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“Shadow Fire,” I echoed. I set the glass on the side table. “I hope Karn has it under control out there.”
“Undoubtedly,” Mrak said as he pulled me into his side. “He is good at what he does.”
I relaxed into Mrak’s hold and studied the way his physical body felt, larger now than his shadow forms. The way he smelled of brimstone and fire. “He makes a lot of promises.”
“Don’t worry about those promises, Aisling. He was trying to calm the crowd.”
“He’s not wrong.”
“He’s also not right,” Mrak said curtly before pulling back so he could look down at me. “You are their queen, Aisling. Or you will be once crowned. I assure you of that. They will accept us both. But we do not need to produce an heir right away to make that happen.”
My tongue felt too big for my mouth. My lips were dry. I didn’t know what to say, and only some of that was because of my whirring thoughts and shaky limbs. “Karn seemed so insistent it was necessarynow.”
Mrak pulled me in closer once more. I rested my head against his side and found refuge in the sound of his heartbeat. “We’ve been in Kithonia for so short a time. Don’t worry yourself with politics or heirs. I just want you to rest. It’s been a long few days.”
Wasn’t that the truth. Only a few days had passed since Leif had first walked into my forge and shop, asking me to build him a sword covered in runes forged from nightsteel.
It seemed like an entire lifetime ago.
Fatigue pulled on my body at the realization. It was like the entirety of my being had been running on adrenaline since entering Cassius’s manor, even while unconscious, and justnowin this very moment was I coming down from it.
“Okay,” I whispered as I closed my eyelids. My body relaxed immediately. Rest sounded amazing right now. Rest would stay my shaky limbs and my chaotic thoughts. “Will you stay?”
Mrak chuckled lightly. “There is nowhere else I’d rather be than with you, Aisling.”
I smiled and drifted off to sleep, the remark, “Good,” on my lips.
