Aya watched him go for a moment before she strolled over to where Liam was readying his and Dauphine’s horse.
“Are you sure you don’t want to come back with us?”
“Oh I absolutelywantto,” Liam corrected as he tightened the saddle. “But I need to see this through in the Midlands. We need as many soldiers as we can get, and Nyra needs the truth of what transpired in Dunmeaden from someone who experienced it firsthand.”
Aya wrapped her arms around herself as she nodded in understanding.
“Liam…” she started, but the words died in her throat as she realized she had no idea how to possibly begin to apologize for all he had suffered.
I’m sorry I brought Evie back, she wanted to say.I’m sorry she killed Lena. I’m sorry I didn’t realize what Gianna was doing until it was too late.
I’m sorry. I’m sorry. I’m sorry.
Liam cleared his throat against the wounded noise that tried to escape as he folded her into his arms.
“I do not hold you responsible,” he rumbled.
Aya wasn’t sure she could say the same. But she huggedhim back as tightly as she could, her forehead pressing against his shoulder.
“Thank you for fighting for me,” she whispered. “Now, and before.”
It had been Liam, after all, who had willingly helped her take on Mathias Denier. Just as it had been Liam who had found her in Will’s room when she thought him dead in Milsaio; Liam who had refused to let her grieve alone, refused to let her get lost in the darkness of her own mind.
“By my blood,” Liam swore, his broad hand rubbing a soothing circle between her shoulder blades. He pulled back, determination written in his gaze. “The Dyminara may be no more, but our oaths to each other live on. You are and will always be my family.”
Aya blinked away the burning in her eyes as she nodded. “And you, mine.”
Will was right—a true oath did not reside in a scar or mark. It lived in the heart, where it was nourished and honored regardless of distance or time or circumstance.
Liam said his goodbyes to Will, and then he mounted his horse behind Dauphine and whistled for Azul. His bonded stretched languidly before falling into step beside them.
And then they were gone, too.
A gentle breeze blew through the plains, rustling the tall grass and sending goose bumps prickling across Aya’s skin. Will wrapped an arm around her waist, pulling her into his side as they took a moment to appreciate the silence.
She tucked her head into that space carved just for her, fighting against the way her mind wanted to tug her back into a false memory of them on the Wall in a different life.
One where Will was happy and Aya was…
Nothing.
Will’s lips pressed against her temple, warm and steady and real.
“Are you ready, my love?” he asked against her skin.
She sucked in a long breath, her chest aching with the fullness of it, and allowed herself one more moment of taking in the rolling hills bathed in the soft light of dawn.
She tried to will the exhaustion that seemed to drag her bones down toward the earth to part with her exhale.
“I’m ready,” she said, turning into Will and pressing a kiss to his mouth.
And she meant it. She was tired, and bruised, and hollowed out…but she wasn’t alone. And that was enough for now.
Part Four
A Weapon and Its Wielder
50
