There were nods and murmurs of agreement from the courtiers as they pushed forward, surrounding the Hawks.
“Don’t you want to save your people?” Dornar asked, his face a picture of concern. “Isn’t that what you always wanted? Just think of how much good you could do as the queen. You could stand down the armies, ratify the treaty… anything you like.”
“I could replaceyou,” Alanna said pointedly, although Val could feel her fingers trembling.
Dornar gave her a smile that might have seemed caring if not for the almost imperceptible twist to his lip. “You could—but then you would be alone in a court that has been taught to hate you. I am the Lord High Chancellor, in the absence of the king I am the leader of the Royal Brythorian Council and the Supreme Commander of the Blacks and Blues. I’m the most powerful man in the kingdom and with me behind you, you will have all the power you need. I will reintroduce you to the court and help them to see you with fresh eyes—as the woman who will save them all.” He gave a small shrug. “No one else can or will offer you the support that I’m offering.”
Alanna frowned. “And why would you offer to support me now? After everything that’s happened?”
Dornar took a small step closer. “Because we need each other. On your own, at best you will be ignored and dismissed, at worst, reviled and quickly assassinated. On my own, I would face constant rebellions from every power-hungry noble in the kingdom. But together we have both legitimacy and authority. Together, we would be unstoppable.”
Val could hardly hear through the pounding in his ears. “No, Alanna, please. This man will do anything for power. He thinks he has you under his control, that he can rule through you—”
“Shut up, former captain.” Dornar spoke with icy calm, although his eyes never left Alanna. “You are nothing here, Lanval, not even a mercenary. These are decisions for the rulers of the land to make.” He held his hand out to Alanna. “Come, we need to get back to the palace.”
Alanna glanced at the outstretched hand and then looked away, ignoring it. But then she stepped slowly out of Val’s arms.
The tournament ground was absolutely silent—even the wind had died down—as everyone watched Alanna.
She lifted her chin regally. “If I return to the palace with you, I would need your vow that the treaty would be ratified immediately.”
“Of course,” Dornar agreed without hesitating. “You are the queen.”
Alanna’s eyes were wide, her face pale as she clasped her hands together at her waist. “And Captain Lanval and the Hawks will be coming too. I’ll reinstate the Hawks—”
Dornar interrupted with a rough chuckle, shaking his head sadly, as if he was genuinely dismayed to have to explain a hard truth. “They can’t come with you. No one will accept a man that confessed to treason in front of the entire court. The Royal Council won’t stand for it. And as Commander of the Blues, neither will I.”
Alanna shook her head roughly. “The Supreme Justice himself has confirmed that he is innocent.”
Dornar swept his eyes over Lanval with a sneer. “Lanval swore, in front of every important noble in the kingdom, that he was responsible for Ravenstone. And that he was having an affair with your maid. Now we find out that he was not a traitor, merely a liar who kidnapped the queen and went on to kill King Ballanor. A liar who may or may not still be sleeping with your maid. He committed regicide and his sister murdered the previous Lord High Chancellor.”
He turned back to Alanna. “The court will never accept Lanval. Bringing him back with you would undermine everything you do. There would be so much infighting and dissension that it would be impossible for you to pass the laws you want. In the worst case, it would be taken as a reason for uprising and civil war.”
Dornar held out his upturned hand toward Alanna, as if begging her to see reason. “Every day would be hell for Lanval. Can you not see it? He would be hated. You can’t marry him, and yet you must remarry; Brythoria is desperate for a line of succession. Lanval would have to stand by and watch you create a life without him. And he would have to stand far enough away that there is no hint whatsoever of impropriety. If there was any chance that people might think that Val was your lover, they would never accept your children. They would grow up as bastards. Universally shunned, detested just for being born. Detested as Lanval and his friends are detested.”
“If you care for these people,”—he glanced meaningfully at the Hawks—“then the best thing that you can do for them is let them go. Let them live their lives free of the hatred and intrigue of a court that will never accept them. Let them go, knowing that you are saving hundreds, maybe even thousands of lives on both sides of the border. That you are preventing war with Verturia, but also internal, civil war. Let them go, knowing that you are saving the lives of Lanval and his friends.”
Alanna turned to look at Val. Her fair skin was almost translucent she was so pale, her lips white and pinched as she stared at him in desperation. She didn’t want to make this choice.
But Val knew. She was strong enough to make the choice and she would not choose him.
She had always put her people’s safety first. She hated war. She’d sacrificed herself to prevent it. It was one of the things he had always admired about her.
And now she would sacrifice their love.
And who could say that she was wrong? What was one love against hundreds? One life, against so many?
He closed his eyes, his heart breaking to pieces in his chest, splintering into tiny shards that seemed to stab him as ruthlessly as broken glass as he accepted the inevitable. All his hopes, all his dreams, gone.
He opened his eyes and looked toward heaven, praying for the strength he needed to live through the next five minutes.
After that, he didn’t give a fuck.
He took hold of her nearest hand and lifted it to his mouth, pressing his lips against her ice-cold skin as she trembled.
He lowered his voice and leaned forward so that only she could hear. “I love you, Alanna. I will love you forever. Until I die. There’s no one else for me. I wish you only happiness in this life.”
“Val….” Her voice cracked, and he ran a thumb down her ashen cheek, tried to give her one last smile.
