Luca and Amarande sat under that truth for several more minutes, until the sun had fully crested over the mountains and onto the grounds, the birds calling and the winds shifting as if nothing had happened.
“What shall we do now, Ama?”
Luca knew Amarande would understand he didn’t mean rustling up food, or a hot bath, or communing with their seconds, all resting their weary bodies after such a fight. General Xixi, Tala, Ula, Urtzi, Ferdinand—even Osana had appeared, a surprise.
He meantthe after.
And, because Amarande knew him as well as she knew herself, she sat with that question for a moment, and then met him with a look so certain and fierce it would’ve been deadly if it hadn’t been raised by hope.
“We’ll stay together. That’s the plan. We’ll lead our people and keep them safe, side by side, day by day, as long as we shall live.”
Luca brought their entwined hands to his lips and kissed her knuckles, his golden eyes distant and unsure.
“They will deny it,” he said softly. This wouldn’t change their minds. As much as he was an optimist, the past few weeks had taught him much about being a realist. He drew in a deep breath and steadied himself for what had to be said. “No matter how understanding the Sand and Sky kingdoms are about what occurred here, they still won’t let us be together.”
Amarande crushed the words straight off his lips with a kiss.
Sure. Steady. Forever.
When she pulled away, Luca’s love caressed his cheekbone with a finger. He watched the wonder that was her, knowing he would believe in whatever answer would come next. Luca stared deeply into the eyes he knew as well as his own.
Amarande bared her teeth in the most dangerous smile the Sand and Sky would ever see.
“They don’t get a say. Not now. Not again. Not ever.”
CHAPTER 55
THEYwould do it together.
Late that afternoon, Amarande and Luca faced the remaining leaders of the Sand and Sky hand in hand in the courtyard entrance of the Bellringe. The sun was setting, the soft pink light glittering as it caught the flecks of quartz within the walls. The promise of stars and the sigh of a summer day all wrapped up in the candlelit effect.
Ruining it, though, were the stiffening bodies of the dead, which littered the pathway from the main road, the ramparts, even the very courtyard within which they stood.
“My apologies, Guardians of the Sand and Sky, we endeavored to fully attend to our mess but I’m afraid it has taken longer than intended,” Amarande announced, strong voice aimed at Kings Zavier and Asan and their gaggle of councilors, who were gaping at her, at Luca, at their soldiers as they filled in the recesses, some still wearing the clothes on their backs that saw them through Renard’s final stand. “Bloodstains and white furnishings do not mix.”
Most of the bodies had been taken to the Bellringe morgue but not all. In tidying up, they’d focused on the castle within—the conclave members would have to have somewhere to stay, even if it was just for the night, and it wouldn’t do for the dead to haunt the halls.
“What has happened here?” her uncle asked—of course he spoke first. Of course. And of course, he would not address her with a title or reverence. “Where is King Renard?”
“He is dead, Father.” Osana appeared on the stairs leading down from the castle interior. Ferdinand was by her side. Zavier’s upper lip curled with something akin to both relief and anger. “For certain, this time.”
His relief flooded away and suddenly his anger won out as Zavier took a purposeful and possessive step toward his wayward daughter—but Asan’s arm swept to the side, imploring his fellow king to go no farther. To focus on the trouble at hand.
“Did Ardenia invade Pyrenee and attack?” the Myrcellian ruler asked. “If so, that is a gross violation of our continental compact—”
“No.” Luca’s voice was as solid as the mountains cradling King’s Crest as he addressed his equals.
A surprised Asan’s words bled out as he brought his attention to the Torrentian leader. The king’s eyes tightened, and he straightened, protective hand dropping, his own anger now visible. “Do not attempt to lie to me, Your Highness, I can see with my own eyes—”
“If you wouldlookthen you would know it was not simply Ardenia who invaded and attacked, but Torrence as well.” Luca nodded to the men and women of Torrence, watching and waiting with proud eyes. “My army doesn’t wear a uniform, but it is an army all the same. Undefeated, I might add.”
Both kings appeared as if they’d swallowed the majority of their teeth.
Zavier took several steps forward now, right to the base of the stairs.
“There will be consequences.” Zavier’s anger mimicked Geneva’s in its snake-bit energy. He’d lived long enough in Domingu’s web simply by following the rules and taking payment where it was due. The concept of going against the grain was not encouraged. “You cannot simply march upon a fellow kingdom and kill its leader. That is a severe violation of our union laws and will not be tolerated by the Sand and Sky!”
Zavier’s voice was loud and plainly undignified for his station—something the new king seemed to realize when his remaining daughter started laughing. The Basilican king speared Osana with a look that she readily dismissed, and simply began descending the stairs with Ferdinand, straight toward her father.
