With Storne’s help, he lifted Viktor, the man’s weight frighteningly slight, his head sagging to Gabriel’s shoulder. Together they bore him down through the hall and out into the sunlit courtyard where the wagon waited.
The horses shifted, harness chains clinking, their coats gleaming in the heat of early summer. The wagon had been padded, its benches covered with cloth. Gabriel eased Viktor inside, propping him against his chest. Saecily climbed in after them, tugging furs over his shoulders, tucking the blankets close, her hands as fierce as her scolding.
Storne mounted his horse, barking orders to the escort. The wagon lurched forward, wheels creaking against stone.
Inside, Gabriel kept Viktor close, one arm steady around his shoulders with every jolt of the road. Viktor’s head rested heavily against his chest, breath rasping shallow, lips moving faintly.
“Ami…”
Gabriel bent his head, straining to hear.
“I’m coming.”
Chapter One Hundred Seventeen
Too Late
The horn at dusk shattered what silence had held.
Amerei sat curled against the sill, chin in her hand, watching the children chase one another through the grass. Their laughter rose like birdsong, bright and untroubled, as though the world beyond Amethyst’s walls had never burned to ruin.
Her chest ached with it.
That laughter had been hers for a single day.
For a day, she had livedas if.
A shadow crossed the arch.
Xavien folded himself into the narrow space beside her, long frame coiled close. His gaze followed hers into the garden, and for a time he said nothing. The sound of his children carried between them, each note a thread he could not bring himself to cut.
At last he spoke, voice low.
“Word came from the gates. Storne rides for Amethyst.”
Amerei shuddered.
She did not look at him, only pressed her forehead harder against the stone.
“And Viktor?”
No answer.
The silence stretched until she turned.
His jaw was set, eyes fixed on the garden.
His chest lifted, tightened, his whisper breaking.
“It’s over, isn’t it?”
She stilled.
Her eyes dampened, but she said nothing.
The answer was not hers to give.
Then he smiled, soft and rueful.
