She turned at Raf’s voice, trying to conjure a smile when she saw him holding out a tin plate of food for her. “Thanks,” she said, even though her stomach was in knots. She knew she needed to eat. They had a long day—week, more likely—of traveling on foot ahead of them, and her life in the palace certainly hadn’t prepared her for it.
At least a kind woman from the village had given her comfortable fur boots to wear in place of the heeled version she’d had on. They’d offered her coats, hats, and scarves too, but these she’d refused with many words of gratitude for the offers.
She appreciated their generous hearts. But hiking in a coat would be miserable.
Raf looked over his shoulder, and apparently whatever he noted satisfied him, because he turned back toward the forest with her, shifting a bit closer.
She lifted a piece of dried fish from the plate without putting it in her mouth yet. “Are you going to quiz me on my intentions toward your best friend?”
His grin made it easy to see why he and Nik had always been inseparable. “It’s my sworn obligation as the closest thing he has left to family. I mean, other than his mother.” He screwed up his face. “That’s still weird.”
Nik had given Raf the full story as they walked this morning, and she hoped that as he told the tale, he’d been able to grapple with it a bit more. So much had happened so quickly. It was the sort of revelation he’d need months, years to sort through. Not the two weeks they’d had.
At least Elianne wouldn’t be going to Ellas, unless Stefanos changed his mind, which she didn’t anticipate. That was positive. They’d have the time to work through it, develop a real relationship. One based on the present, not the past he couldn’t remember and she couldn’t forget.
And as they walked, they’d devised another plan too, which would start as soon as they reached the next village. Raf would be their emissary, first to Harroby and then to the other domes. He would spread the knowledge of what her father and grandfather had been doing. The people they’d been stealing, feeding to Helviti.
They’d tell every thane in Fjordlandi about the Aflame—about the potential for that magic in their own blood, and offer Awakening Ceremonies to any who desired it.
They’d strike the flint. Fan the flames. So that even if Fodur managed to wrest a bit of control back from her, it wouldn’t do any good.
The people wouldn’t accept his tyranny any longer. Not when they realized that freedom could lie dormant even now in their blood. And with some of the Aflame already planning that expedition to Radsla, they could begin Awakening their family within the week. Any new Aflame who were discovered could then be taken to the nearest volcano for purification and training.
Kyrja was still more than a little impressed that Tristan had figured out what had become of his wife. And now that she understood what that kind of love felt like? Her heart broke all over again for him.
As for Raf’s mention of Nik’s mother, she nodded and took a bite of the dried fish. Not exactly her favorite meal, but she would never complain. “I’m not sure what Elianne thinks of me either, honestly. Of us.” The fog bank obscuring the forest lifted a bit, giving her an actual view of the towering pines. They looked every bit as threatening and looming as she remembered from her childhood. “I suspect she volunteered to go with Stefanos in part because she saw how the contracted betrothal upset Nik. Maybe entirely because of that. But she all but rolls her eyes at me at least once every time we’re in the same room.”
Raf chuckled. “I imagine it’s tough, to be reunited with her son and yet realize he’d rather focus on getting to know you than her.”
She winced. “Completely understandable.” Should Kyrja have been more cognizant of that? Withdrawn?
The very thought made her throat go dry. Nik had been the bright spot of her days, not only since becoming queen, since his blood had lit this new life in hers, but since the bombing. Thosehours spent sitting on the floor of the prison cell had changed her life. Her outlook. Her understanding.
“Do you love him?”
She swallowed the fish and looked over, met Raf’s earnest blue gaze. “With everything I am.”
He tore a piece of flatbread in half. “What if the Test says he isn’t a viable match for you?”
The salt from the fish seemed to leave a trail of burning down her throat. “I’m not going to take the Test.” She must have decided it even before Phoenix said the Machine was what Stefanos craved. Because some part of her, even as she denied that she could give away her country’s asset like that, was thinking,Oh good. It’ll be gone, and I won’t have to defend my particular decision.
But she would defend it if she must. Because she didn’t care if Nik was Test-approved. She wanted to marry him, in the thane fashion. Forever. She wanted to wake every morning at his side. To welcome him home from the volcano each evening with a kiss, to snuggle against him and let his warmth scatter the frost of her own day.
Raf sucked in a breath. “Even if you give it to Ellas—you know what they’ll say. The Two Councils, I mean. That you should take it first. Guarantee the next generation, anyway, before you send the machine off. Perhaps negotiate to get it back before your own children would be grown. A trade, for a set period of time.”
“No.” She bypassed the next kipper for her own round of flatbread—warm, which made her think Nik had been at work before it made its way to her. “I don’t need to know what it says. I know my own heart.” Phoenix’s words to Nik still echoed in her mind too.Fjordlandi has waited long enough for its Aflame king. Take your place at her side without reservation.What could those words possibly be but a true Blessing from on high?“And I know the Giver’s will. That’s enough for me.” He wouldn’t just be her consort. He’d be king beside her, equal with her.
Raf nodded. “Good. Nik—he deserves every happiness. Even if I’m the one who had the good sense to paper my walls with your posters.”
Because he clearly saw it as amusing, Kyrja laughed along with him. “Raf…thank you. For being willing to take what Tristan had learned to the people for us. To spread the word about the Awakenings. I know you’d rather stay by Nik’s side. And that he’d rather you did too.”
With a grin and a shrug, Raf said, “There’ll be time enough for that. I’ll think up some ostentatious title for myself that I’ll petition you for, to give me an excuse to serve beside him for the next couple decades.”
A chuckle warmed her throat. “I hear you know how to make stained glass—I intend to commission repairs on all the kyrkas through the land. We’ll need your expertise on that. And we’ll want to visit each one, to inspect and then dedicate it.”
Raf’s eyes lit. “Royal window artist?”
“Is that ostentatious enough for you?”
