him looking down at her.
“You will be,” he told her.
Aydra frowned and sat up slightly on her elbow. “Me? The runaway Queen? Traitor to her people, lover of her enemy?”
“The first true Queen of Haerland,” he corrected.
Her hand softened against his, and his fingers squeezed her hip just so. “Then you’ll be beside me,” she whispered. “The true King.”
A deep exhale left him, and his eyes darted over her face. “Burning traitorous kingdoms, breaking curses, crushing the Chronicles, and shifting the cosmos… what else can we do together?”
The smile slipped full on her face, and her heart swelled with him in her arms. “Everything.”
CHAPTER SIXTY-FOUR
A FULL MOON and a crescent met Aydra’s eyes as she allowed herself the silence of the balcony. She’d been in the forest two weeks, and it was the most freeing two weeks she’d ever felt.
Not only because she could be with Draven, but because she felt… free. Welcome. Wanted. The Venari people didn’t treat her as though she were fragile, as though she would break or snap at them if they said something out of turn. She appreciated the equal respect they treated her with, that they would poke fun at her expense once in a while.
She’d filled some of her time reading some of the stories from the Honest Scrolls books and drawings Draven had piled into crooked shelves behind his desk, other times walking the forest or chatting with Balandria and the rest of Draven’s people. She felt more at home within their darkened kingdom than she’d ever felt in her own.
There had been word of more ships on the horizon, and so Draven would pour himself to look at the maps he had, determining where they could be coming from, where they would decide to dock. They spoke of it together, him trusting her with ideas and plans she had never been trusted with before. He would stress over whether the youngers in the Venari company were ready for such a war. Aydra had seen the younger members of his legion fight, and she assured him they were.
Draven made time to spend with her away from the pressures of his kingdom when he could, even if it was only their sneaking away at night to sit at the river’s edge. The phoenix would follow in the shadows, only appearing out when she would speak to it. Draven knew everything about his forest. Every tree, every flower, every creature. He would pick some of them, showing her medicinal properties and even telling high stories of sorcery he swore to her that some possessed.
It amazed her how much she didn’t know about the land.
At night, they would occasionally sleep on the high roof, Aydra desperate to see the stars she knew her youngers would also be looking at. She missed them. She wondered how Dorian had done with the Bryn and Blackhand Elders, whether he’d helped them actually vanquish the Infi in their streets or if he’d made it back to Magnice in one piece.
As happy as she was, she couldn’t get the thought of Nyssa being back at Magnice alone out of her head, wondering if she and Dorian were okay, wondering if Lex was okay… Aydra had sent the Orel out with a letter to the castle that morning, but had heard nothing back yet.
Aydra’s hands wrapped around the banister of the roof as she stared at the moons above her on that night, and she felt a tear trickle down her cheek.
“—finishing up dinner if you’re hungry—whoa.” Draven slowed as he reached the top of the steps, and he crossed to her quickly. “What’s wrong? Did Bael say something out of turn?”
She almost laughed, and she shook her head. “No. Nothing like that,” she promised.
His weight shifted, and he swallowed hard. “Is everything okay?” he asked.
“Yeah,” she whispered, reaching out to place her hand over his on the banister. “Overwhelmingly perfect.”
He eyed her. “And that made you cry?”
The comical confusion on his face made her sink into his arms, and she sighed heavily as she laid her head against his shoulder. “I cannot express how grateful I am for you. For your people… they’ve treated me as nothing less than their equal. I wish my youngers could feel such an equality and love.”
His lips pressed to her forehead, and he squeezed her against him. “We can bring them with us after the meeting in a few weeks,” he insisted. “Have them stay for a time. They deserve the travel.”
She pulled back and looked at him, her chest once more filling with the look he gazed at her with. “Have I told you how fucking much I love you today?” she managed, leaning closer.
His brows raised, and his hands curled around her waist. His eyes darted from her eyes to her mouth, and she watched as the smoldering smile rose on his lips.
