Tansy appeared at my side, a fierce look in her dark eyes. “This was what Devlinn wanted, Your Grace.” She wiped away an errant tear with the heel of her hand. “I can feel him here. I know he’s with us.”
I hadn’t known Devlinn well. But I could almost see him leaning against the fence posts, arms crossed, smile crooked.
“I’m sure he is. And when we return to Chastity’s, we’re going to give him a hero’s funeral.”
The offer felt insufficient for his sacrifice, but it was all I had to offer. That, and the reassurance that Tansy wouldn’t have to live a consort’s life again. I would make her a lady.
“Thank you, Your Grace.”
“No,” I replied, meeting her gaze. Hand on her shoulder. “Thank you.”
As more villagers shouted their willingness for peace, I stepped forward and raised my voice, knowing I needed to seize the momentum in the moment.
“Commander,” I said. Natalia turned to me, a look of overwhelming surprise on her face. “Collect the family names of all those who wish to join the Blood Treaty. Answer their questions. Make certain they understand what it requires.”
She dipped into a curtsy. “Of course, Uncle.”
Claire met my eyes, and for a moment, the noise of the fort fell away entirely. I couldn’t understand how anyone would look at a woman like that with anything short of wonder. How her own mother could’ve convinced her that she was unintelligent.
I wanted to tell her to sit down and rest. She’d been through enough today. But something told me that would only infuriate her, and I didn’t want to spoil the moment. That was my fear. I needed to trust that she would take a break if she needed one. However, there was more I needed to say.
I found Tyson, Alec, and Sera clustered around the wolf’s head. Alec and Tyson bowed. Sera simply crossed her arms. Her opinions about vampires had changed, but I clearly hadn’t impressed her. Although she’d been in the room when I’d fucked her sister, so perhaps it was that.
I cleared my throat. “I don’t have the words to express my gratitude to the three of you. Had you not followed me, had you not chased down Shayla, noneof this would be possible.”
Tyson tried to restrain a grin. “Does this mean I’ve proven to be more than just a royal pain in your neck?”
“Something like that.” I scrubbed a hand over my chin. “Sera, Alec, could you excuse us for a moment?” Alec bowed, Sera sneered, then they marched off toward where Claire and Tansy were speaking to the people. I gestured to a more secluded area of the fort where there were fewer people milling about. “I have a request to make of you.”
Tyson shifted his weight. “Don’t tell me you’ve rethought your decision to leave Château Rose to me?”
I shook my head. “I have broken the Blood Treaty, and I know it could mean banishment. Or death.” Tyson tried to cut in, but I spoke over him. “If he takes my head, I want your word that you will take care of Claire. Offer her a place in your court. And treat my child as a son.” Tyson went to say something else, and I could tell it was some long-winded speech. “Just say that you will do as I ask, and nothing more.”
He set his hand on my shoulder and said, “I swear it.”
I expelled a tight breath, trying to keep my emotions from showing on my face. Now was not the time to come apart. Not when so much good was unfolding around me.
Glancing past the fort and to the mountains in the distance, I forced a smile. “I think,” I said slowly, “it’s time to go back home.”
For the first time in a long time, I didn’t mean Château Rose. I meant Amara. The place I wished to return to with Claire. IfMarius lets me live, I hoped to return to the banks of the Starfall River. I wanted to raise my son on the same trails I once ran. I wanted to fish, hunt, and grow vegetables beside a small cottage.
After five hundred years, I was ready to rest.
Chapter 45
Deuil
CLAIRE
The next two days were a blur. We tended the injured and forged friendships with the local witches and humans. We broke bread with them and listened to their stories. One Witch of the Light who accepted Bastien’s peace even performed a healing spell on my wounds, stopping the bleeding. She urged me to use the salve to lessen scarring, but I refused. I wanted the scars. They were proof I survived.
We returned to Chastity’s Stronghold yesterday, and since then, I couldn’t stop touching my neck. Only a thin gold chain, marking me as Bastien’s mate, remained. No lace. Just the scars pulling when I turned or swallowed. Freedom from Mama’s curse still felt unreal.
Today, Tansy and I volunteered to help Chastity’s witches prepare the bodies of thefallen for death rites. They had fought against Tansy’s help, but I’d insisted. Inside the cold, dark cellar, with the stench of death and dried blood saturating the room, we bathed them and applied ceremonial oils. Any who followed Damien, whether witch or human, were being prepared for burial.
Devlinn, who was being given the highest honor of a hero, would be burned in a pyre, alongside the body of the demon Gorrath. Thankfully, I wouldn’t need to clean Gorrath or see his body before the ceremony. He was being personally tended to by Chastity. In the end, he had lived up to his bargain with her. He had protected her from Shayla. And he’d done the same for me, too.
When Tansy pulled back the black sheet that had been covering Devlinn, she sucked in a sharp breath. Tears immediately flowed down her cheeks.
