Derrick sat in front of the crackling fireplace, his arms folded over his knees. The room was surprisingly quiet despite the party outside.
I held my hands in front of my stomach. “She is going to be just fine, you know. Weallwill.”
He turned to me. The Alastar might have been dead, but his eyes were still hollow. “Some of us more than others.”
I swallowed and tugged on my bond to beckon Riyan away from the mead barrels.
I took a few steps forward, erasing the distance between us. Derrick’s eyes lingered on the Hyton Blue ribbons I had tied above my elbows.
I picked at the threads of my skirt as I found my voice. “I am sorry…for being so cruel to you.”
He gave me a wan smile. “Truly I am the cruel one. I begged you to stay and yet I am the one who will leave in the end.” His smile warmed. “Though whatever time I get on this earth, I am grateful to have a friend who will tolerate me.”
I smiled back and gestured to the door. “You belong out there with us. You should be proud of what you have done.”
He scoffed. “Proud? I am a stain on the Duchess’s new reign. A burden of the past.”
Before I could step in, a low voice filled the air. “Burden?”
Derrick and I turned our heads. Riyan held open the door as noise from the party flooded in. He clicked the door shut behind him and his brow creased as he stepped toward Derrick. “No man who gave what you did is ever a burden.”
Derrick stiffly rose from his chair, but I took a step back. We had planned this meeting to be calmer, but I let Riyan handle it—man to man.
Riyan took a few steps forward but Derrick did not unclench.
“You freed Sera. And the girls. And my mother.” Riyan’s lip trembled only once. “And me.”
Derrick’s face softened.
“I remember thinking my life was nothing but bleak loneliness,” Riyan said. “I thought I was broken, never to be fixed.” His chest rose and fell as his eyes watered. “And if you think I am going to let the man who gave me an eternity of happiness go through the rest of his life alone in the dark, you are dead wrong.”
Derrick’s eyes widened as Riyan lowered to one knee. Riyan looked up at him and only a single heavy heartbeat passed before he spoke again. “Serafina gave her eternity to Brietta, but my eternity isyours.I will serve you, your line, and your legacy, though it will never be enough to repay what you have given me.” His voice shook as tears gleamed in his eyes. “And I swearto you, so long as I walk this earth, you will be known to history as Alastar the Liberator.”
Derrick’s hard shell finally broke. He swallowed a trembling breath and his voice was low. “I…I have a few requests.”
“Name them,” Riyan said.
“First,” Derrick said with a measured tone, “my Duchess needs a General.”
My heart jumped as Riyan’s eyebrows raised. After a thudding heartbeat, Riyan smoothed into steel. “Done.”
“Then, I want you to swear to me, that even after I am dead…” Derrick’s eyes swept to me. “Dance with her. Send her notes. Give her roasted hazelnuts just because. Never forget her birthday.”
Tears lined my eyes. Warmth spread through my chest from that sweet ember that first showed me what love felt like.
Derrick gave me a soft smile and returned his attention to Riyan. “I will never see the end of eternity, but promise me that you will love her the entire way.”
Riyan’s eyes glistened. “Always.”
Derrick lowered his arm and his smile grew. “Welcome to the new House of Hyton.”
Riyan gripped Derrick’s forearm and rose. He looked him in the eye for only a second before crushing him to his chest in an embrace.
My heart swelled, the rainbow flames twisted around my chest, and the red ember in my heart glowed as Derrick’s beautiful blue eyes looked over Riyan’s shoulder at me.
Even though Derrick would one day leave me, that little red ember would blaze in my heart as long as it was beating.
I would love him. I would protect his children and his grandchildren. I would be his friend as his skin wrinkled and his hair bleached. I would cry at his grave.
