We’d lose in the end.
My shoulders sagged as I said, “Fine.”
Her head tilted.
“You win. Congratulations, Your Majesty. You get your alliance. And your throne.”
“Where—”
“Not today. Consider it a wedding present when we take our vows.” I forced a grin that felt like swallowing glass. “When do we wed?”
Her eyes glittered. “Soon.”
She withdrew her power pressing in on me, the frost receding like breath on glass. “You’ll announce it tomorrow.”
“To whom?”
“To the kingdom that still dares call itself yours.”
I clenched my fists to keep from shaking. “And when they ask why I would tie myself to my enemy?”
She shrugged. “Tell them the truth.”
“Which is?”
“That you’ve chosen survival. Just as your father did.”
She turned to leave, the air warming slightly in her wake. At the doorway, she glanced back, a cruel kind of softness in her expression. “I’ll see you soon, husband.”
When the doors shut behind her, I waited until the sound of her footsteps had faded. Then, I let myself out through the small door in a hidden corner of the room.
Lemuel would be beside himself searching for me, but he would have to wait.
Down the stairs that spiraled deep beneath the castle, I went quickly enough that sweat dotted my brow by the time I’d reached the bottom. The air was stale here, unmoved for the centuries Grey Oak had stood carved around it.
In the small room at the back of the passage stood the true Harvest Throne. It had taken half a dozen soldiers and a pulley to lower it here. My compulsion had helped them forget whatthey’d seen and done. And now, only I knew where the true throne was hidden.
Breathless, I approached it and slid into its seat.
The stag’s horn inlaid felt warm. Too warm. Like it recognized what had just happened and was deciding what to think of it all.
I pressed a hand to the armrest, trying to still the tremor in my fingers. “You and me both,” I muttered to the throne.
The veins of gold pulsed once beneath my palm, like a heartbeat answering mine. For a moment, I swore I heard it whisper—soft, almost kind. Almost relieved.You made your choice.
I closed my eyes. “Gods help me. I hope it’s the right one.”
Chapter Thirty-Two
Aurelia
Cold air hit my face, thin and sharp, and the world opened from a slit in the rock to a silver-washed valley of Obsidian soldiers. I didn’t let myself look there too long. Instead, I watched as Slade, Eirnan, and Thorne slipped away, there and gone in an instant as Slade shadow-walked them down the rocky path toward the camp’s edge and then straight into its wicked heart.
Then it was Daegel’s turn.
Keres stood with half the Withered soldiers, their breaths puffing out in hot clouds as they waited for their camouflage to envelop them. Daegel’s shadows were a dark ward around them, different from Slade’s murky portals, but just as effective, and soon, they were invisible, lost among the last dregs of darkness.
I watched them all go, my heart in my throat, and sent a prayer to whatever gods might still listen to keep them safe.
