Eventually, we would settle together at his family’s estate. It needed enough work to keep us both busy for our immortal lifetime. It didn’t take my gift of sight to imagine how grand the home would be once we fixed it up again.
Tears welled at the thought of our happy future. It felt possible, but fragile and distant.
“I’ll come for you.” Dommik pushed a handful of my untamed dark hair behind my ear and cradled my cheek. “There’s work to be done. But I’ll see it done and then Iwillcome for you.”
Asher chuffed at his master.
“And you, friend.” Dommik rubbed a hand down Asher’s gray muzzle before handing me the reins to his mount.
I dropped them immediately when he took me in his arms and kissed me. Deep. Claiming. The kind of kiss that would linger on my lips for days. And I returned his press. I wanted him to feel me too. To never forget this feeling or his promises.
Then, I made him a promise of my own. “I’ll wait for you. As long as it takes.”
The Day Guard was split. Some chose to follow Dommik and continue their adventure of dangerous but rewarding employment with the vampires. But Shaw volunteered to escort my family back to Illica.
It was a two day journey. We rode, made camp, slept, broke down camp, and rode again with no hiccups or distractions. Conversations were light and it was an often occurrence that we would all fall into a long, comfortable silence.
I would wake crying in the night beside my sister on our bedrolls. My body ached with an indescribable pain. Dommik was gone. Miles away and he’d taken a piece of me with him. My core was replaced with a depthless sorrow that only he could quell. Cova did her best to console me and tell me everything was going to be okay. When that did nothing toappease my despair, she just held me, resigned that there was nothing more she could do but just be there for me.
When Illica’s flags emerged from behind the final hill of our journey, a dark pit of regret took up residence where my beating heart should be.
I looked to the sky, my hood falling and letting my hair loose into the winter wind.
“This is as far as we go,” Shaw said, turning his mount back toward the road north.
“We?” I said, my gaze shifting to Alba. I didn’t know if I could survive another painful goodbye.
She nodded. Her lips pressed into a thin line and she fought back the welling tears. “There’s no place for us here.”
A few other survivors split from the group bound for Illica. Less than half would continue beyond the human realm gates.
“Where will you go?” I asked.
“It’s best we don’t say,” Shaw cautioned, but Alba trusted me more than her suitor did.
She wasn’t my chambermaid any longer. She was my friend. My dearest friend. “There’s a community in the wilds.”
Lydia sat up straighter, piqued by the possibility of people living outside of the safety of Illica’s gates. Although we all knew being behind the royal gates didn’t always mean you were safe or protected.
I dismounted Asher and Alba did the same. We moved to each other, arms wide, and crashed into a consuming embrace.
“Be safe, my friend,” I breathed into her golden hair.
“You too, Reyva.”
Chapter 45
The Letter
The royals spun quite a web to explain not only why I returned, but why I was welcomed back into human society. The Travelers had informed the Crown of most of the events since my departure and the queen in particular was ravenous for details. Thanks to my cooperation and as an apology for nearly wrongly killing me, I was placed at the right hand of the queen as an advisor to her royal guard and investigators.
It was known to only a select few that I had the gift of sight. But this time, instead of my abilities damning me to arrest and a choice between the axe or the Hive, it was seen as a benefit and lucrative service to the Crown.
For the more serious crimes and unsolvable cases within the realm, the Master at Arms would summon me, place me in a room with the accused, and leave me to my work. It was a draining routine, but I’d saved over a dozen innocents from an undeserving punishment, which was more rewarding than the generous amounts of gold the Crown bestowed upon me.
And on Sundays, I would sit around a table with my family, a luxury I hadn’t had for many years.
Seeing their faces, hearing their stories, forging new memories with them was a greater gift than I could have imagined. And while my heart was full from this second chance at a normal life, a piece of it was missing.The absence in my life could never be filled, now knowing what havinghimwas like.
