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“It’s over,” Tiernan said, brushing my hair. “It’s all over, my queen.”
Chapter Thirty-Five
Liana
We’d won, and yet it didn’t feel like a victory.
With all the lives lost and homes ruined, how could it? One thing I knew for certain—I’d seen enough of war and woe for a lifetime.
Alaric curled his hand around mine, rubbing soothing circles into the back of it with his thumb. My other guardians waited for us in the bay. Ready with a ship meant to carry us across the Varinian Sea.
Edris sat on the other side of the oval table in the council chambers with Queen Suriel pressed against his right side. The pair looked well after several days of rest, and I wondered when the Queen of Day would go home to her own court. She didn’t seem as though she wanted to leave at all.
My father pushed the parchment back across the table, pressing his lips into a hard line, “But why?” he asked.
I considered my response carefully, “Because I don’t know when I’ll return.”
“Do you mean to return at all?” Suriel questioned, her shoulders pushed back, “After everything you’ve fought for, why leave?”
I couldn’t tell them the whole truth of it. I hadn’t even told my males yet. Thank the gods they accepted my decision without too much prodding.
“It doesn’t matter,” I answered, sighing. Worrying the soft fabric of my cloak. “Almost the entirety of my court has taken refuge within Day Court borders. And I thank you for that,” I said pointedly to Suriel, “It will take years. Decades, if not more to rebuild what was lost here in the north.”
“But, a land without a ruler—”
“My people will have a ruler—a steward of the throne of Night will remain in my stead. That is what I ask of Edris.”
Alaric cleared his throat, “I’ll bring the queen home safe, once she’s done whatever it is she’s setting out to do.”
“And what is that exactly?” my father asked skeptically, one brow raised.
I shrugged, “I’m not sure yet… but the people of the Night Court have always admired and revered you. I know they will follow your lead, and I trust you to be their ruler.”
Gods…I couldn’t believe I’d once thought he was out to dethrone me, and now here I was—quite literallygivinghim my throne. But he wasn’t like Enya, or like the other nobles at court. He was wise, and caring, and fair. He’d take good care of my court until I returned.
IfI returned,I reminded myself. I wasn’t sure yet if I ever would. My males were all that mattered to me. They were my home. And if I was being honest, I’d never quite fit into the role ofqueen.The mold was too small. Constricting.
I made a promise once, to the seven sisters on the isle where I grew up. A promise to return one day, and I longed for the quiet, tranquil solitude of that faraway place again. After that—I wasn’t sure where we’d go. To the mortal lands, perhaps? I wanted to settle somewhere free and safe. Untainted by the stain of war and death.
Some place we could start anew. The five of us. Build a family together. We could decide to return someday, when the babe was grown, but that would be a decision for another time…
Looking at Suriel and Edris, I saw what my people saw—they evenlookedlike rulers. Regal. Refined. They didn’t even know they’d been stuffed into molds, that their lives would open up before them with limited possibilities. And it was because they’d been conditioned to live a certain way. Take one mate. Have one Grace. Produce an heir.
And perhaps that was what they would do if I never returned. Produce an heir that could rule over both courts and form a united kingdom of Fae.
Maybe… but I wouldn’t be around to watch them do it.
“I’ll do it,” Edris said, pulling the contract back to him. Lifting the quill. “If this is truly what you want…?”
Alaric squeezed my hand and I squeezed back, “It is.”
“Then I wish you all the happiness in this life—wherever it may take you, my daughter.”
And he signed.
“We did as you asked,”Kade hollered over the icy wind as we made our way down to the bay, “The Mad King’soffspringleft on their own ship at dawn.”
“You’re being generous, it was a boat. A verysmallboat,” Tiernan said, crossing his arms.
