Page 187

Because Malakar really had been stopped.

And because Sir Tristan Hale was sitting up, gaping at the shadowy goddess before them all with a dumbfounded expression on his stupidly handsome face.

The cleanup happened quietly. Without pomp, without circumstance. Bodies were gathered. Wounds were tended. Fires were lit, and, eventually, fires were doused.

Kit and Zephyr were still helping pack up the last of the supplies in the healing tent when Tenebris Nox came.

“You are well, Zephyr?” they asked.

Zephyr glanced down at her bandaged arm. “Shattered bones take a while to heal, but I will be soon enough. Thank you.”

The nocterrian nodded, and the sylvan nodded back.

“You just missed Tenny,” Kit said. “She went to guide Fjaethe back to the village with the final few injured folks in tow. You have to admire Shep’s work ethic. He’s turned the village chapel into a healing center already. Church pews make for excellent sickbeds, it would seem.”

“A better use for them than praying, at any rate.” Nox’s voice was low and steady. Dark, even. And Kit wasn’t sure if they were joking or not.

She cleared her throat. “Anyway, she should return soon.”

Nox simply stared at her, their crimson-black gaze roving over her face like they were categorically committing every inch to memory.

“I . . . think I’ll go and see if Tenny needs a hand,” Zephyr said quietly, and she slipped out of the tent.

Kit swallowed, shifting nervously on her feet. “Ellie thinks it’ll just be another day or two here, and then we can all make for Luminaria. Sephone and Raefe already took Tartanis there directly to recover under the care of the sylvans. And according to the sparrow that just returned from Elder Jung, Castle Lumin’s wards have dropped. Any remaining cultists should be easy enough to clear out—if they haven’t fled already.”

She exhaled. “I mean, I know it won’t be as simple as all that, but I’ll be the first one to admit that I’m looking forward to getting back to palace life. My time in Aerithia, despite how fruitless it ended up being, was a reminder of how much I like my luxuries. And I think I’ll like it even more if the king whose castle I’m taking up isn’t a witless fool I’m embarrassed to share blood with and⁠—”

She blinked at Nox, whose indigo lips were curved to one side, revealing the barest hint of white fang.

“I’m babbling,” she said.

“You are babbling,” they agreed, and Kit gave a sheepish smile.

“Forgive me, I don’t know why I’m so . . .”

“Nervous?”

She laughed—nervously. “No, it isn’t that. Not . . . exactly? It’s like . . .”

“Anticipation.”

“Yes. Like I’m still waiting for the other shoe to drop. Because it can’t have been this easy, right?”

Nox arched a brow. “This was easy?”

“You know what I mean. It’s hard to imagine us all getting some time to just . . . be. For once.” She lifted her eyes to meet the nocterrian’s gaze. “Together.”

Something flashed across Nox’s face. “You deserve that,” they said, taking one of her hands. “And I . . . I wish I could give it to you.”

Kit blinked, dread immediately settling in the pit of her stomach. “What do you mean?”

That was when she noticed the shadows pooling at their feet.

“You’re leaving again.” The words fell raggedly from her lips, a broken whisper. It wasn’t a question.

“Something else I wish,” they said wistfully. “That I didn’t have to.”

“Then don’t,” she said, fingers threading through theirs, an intertwining of indigo and brown. “Stay.”