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“Keep it.” Silas handed the dagger to the boy and curled his small, dirty fingers around the hilt. “I’m placing you in charge of this place. I’ve lived here for centuries, and I think you’ll like it.”
“Why’s that?” Jonas hugged the dagger to his body.
Silas’s mouth flinched like he might smile. “There are plenty of places to hide and play tricks on others. I think if you inspect the music room on the upper levels, you might find ways to make folk think there are haunts chasing them.”
A new kind of delight brightened Jonas’s eyes. No mistake, a dozen ideas were already whirling through his head about how he could torment all the littles.
Silas rose from his knee. “I’ll be back for that dagger.”
“I’ll keep it safe,” Jonas promised. He ogled the blade with a touch of admiration, then looked back to Silas. “Why don’t you show your face?”
“It was injured.”
“Daj has lots of scars on his back, since he got rifted as a boy. That means his skin got all torn apart. You can show your face. We’re not scared of scars. I’ve even got this one—” He jutted out his skinny wrist, complete with a white scar in the center. “Fell down the bleeding stairs, though, so it’s not that great.”
With care, Silas reached a hand to the back of the mask. He paused, unsettled. In truth, I did not think the mask was to hide the scar out of shame. More like the mask had become a safe place for Silas to merely hide.
He pulled it away and Jonas tilted his head to glance at the wound. The boy grinned. “That’s pretty big. Bet it’ll scare that stupid bit—”
“Jonas,” Malin snapped, and Kase used a quick flick to his boy’s ear.
His shoulders hiked up in surprise, as though he’d forgotten his family was behind him. “I mean that dark fae out there, I bet it’ll scare him.”
Silas gave a small smile, hardly there, but I took note of it anyway. Jonas turned into his mother and now clutched her waist in a tight embrace, the dagger still in hand. Kase studied Silas for a long, drawn pause. My Shadow King blinked, clearing away the inky pitch over his eyes, and held out an arm.
For a breath, Silas merely looked at his hand, then clasped Kase’s forearm.
“Doesn’t need to be said?” asked Kase.
“No.”
“Well, I’d like to hear it,” I said. “Go on, Shadow King, tell him that it means something in your secretly soft heart that he comforted your boy. Those were the most words I’ve ever heard Silas speak at once, so go on. Speak your weepy gratitude.”
Kase smirked and released Silas’s arm, eyes trained on me. All he gave me was a stern, “No.”
He returned to his family, pulling his twins tightly against him for a final farewell.
Outside Hus Rose, a horn blew. Then another. Silas stiffened and clutched my hand. “The pyre is fading.”
I closed my eyes. It was time.
Shouts echoed through the hall. Every ruler of the varying realms snapped their warriors into line with others. Those remaining behind in Hus Rose with the littles and injured began to gather their charges. A few wails from the children made me want to scream myself. Scream in rage at Davorin for all the pain he’d caused.
I clenched my teeth to muffle the sob in my throat as I watched young Aleksi be tugged away from Sol and Tor by a woman with gentle eyes. The boy was fighting damn hard not to cry, but the tears were there in his gilded eyes.
Only when the boy was out of sight did his fathers bend. Sol’s shoulders curved. Tor gripped Sol’s arm, as though he might keep him steady.
Sing the words.
I turned to Silas. “Did you say that?”
“I didn’t say anything.”
Sing the words? Like a strike to the back of my skull, the thought came. I fumbled into the pocket of the trousers, the same ones I’d worn after finding Silas again. When the parchment was in hand, I let out a squeal of relief.
“His song.” I wheeled on Silas. “This was the song for Sol, remember? I said the words felt like they belonged to him. But I wrote them down because . . .” I lifted my gaze to him. “I hadn’t yet accepted us. Danna said sing it in the right moment. I vowed I’d always protect him. Help me bring them back to their son.”
I wanted to have songs for all my bleeding royals, but I could not discount there was some path twisting here. I’d felt it since I laid eyes on Sol and Tor, since I first received his worry-laden missive.
