“It doesn’t matter. I always got by on my good looks anyway,” I say with a hollow laugh, trying to draw a smile from her. Anything to show me that matters aren’t as bad as they appear to be.
She lays her hand over my chest. “It is your heart. You won everyone over… with… your… heart.”
“Don’t. Don’t you fucking dare, Greer Rojas. Don’t talk to me like you’re leaving.”
Tears well in her eyes and slide down her cheeks. In all the years I trained and fought at her side, never has she cried. Thiswoman has been the epitome of strength and resilience. She is my rock and so many things I aspire to be.
Her chin trembles and she croaks, “Goodbye was always inevitable.” She gasps for breath. “Hazard of the job, but I don’t regret a single moment of it.” A cough rattles through her and a trickle of blood flows from the corner of her mouth. “Especially since you became my best friend.”
I grit my teeth and grip the braid running down her back like I can hold her to this world if I don’t let it go. “Your friendship is vital to me, Greer. I am who I am because of you, and I still have a lot to learn. I need you to stay and teach me more,” I say, the last words catching on a sob.
She weakly shakes her head. “I’ve always followed you, Kyron. You were the best of us from the start. I always knew that.”
“No, that’s not true.”
“Yes. It is. And it was my greatest honor giving my life for Pliris’ king… for you.” She brushes my hair back from my face with trembling fingers. “Go on now, say what you must. Don’t let me go with regrets.”
Fuck this. Fuck final words and letting go.
My voice is unsteady as I fulfill her final request. “Thank you for always standing at my side, for kicking my ass when you knew I could do better. Thank you for listening and trusting me.” I push past the sorrow building in my airway, but I don’t fight my tears. They flow freely. “I can never properly tell you just how much your friendship meant to me, but fuck, I’m trying, Greer. I’m really trying.”
With shallow breaths and heavy-lidded eyes, she whispers, “I know.”
That’s the only peace I find in this moment. If she is to leave this world, she knows how much she means to me. She won’tleave not knowing that she was needed and that the last thing I wanted was to let her go.
I kiss her forehead, her skin clammy against my lips. “I love you. I love you so fucking much.”
“Love. You. Ky.” She releases all the air from her lungs and the light vanishes in her eyes.
I pull her to my chest as my body rattles with grief. She was the keeper of my secrets and the force that pushed me to do better. We slayed the monsters together and remained each other’s cornerstones through every trial life hurled at us. Many have physically tested me, helped me to become strong on the battlefield, but Greer... She made me stronger in ways only a best friend can.
I hold her to me, rocking her limp body. Everyone may not feel it, but I do. The fragment of her light is missing in the world. The sun will never warm in quite the same way and the darkness will settle just a bit deeper. No day will ever be just right again because she is missing from it.
Thirty-Five
RAELLE
The final pyre goes up in flames, engulfing Greer’s body shrouded in the center. Embers drift to the clear night sky as if carrying our beloved friend to the stars. The Basecamp soldiers stand in silence, their arms clasped behind their backs and heads bowed. Kyron tosses the torch into the kindle at the bottom of the fire and takes a step back. The flames flicker bright in his onyx eyes, a sharp contrast to the violent storm brewing in his soul. Terro and Ulric step forward to flank him, loyal guards keeping watch over their friend and king.
They say nothing. No goodbyes. No words about how Greer will be missed. They stand as silent sentinels ensuring she makes it to her final destination. Kyron takes a knee, and I follow suit with the rest of the soldiers. Together, we pound our fists to our hearts, representing the pain we feel at her loss. The salute also reminds us that we still live. With each heartbeat, we can honor her memory by living our lives to the fullest.
Kyron stands, and with his gaze focused straight ahead, he slips through the crowd. The pain in the center of my chest isenough to have me rubbing my sternum. I want to chase after him, to hold him and tell him everything will be all right. But it’s not true, not right now, not when his heart is still bleeding. He needs a moment to sit in the brokenness before he starts to reassemble himself in a way that doesn’t include Greer in his every day.
“I’m sorry I wasn’t faster,” Ashavee says.
I glance up at her and admire how the light dances over her face. Her sorrow makes every sharp line harsher, but she holds such compassion under her edges. She possesses the kind of beauty that is amplified by what’s on the inside. Ashavee is beautiful through and through.
Gripping her arm and giving a squeeze, I say, “Greer knew what she was doing. She made a vow to our people, to Kyron. She wouldn’t want you to feel guilty because she fulfilled that promise.”
Ashavee wraps her fingers around the lime green stone hanging from her neck. She clenches it as if she is torn by its existence. It is a gift to protect her people, yet it was used for such destruction. “I hope the new treaty between Pliris and Allaji honors her sacrifice.”
I lower my head in reverence and say, “It does, Your Majesty.”
She scoffs at the formality, and I understand the sentiment. I spent my entire life preparing to become a queen, she was bestowed the honor unexpectedly. We hadn’t even left the battlefield in the heart of Stigian when the shifters prostrated before her. Not one of them challenged the position freely given to her. How could they when she was the link to stopping a bloody war and solving the issues behind their hunger?
The relationship she had formed with Kyron and me was the answer to the Allaji people’s greatest dilemmas. We could work together to end the abhorrent acts that led us to this war, andsupply the resources needed to replant their barren land. Every Allaji person would benefit from our union as allies, and the five kingdoms would prosper because of it.
“Once I’ve personally seen to the care of each Cyffred in Allaji and they are well enough to travel, I will give them safe passage home,” she says.
