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She transferred away, back to Ari’s cave and her soulmate.
“Our protector is lucky to be alive,” Ari told her when they arrived at the cave. He placed Arkimedes in the same hammock they had slept in before. “To hold a god’s artifact charged with so much power would kill any mortal. He should be dead…”
But he wasn’t, and while they waited, Nava told Ari about everything that had happened since they’d parted ways. The pirates and their ill-fated trade that had turned into a terrible battle with the Crows—and what they’d initially thought was Alera’s useless potion going to waste.
It had never been useless. It had saved Arkimedes’s life.
In the cave’s calm, Arkimedes’s breathing steadied and grew gentle. While he rested in a magic-induced slumber, he was alive and well. He had even opened his eyes twice already.
Losing her sun stone seemed like a small price to pay, now that they’d defeated the emissary. It might have nearly cost Arkimedes his life, but they’d done it.
Nava never returned to the battleground that morning, even once Arkimedes was resting comfortably inside the relative safety of the cave. She was too badly injured to do much for him, and it took a while for the poison to leave her system.
Ari left the tree early in the morning and returned at night. He spent the day healing the forest and fighting the demons who’d escaped the king’s army and were hunting for the Beekeepers. Thankfully, the Dark Ones had already taken care of most of them, and the portals eventually closed off.
“The portals only stay open if the spellcaster is alive,” Ari explained when Nava worried about more Zorren sneaking up on him while he was alone in the forest.
Arkimedes woke up four days after the attack, although it felt more like two months had passed. Still, after the intensity of the battle, she welcomed the soft glow of the sun stones and the relative peace that came with the silence.
“So, are we going to stay in the Copper City, even though the king is still alive?” she asked, while they were eating breakfast. With a large part of the forest dead and the animals migrating north to higher grounds in search of food and untainted water, Ari had been eager to start the healing and for Nava to learn the ropes of her role.
“Or we could stay on the property I inherited down in the city of Milania,” Arkimedes said with the rough voice of someone who hadn’t spoken in days. He took a bite of his rabbit meat and met her eyes. “It’s a dukedom granted to my mother’s family while the king was courting her. I was never interested in it, but I would prefer to stay there rather than anywhere near him…”
“You have a dukedom?” she asked, blinking rapidly. “When were you going to tell me about this?”
“I honestly didn’t think I would ever need to go there.”
“Would we need to return after he dies?”
“I don’t know, Bee, but if you want to stay there even after that, then so be it.” He coughed into the crook of his arm and leaned back against the rocky wall with a strained expression.
“I would like to know the kingdom before I’m to become its queen.”
“Me too.”
Who knew how long the king had left to live? Either way, it would be good to enjoy this place when they weren’t fugitives or prisoners.
“The monster will undoubtedly want to have a ceremony for me to claim the official title of a duke, thus making you a duchess,” he continued.
Nava didn’t want any more titles. Although it didn’t hurt to know she wouldn’t have to worry about money again, or how to get Cameron clothes, pay for his education, or keep food on the table for him and Laurie. She had been worrying about that her entire life since her parents passed away. Not anymore.
Nor did she have to be concerned that the Society of Crows might stake a claim on Cameron, since he would become part of the Copper Kingdom’s royal family. This was an opportunity. It gave them a chance to fight for something good. Hopefully, Gavin and Violet would decide to join them as well when they brought Cameron back here.
“We will have to wait for Cameron to return before we can get married.” She took a small bite of one of those strange fruits Ari was growing. “He’s already missed out on enough. Besides, I don’t have a ring.”
“A ring, huh?” Arkimedes’s eyes crinkled as a rakish smile tugged at the corner of his lips.
Nava looked away, her cheeks growing warm. In the grand scheme of things, it seemed like such a stupid thing to consider. A ring—who cared when there were crowns and talking castles? “I’m just nervous.”
“The dukedom is mine, and we can go there tomorrow if we wish. We are soulmates, and that overrides everything else.”
What would Cameron think of all this? His life was about to change drastically—again.
If one day for her on Grey Island had been four months to Arkimedes, how much time had gone by for Cameron, now that she had been here for almost two months?
“Ark—since time works differently here to the rest of the world, what if Cameron takes a month to get here, but it’s actually years for us?” Her chest constricted with a sudden surge of fear.
“They explained it to me. During summer, when the days are longer, gravity or magic—whatever you want to call it—has a different effect on the kingdom. Time passes quicker here. It evens out after the summer solstice, and we fall into line with the rest of Caztian. Then, during winter, the effect reverses. One day for us is four months for the rest of the world.” Arkimedes searched through their bag of supplies for something else to snack on.
