“Why is he still here?” I asked her, careful to keep my voice low as I nodded toward Darvanda.
The Central Queen huffed. “Fuck if I know—I believe he’s sticking around to discuss the terms of his bargain. Thankyou, very much.” She eyed me with a faux glare that returned to warmth nearly instantly. “I told him we won’t be discussing anything until tomorrow. The rest of the Corridor leaders arrive in two nights. It gives us time to think through what comes next and how to present him to others without them waging war on us too. His troops leave here and head back to the Wastelands tomorrow.”
So Darvanda’s men would return home to the Wastelands. Which begged me to wonder—why was he here?The last Brennac King was still a mystery.Still a threat.
“You’re sure that we should not rebuild the wards?” I asked.
Sybilla sighed. “I don’t know.”
The young Queen looked as though she might lay her head down on the quilts in exhaustion. Fen’s brow furrowed.
He asked, “Can’t you…hear if he’s up to no good?”
“Apparently not,” Sybilla grumbled under her breath before straightening her posture. “To be safe, I’ve told the civilians to remain in the bailey and the tunnels below for tonight—I don’t want to risk northern soldiers returning, and I want the Wasteland soldiers to leave prior to our people returning to the city. Also, I don’t want the children seeing…” Sybilla motioned to the gore all around them. “They’re panicked, and many grieve as we identify the fallen. I’m off to see that they’re alright and maintain some semblance of order down there.”
We nodded a solemn goodbye as Queen Sybilla followed a group of soldiers carrying water jugs and kitchen maids carrying dozens of food trays toward the stairs to the tunnels in the belly of the Keep.
Vangard nudged his nose into my back with a whine, begging.
“You can come back and rest.” Fenris urged the beast. Van only huffed in response and nudged me again, nearly knocking me off my feet. I turned around to greet him with a weak smile.
“Oh, stubborn animal.” Van bowed for me to scratch between where his horns and ears met. The beast tilted his head in a blissfully satiated way while his back leg kicked up involuntarily. “Return to your master, Van.”
A familiar cloud of dust kicked up around us as Van disappeared, but Fenris looked confused to not see the ink etch down his newly healed bicep. I grabbed his arm and gasped. There, from my inner wrist to my inner forearm, was an inked image of Vangard.
“Return to your master.”
My eyes widened. Fen wore a smile as he ran his fingers down the ink on my arm. A smile that held no resentment, no regret, just surprised joy.
“I suppose when he was cut from my arm, he decided he liked you better. Who could blame him? Butthat isnow your problem, my strange beauty.”
He placed a kiss to the soft space just below my ear before he trailed his lips down my shoulder and forearm.
Wyeth approached, interrupting the heat growing between us.
“Hello, shiny one and…friend?” She looked between me and Fenris with a fox-like smirk. Her short black bob was pinned aside, and her hands were coated in blood from healing the wounded. “Care to help us?”
My cheeks heated. Fen and I nodded in unison.
“Of course!” I chirped out.
Fen and I helped the others and went from bedroll to bedroll, healing as many of the wounded as we could until our bodies were as exhausted as our magic.
We began to hear roars of applause and cries of joy from the ground below as soldiers were reunited with their families in the tunnels. Emmerick’s words at the lakeside in Belray returned to me.
“Look for the brightest sides of your darkest days.”
I felt the first glimmer of hope for the future of Henosis and my place in it.
Chapter41
Fenris
My mind left the battle-torn grounds behind. We had done all we could, and thoughts of rebuilding the city would still be there in the fast-approaching morning light.
The only thing that mattered in this moment was Asterie’s hand in mine, the way she looked at me without reserve and the curve of her body pulled tight to me as she guided me up the palace stairs.Asterie, my guiding light. The beautiful star that led me home, for home would be wherever she was.
She pulled me along, into my bedchamber. She ran a bath, stripped me down and sat me on a stool in the shower—a luxury only royal residences had. I reveled in the feeling of the water hitting my back.
