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The return to shore was somber and silent.
We docked in the cove as the first flickers of sunlight ignited the Howl in a brilliant sheen of sunlit gold.
Halvar directed Calista and her companions to the hidden longboats that had been tucked away in the sea reeds half a length down the shore.
She embraced Sol. “Write to me, Lump. You didn’t say much, but I still miss you.”
“I will write to you, but you must write back.”
“Swear it. Who else will I tell how fearsome I’ve become in the West?”
Sol kissed her forehead once more before releasing the girl. Then, Calista faced Valen and Elise.
“I wish you luck,” she said. “I’m still perturbed you undid my marvelous work from before, but not enough to wish you ill. In fact, I wish you quite the opposite. I . . . I care for you lot, you know. Sort of think we saved each other.”
Elise cupped one side of Calista’s pale face. “We did, and I hope we always will.”
“If it’s not too much trouble, send me word, yes?” The girl blinked too rapidly. If I had to guess, I’d say she was fighting a swell of emotion she didn’t want to show.
“We will,” Elise said.
Calista backed away and started into the wooded path after her brother, but paused. I held my breath when her eyes locked on me and glazed like they’d done on the ship.
“Share your crown, step into darkness, and beastly ways may be forgotten. The light of his heart will brighten the night.”
“Wait.” I reached for her. “What does that mean?”
“You’ll see.” Calista turned and winked at Elise. “Remember, hold tightly to the hand you took and never let go until the light breaks.”
She said nothing more and stepped into the trees. The girl who’d cursed us, directed us, she was simply gone.
CHAPTERTHIRTY-TWO
THE NIGHTRENDER
Night came too swiftly.Conflicting emotions battled in the center of my chest. There was the viciously anxious side that wanted nothing more than to retrieve our folk at Felstad, then burn the tainted ruins to the ground with the Lady Magnate inside.
On a flat boulder, I sat, knee bouncing as we waited.
Valen had his forehead pressed to Elise’s brow. The queen’s fingers were threaded through his hair, tears on her cheeks. Both whispered to the other words none of us could hear. They deserved a moment of privacy.
Elise let out a sob and clung to Valen’s neck. He buried his face against her shoulder, his hands running the length of her spine. Valen pressed kisses to her neck until Elise pulled back and kissed his mouth.
I looked away. By the hells, the taut guilt was an annoyance. Schemes had never left me unsteady. When I made a move, I made it with certainty. But this? Should the rolls be reversed, I did not know if I could step back from Malin and do it.
The king and queen were risking everything in this moment. A debt was building between us that I would never be able to repay.
When Valen kissed his wife on the brow once more, Tor and Halvar finally went to his side. Moonlight would soon take him. Valen kissed each one of Elise’s fingertips, taking a pause on the two missing tips on her hand, then walked backward, his eyes on his wife until he slipped into the trees.
Malin studied the first stars blinking in the sky. Moonlight cast the highlights in her hair in a silvery glow. She wrung her hands around the hem of her tunic and seemed not to notice a thing around her.
I brushed my knuckles down the back of her arm. The moment she realized it was me, she flung her arms around my neck.
“By the hells.” Her voice cracked. “You make this difficult. I think I hate you for it.”
I tightened my hold around her waist, burying my head in the warm crook of her neck and shoulder. I kissed her there. “We will meet again before you have time to worry.”
“Liar.”
