“A garden,” I said. “Large. With room for hundreds to sit under trees and not be crowded. Plant food crops in the ground, not just flowers. Shade trees for summer, and covered benches for winter. A play structure for the little children, and a fountain that runs in the center that people can throw wishing coins into.”
Cassian’s entire face lit up at my description of the garden. “I’ll do it,” he declared.
“I know you will.” I leaned into him and put my head on his shoulder. Kaelric’s nostrils flared slightly, so I took my head off Cassian’s shoulder and laughed, standing to grasp my jealous alpha’s hands.
“I am sorry,” I said finally to Cassian.
He peered up at my face. “You equalized us. Now we have nothing to fight over.”
He looked at Kaelric and nodded once.
“There will be peace here now,” he declared.
“I will hold you to that,” Kaelric nodded.
After saying goodbye, heading toward the train that would take us home, we passed the burned fields, and I peered behind me one final time. Aerlyn’s towers caught the last thin light and let it go. They were still beautiful. Kaelric reached for my hand, and I gave it to him. We didn’t speak as we boarded the train and headed home to our new beginning.
Aerlyn was the past, and I wanted to move towards my future.
Chapter Twenty-One
Three months later, the city of Lunaria wore spring like a new cloak. Frost still clung to the stones of the castle, but the square in front of the entrance had been scrubbed clean and strewn with pale-colored flowers. Workmen had polished the bronze braziers until the morning light set them on fire. Valewulf wolfkin banners in white and plum hung from the high arches of the castle, their cloth heavy and rippling in the wind. The black suns were long gone. In their place stood carvings of running wolves, and a single crown cut in relief above the gate.
Inside the throne room, the king’s platform had been built up higher than before so that it towered over the people in attendance. It held three things: a table of carved oak, a throne of ironwood, and a simple ivory stand where Kaelric’s gold crown waited.
Gold, with precious purple gems, it was once his father’s.
The purple caught the morning light and held it like cool wine in a shallow cup.
I stood at the base of the dais and watched Lunarian citizens fill the space. The first rows were wolfkin soldiers in formal leathers with dented battle armor, hair braided back or cleanshaven, arms full of scars. Then the families of the city, wearing their best dress, with little children all pushing to get a view of the crown. I noticed Mrs. Clay with the orphanage children. I waved to them when they caught my eye, and they waved back. Beyond them were my people, formerly from the Dregs, now affectionately known as the Hildreth humans, wearing better clothes than I had ever seen them in, their faces filled with smiles and looking healthy. They had traveled all the way from Hildreth to show their respect to Kaelric. I blew a kiss to my mother, who caught it and pressed it into Sable’s cheek, which made her laugh.
At the very back were the Aerlyn nobles, including Cassian and his family. They’d come to a new way of life and voted for a quorum of six rulers instead of one. Cassian was one of those six, and I was proud of him. Fiona stood next to him with her baby strapped to her chest, and did I notice a flirty wink between them?
Kaelric was waiting in the back dressing room until the hour struck, so I went to fetch him. I found him in the private room, where he stood in a rich dark purple cloak clasped across his shoulders and fastened with a silver wolf clasp. He had smoothed his hair back and looked so handsome.
He took in my full armor with a small gold diadem on my head. The armor had been his idea. He said he wanted people to know their new queen was the reason he was about to be crowned king again. A formality, really. He wanted them to see that I was a warrior and that they should treat me as such. To be honest, I’d been floundering without Valkaryn. Not having her weight at my hip or her thoughts in my mind, I felt empty, and was struggling with my new role as soon-to-be queen, wife, alpha’s mate. I was all these things, and yet what did that mean without the weapon that made me powerful?
“Your people are waiting for you,” I said.
He gave me a look I couldn’t interpret, and eyed the empty sheath at my waist. I don’t know why I still wore it. I’d tried other swords, but they weren’t the same. They weren’t her.
“I have something for you.” He went to a table and pulled out a long roll of felt. I frowned. “What’s this? A gift for me onyourcoronation day? Is that typical?”
He grinned at me, and my stomach did flip-flops. “It’s not, no.”
He peeled back the felt, and I expected to see a new dress or maybe a dagger. I never in a million years expected to see Valkaryn.
I whimpered, dropping to my knees as a sob racked my chest.
“I don’t think she’s in there,” he warned me, kneeling beside me as I looked up at him in wonder.
“How? Kaelric, where?”
I had watched the mountain swallow her whole.
“The cave. It took her soul and spat the sword back out.” He sounded somber.
“You went back?” I was in shock. I stroked the wolf at the hilt, my fingers running over it. I picked it up, weighing the steel to make sure it was in fact the same.
