Her face relaxed and she crossed her arms. “For now. Unless you do something to piss her off.”
“I’m sure I’ll give you plenty of opportunities to despise me.”
Rosalind yielded a partial smile, watching Astraea and Zath.
“You’re not completely terrible, I suppose,” she said.
“That’s quite a compliment coming from you.”
When Astraea was back by my side I relaxed from the tension I hadn’t realized was growing in me, even when my eyes were on her. There’d been so many times I’d had to watch her in enemy clutches that I didn’t think I would ever lose the subconscious fear Astraea could be taken from me when she was out of my reach.
My arm slipped around her waist as we continued making our way up to the top level of the city.
Many walls and structures needed to be repaired and rebuilt, but as I studied the wreckage I didn’t feel anything but potential. To rebuild better, stronger. War was not without mass desolation and destruction, but the only way to honor the fallen and heal the land was to remember what we fought for and not waste a moment to push forward on the bright path victory had opened.
In the courtyard we found Eltanin and Athebyne, which distracted me from the bodies strewn around and the amount of repair needed.
Eltanin gave something of a loud rattle in greeting; his joy vibrated through me when he saw us. As he shifted his large head down, Astraea giggled, stroking his feathers, when his gentle nudge stumbled her footing. He didn’t grow again when the next full moon passed, leaving his mature size just a little bigger than Athebyne’s, which in truth was a relief. He would have barely fit in this courtyard himself if he’d grown any bigger.
“Where have you two been?” Drystan called.
My brother’s voice had never made me feel such peace before.
Turning my head back, he stormed to us with Nadia close behind.
“I’ve been worried sick! I knew that goodbye during the battle was suspicious and you’d likely be plotting some bullshit to sacrifice yourself or holding secrets I didn’t know about. You’re good at that—always keeping me out—”
I pulled Drystan into an embrace when he marched close enough, shocking even myself with the uncharacteristic impulse. Drystan was absolutely stiff against me, and I patted his back with a chuckle before letting him go.
“What is happening?” Drystan muttered, looking me over as if I were a foreign invader in his brother’s body.
“We got you something,” I said casually.
Reaching into the void, I pulled out the monocular telescope.
Drystan’s eyes widened on the item, then on me.
“Is that—?”
I nodded and it had been so long since I’d seen that particular stare of joyous wonder on his face as he snatched it from me.
“What is it?” Nadia inquired, seeming unimpressed as Drystan inspected every inch of the metal.
“An eye for the unseeing,” a different voice answered for us.
I turned to find Balthezar strolling onto the courtyard, his hand guiding his son by the shoulder.
“N-Nyte! Astraea!” Brody cried cheerfully, leaving his father’s side to skip to us. “Did-did you see? I-I have a Dra-dragon!”
Astraea looked to me for confirmation, and for the first time I smiled at the boy.
“I did. It seems you’ve been chosen as the King of the Seas,” I said to him.
I reached through the void again and felt the collective stun around me at the trident, which radiated with dangerous power even idle in my grasp.
“I think your father should hold onto this for now though,” I said, offering it to the captain.
He looked at it in surprise. “You would hand over such a powerful weapon?”
