“Where have you been?” I didn’t mean to sound disappointed, but they had known the war we faced, and they hadn’t come.
Both their expressions fell as they came closer and glanced at Laviana’s body.
“It’s selfish of us to admit, but the island we live on in Althenia was untouched by the war. The forgotten isles are ungoverned, and it’s the one place people like us have found peace. We were able to raise our own families.”
I couldn’t blame them for choosing to protect their peace, but a kernel of resentment lingered as I looked at Laviana. She’d fought for so long. Fought for all vampires to be able to live a life like Kenton and Ethan had found in a secluded corner of the continent.
“Why did you come now?” I asked, trying to keep my bitterness at bay, but part of me didn’t think they deserved to mourn for Laviana when they’d abandoned her.
“Tarran found us. He told us everything,” Kenton said.
“You’ve come too late,” I snapped. It was my grief lashing out, but I wasn’t sorry for it.
“I know,” Ethan said.
“We want to help. Though we’re not fighters, we want to help you in any way we can to restore the world for the vampires. We are yours to serve.”
The war might be won, but there was a long road to rebuilding all that was broken. I expected to face resistance, and the fight for equality wasn’t over. New order took time.
All I could do was nod in agreement for now. My soul was too burdened with loss to push away a hand of help.
My light burned through the wood Laviana was laid to rest upon. There were many more deaths to honor, but I’d made this pyre just for her. For all she’d given for us to win.
Tarran approached after a few minutes, when the flames devoured the structure and the night glowed in Laviana’s memory. His presence was silent and careful, as if he didn’t want to be noticed and would slip away again after he finished grieving.
He might cast me away, but I couldn’t leave him alone in this somber moment.
“I’m glad you’re alive,” he said, but there was no warmth to it.
“I know you can’t ever forgive me for what I did to you in the past, but I miss you. I’m always here for you.”
“Touching. If I ever need a favor, I’ll keep that in mind.”
His words stung. It was a rejection of friendship but a promise he wouldn’t disappear out of my life completely.
Tarran turned to leave, and maybe it was a step out of line but I couldn’t stop myself. I all but threw myself at him, hugging him around the waist when I didn’t know how long he would withdraw from me this time.
I didn’t need him to return the embrace, but to my surprise, after a few seconds, he did.
“You’re a good leader, Astraea. Maybe even a great one,” he said.
My arms tightened before I had to let him go. Tarran despised my leadership for the rift it caused between us when I had to order his mate killed for his crimes, but that parting comment meant the world to me. It wasn’t forgiveness, but his understanding was just as valuable.
As I watched Tarran leave, a new figure emerging from the trees stunned me still.
“Zadkiel.” I said his name in a partial whimper of relief that he was alive.
Last I’d seen him was when the battle broke out on the Nova province and Auster’s betrayals came to light. He approached mournfully, as though he was fighting against being here at all.
He stopped a few paces away down the hill, and I read his need for space though my gut twisted.
“Auster was like a father to me,” he said.
That twist tuned into a punch straight through me.
“I’m so sorry,” I choked.
“I know what he did. I know you deserved your vengeance. But I still can’t bring myself to accept it. After the battle on Auster’s province… I didn’t recognize him. He left his lands in ruin when that wasn’t the man I knew. The orphanage where I grew up was destroyed and I spent my time since helping to rebuild what I could over there. Auster would come back from time to time and I saw glimpses of who I knew he was at his core. He mourned for his lands… but he was the cause of their destruction.”
