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His arms curled around me more, and he lifted his head. Dark eyes clouded in grief met mine. “I didn’t save her,” he rasped.
I stilled. They were the first words he’d uttered since his primal scream had torn through the realm and cracked open the ground.
I cupped his cheeks just as a stifled sob came from Nuwin. “You couldn’t, my love. None of us could have.She sacrificed herself to save you. To save all of us. She knew that if she killed the king, none of us could be held at fault. She did it to save you. She was your mother until the end.”
He pulled me into his arms again, holding me tightly. Arms circling him, I held him just as fiercely, and for the first time since I’d ever met the crown prince, his walls completely fell.
I held him in my arms, soaking up his regret and aching sadness, wishing so desperately that I could take it as my own. But Prince Norivun Deema Melustral Achul, first son of the king, Bringer of Darkness, Death Master of the continent, son of Prinavee Territory, and crown prince and heir to the Winter Court’s throne had to bear that burden.
A tear slipped out of his eye, and then another. He crumbled in my arms, and then he wept and wept for the mother he would never see again. For the mother who had loved him until the end.
For the queen who had ultimately saved our realm.
CHAPTER 30 - NORIVUN
THREE WEEKS LATER
Isat in the council chambers with every territory archon seated around the circular table. The scent of ash hung heavily in the air. The constant casting magic from our constructo fae releasing their telltale essence perpetually assaulted my senses.
Never in my hundred winters had I ever seen the castle in its current state. Repairs had still been underway following the gods’ wrath when Ilara had been locked in the dungeon, and then the war my father decided to wage on his own soil had only added to its crumbling structure.
Regardless, the constructo fae continued to work. Soon, the Court of Winter would again be whole, and a new reign would ensue.
Now, it was only a matter of determining who would wear the crown.
I ground my teeth. I wouldn’t let my mother’s death be for naught. I would fight to rule as she’d wanted. Iwould be the king she’d dreamed I would one day become, if only I could convince the council.
Nuwin sat on the chair to my right, my mate on the chair to my left. A flicker of relief filled me that Ilara no longer had dark circles under her eyes.
After my mother’s death, I’d fallen apart, had been barely able to function, let alone able to run a continent. But Ilara had been there, holding me up when I’d been too weak, guiding me along when I feared I would become lost. She’d been my pillar. My strength. She was not only my heart and my beating soul, but she’d been my resolve in the initial aftermath.
And that caring and determined nature of hers hadn’t only been for me. She’d seen to Nuwin, had healed my guards, had nursed more soldiers than I could count. Those who Murl had declared would perish had survived because of Ilara and her divine angel affinity.
She’d worked tirelessly around the clock, never faltering, never fading. Even when she’d grown so weak from expelling all of her magic, she had only allowed herself enough time to sleep and eat before she’d awoken and done it all again.
The day after my mother’s death, in which I’d been more ghost than prince, I’d finally found my way back to her. Guilt hit me hard that she’d dealt with everything that first day on her own, but I wouldn’t fail her again like that, even though Ilara had empathized with me completely, telling me she’d been in the same state when she’d first learned the news of her parents andbrother, before she’d known the truth and believed them dead.
Despite her understanding, I wouldn’t put her through that again.Neveragain. She’d done enough already.
I took a deep breath and returned to concentrating on our current meeting. The territory archons were bickering once more.
My fingers drummed on the table, and irritation washed through me because my love, my mate, my queen had once again shone more courage and fortitude than anyone else in these chambers, and it burned in me so deeply that not everyone saw her for the magnificent female that she was.
Of all the fae here, Ilara deserved to be their queen. Her strength and unwavering resolve to save our fae and her deep-seated loyalty to our land would make her the finest queen our continent had ever seen—as fine as my mother had once been.
Nothing like the Kroravee witch who I’d sent packing the moment my head cleared enough to begin ruling once more.
I’d made sure that Georgyanna had been banished to the netherlands of Kroravee, stripped of title, wealth, and family name. Her parents had been aghast, but the look of vindication on Ilara’s face had strengthened my resolve. If that witch so much as showed her face in Solisarium again, I would unleash my dragon on her, and I made sure she’d known that.
But despite making it clear that the Olirum Accordshad been banished for all of the females in the Rising Queen Trial. Despite knowing that Ilara was the only female who would ever stand at my side. Despite Ilara slaving herself to our nation. Despite me picking myself up and standing tall once more. Despiteallof that, not everyone thought we deserved to wear the crowns of the Court of Winter.
Lord Crimsonale’s eyes narrowed as he gazed at me from across the table. Gone was the conspirator who’d worked with us to spread word across the land of who my father really was. Gone was the noble who’d ensured that every city and villager had learned the truth of the deadly veil that had poisoned our soil.
Oh no. The greedy bastard who faced me now wore so much arrogance and righteous entitlement that I wanted to burn his face off.
“So let me get this straight, Lord Crimsonale.” I leaned back in my chair, letting my wings slacken. “You believe that you should be the king of the Solis continent. Not me.”
“Well, I didn’t actually say?—”
