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“I didn’t know how to wake you,” he said softly.
“I knew we’d meet again. I knew you both”—Markus looked at me and winked— “would find a way to bring us to this moment.”
The king subtly waved a hand and light faded behind us. Much like the mist that hovered over Destin before his death, a spiral of glittering magic faded.
With the fog lifted, I recalled Markus was a transporter. A gift of the crown to the king, so he might be able to slip through the magic of the land should he need to reach his people swiftly.
Torie’s gifts came by tending to her people—the healer queen. Many times, my mother had dragged me along with the queen to tend to the ill and wounded and dying across Magiaria. The folk in Myrkfell rarely moved on from old simple spells, and often fell ill during Frostfell.
I’d always watched with utter fascination as my blood mage mother aided Torie.
She could not heal it all, or my parents would not have heartstones, but she could help a great deal.
“I would like to tend to the wounded,” Torie said softly.
“Mother,” Kage said. “You are not so strong yourself.”
“I must do what I can. It is our honor to care for those who fought so fiercely for the kingdom.”
Gaina lowered the box with a grunt. “Not without these you will not. Best to make a bit of a splash don’t you think, My Queen?”
The lid to the box creaked on the hinges. Inside were two circlets made of bone, a frighteningly beautiful design of pale shards, reaching like fingers toward a center stone. Each bone was carved in runes, the divots filled with gold.
“Gaina!” Kage’s mouth parted. “You have theskallkrönor?”
The woman popped one shoulder. “I told you, Golden Boy, I kept many interesting trinkets in that hatch.”
“And you didn’t tell us?” I asked, a little breathless.
“Well, now. Memories were lost, Sweet Iron. I forgot they were down there.”
Cy chuckled. “Ah, Gaina, my darling, I am so glad we’ll be seeing more of you in these gates. Come.” He tugged on Hugo’s hand. “We’ll aid the king and queen.”
They followed with Gwyn when Markus and Torie made their way downstairs from the wall. Kage made a motion to go, but paused and squeezed my hand. “I take it you’d like to be alone for a moment.”
“We’ll be there soon.”
He pressed a kiss to my palm, then followed his parents, still shaking his head as though his mind was spinning in too many thoughts.
“We ought to help the wounded too,” I admitted once we were alone. “But I wanted to . . . well, with our memories restored?—”
“What do you call me?” Gaina took hold of one of my hands. “It’s best to simply say it so we can move on to more important words.”
I bit the edge of my bottom lip. “Mam. I call you Mam. You’re my grandmother and the soul speaker.”
Gaina beamed and pulled me close. There we remained for long, silent moments, simply holding tight. She was the voice in my hazy dreams. The woman who’d reluctantly told me souls were speaking of Kage’s demise, then when I’d made my choice to save him, she was the voice arguing with me about the sacrifice, the one who vowed to watch over the other half of my soul until I returned.
She was the one who called me Sweet Iron since I was a young girl, insisting my magic was stronger than the iron in the earth, but my heart was sweet as the Warming breeze.
“Thank you, Mam.” I let my head fall to her shoulder. “For looking out for him.”
She pulled away, brushing a tear off my cheek. “I saw you each sunrise, in the eye of my heart. Perhaps the mind did not know, but I still knew you were coming. So did he. That love burned through lifetimes and cruel magic. So few are fortunate enough to find such a thing. How happy I am to know you have found it.”
I embraced her again. “I missed you.”
“Oh, my girl. How I’ve missed you too.” Gaina patted my cheek and linked her arm with mine, leading us toward the stairs. “Let us be honorable tonight and serve our folk, but I am certain you have questions aplenty. We’ll speak soon.”
Questions aplenty did not adequately explain the tumult in my mind of all I now knew, and the things I did not.
