Instead, I keep my feet planted. I glance back to the hallway behind Brightstar, and Visri’s sober expression is all I need to see to know they’re with me. Ready for whatever I’m about to lead them into.
Lifting my chin, I return the duchess’s cold look, knuckles white where they’re gripping Brightstar’s lead.
“That’s not all he has,” I say, tugging the ifrak out of the way to reveal the mob waiting outside the room.
Xandril’s eyes find me again, flaring brighter even while he wrestles with confusion. He sees me, he sees them. And then I mouth the word that makes his heaterupt.
‘Fight.’
The moment he decides to fight back, his fires burn, and the throne tree responds, roots shooting up from the ground to restrain the traitors.
It’s all over very quickly once Xandril decides to put up a fight. Of course it is—these two cowards are no match for the Emerald King, even on his worst day.
“You came back,” he says, disbelieving even while I’m wrapping my arms around him.
“Of course I did. I was a fool to leave you. My brother made me realize… I think I’ve spent so much of my life simply trying to stay afloat, fighting against the current to keep it from whisking me away… I never considered there might be another way. But you showed me my life can be so much more,” I say, heart aching with how badly I need him to understand. “Wecan be so much more, together. We can do more than fight the current. Together, we can change the course of the river. I can’t imagine my life without you in it. I’m sorry I ever left, but I couldn’t stay away. I love you too much. Even more than I love this reach and all the wonderful people and creatures within it.”
Xandril looks down at me, his warmth radiating through me while his hand rests on the side of my face, claws threaded through my hair. The tenderness in his expression says everything that he cannot.
“You came back,” he repeats.
“And you kept fighting,” I answer, smiling up at him.
His arms tighten around me, lifting me up into a kiss that makes the staff hoot and cheer. My face burns with embarrassment, and I can’t help laughing, but Xandril keeps kissing me and I’m in no hurry to make him stop.
I lean up, pressing back into him, deepening the kiss. He wants to give them a show? Two can play this game. Let’s see who gets more bashful first.
Xandril grumbles something, muttering about getting me alone, when the crowd turns quiet. No more whoops and chuckles, now it’s murmurs and hushed whispers. It’s enough to cut through my giddy haze, and I break away from the kiss to look back, confused.
“Look up,” Xandril says, a smile in his voice even if it’s not on his lips.
The branches of the throne tree are no longer bare. In the time since we started kissing, dozens—maybe hundreds—of small pink blossoms have sprouted, petals opening right before our eyes.
“What—?”
“Halemercy,” Xandril says, pulling me against him so my back is to his chest and we can both admire the flowers together. He leans down and presses a warm kiss to the side of my head, his lips lingering by my ear when he adds, “It’s back because of you.”
Chapter Thirty-Seven
Xandril
Golden light streams in through the foliage above, the early dawn sun bathing everything in the color. Birds are just beginning to rouse in their nests, finally rebuilt after years of winter kept them vacant. The air is perfumed with the scent of halemercy and fresh spring growth…
In short, it’s a perfect morning for a coronation.
I’d feel better prepared for a battlefield.
Ingrid looks at me from her place a few paces away. We’re stationed at two separate doors in the same hallway, and we’ll emerge on opposite sides of the throne when we enter. One door would have been preferable. One door would mean Ingrid would be at my side right now, not down the hall giving me an encouraging smile instead of squeezing my hand like I want.
“You’re going to do great,” she says with a confidence that makes me almost believe it.
With the glow of dawn surrounding her, Ingrid is even more beautiful. She stands tall, confident, poised—every bit the queen she’s destined to be.
Only a few minutes more…
“If you forget everything, I’ll whisper the answers to you,” she teases, eyes glinting with mischief.
With the number of times I recited the expected answers in preparation for this day, I’d be more likely to forget my own name. But knowing Ingrid’s there with me, at my side, supporting me and believing in me the way she always has, helps me shake off some of the nerves.
