“Lennox? Kara?”
We turned toward the sound of his voice. A few moments later, Nol appeared from under one of the golden arches.
The color had returned to his face, his cheeks were full, his body no longer looked sickly, but healthy. Strong. There was a new glow to his eyes too. Like some of the shadows haunting them had been cleared away.
“You’re finally here. You’re home,” he muttered as he took turns embracing us.
“We’re home,” Kara and I echoed. For so long grief hung heavy in this palace, but now—now Nol was here. He was alive and well back in the home we grew up in.
The absence of our parents would forever follow us, but now, with Nol back in our arms, that grief felt a little bit lighter.
Nol took a step back, his face turning serious as his gaze narrowed in on me.
“She’s dead? Adreona is truly dead?”
“Yes.” I took his hand in mine and squeezed. “She’s dead.”
After we all took turns greeting Nol, we went our separate ways to wash up from our travels before reconvening for a lunch Nol put together to welcome us back.
“When will you go back home, Luce?” Nol asked as he popped a berry in his mouth.
“Next week, Endora will need me, but I wanted to see you before I headed back.”
A silence fell over the table. It had been a month, and Caterina still hadn’t woken. Luce never said it, but I knew itwas eating at her. She had started to draw into herself, her comments no longer snarky, but bitter.
She spent every spare moment sequestered away reading, trying to find a way to wake Caterina to no avail. Even Hecate and Astria had failed to provide any insight.
I hadn’t taken much time to think about it with everything else going on, but there was a large possibility Caterina might not wake up. And since Endora was only her Queens consort—Luce might be taking up her role as Queen of the Mystic Court sooner than she anticipated if Caterina didn’t wake soon. There was a time limit on things like this, the Mystic Court could only operate for so long without a Queen. And although Luce hadn’t admitted, I don’t think her magic had returned yet. If it hadn’t yet, I doubted it ever would return. Luce might find herself grieving more than her mother if things didn’t take turn for the better.
“Perfect, you’ll still be here for the ball.”
“What ball?” we inquired in unison.
“I’m throwing a ball.”
“You’re throwing a ball? Is that what you’ve been up to?” Kara shoved her shoulder against Nol’s.
Nol narrowed his eyes,.“I’ve been up to a lot more important things, might I add. But I wanted to do something special. Something to celebrate the end of the war and us making it out alive. I think we all deserve a fun night. And besides, I’ve missed balls.”
85
LUKA
“Rise and shine, Sweetheart.”
I rolled on my side and placed a kiss on Lennox’s bare collarbone. She groaned, her nose scrunching as she stretched her arms above her head.
We’d taken advantage of our first few days back in Alethens, putting off all meetings until next week, allowing us to rest and relax for a few days before Nol’s ball.
Not that Lennox and I had done much resting.
We didn’t leave her—our—bedroom the first day back.
I made a promise to her I intended to keep.
But after a day locked away, she made us leave, much to my protests.
She’d taken me into downtown Alethens yesterday, showed me around the city and brought me to her favorite shops—declaring she was giving me a long overdue grand tour of Alethens. She introduced me to her people and took me for lunch at her favorite restaurant, where the rest of our friends joined us.
