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Lark spluttered a laugh, then clutched his side and wheezed through his pain.
“I’m fine alone,” Draven made clear. “I have my son. I’m in a good place. My only regret is how I helped Razak, in those early days.”
“Razak got to us all.”
We fell silent and gazed over the gardens, thoughts lost in the past.
Lark slumped against the rail, then shifted close and rested his head on my shoulder. “I an beginning to suspect I should have stayed in bed.”
I chuckled. He was impossible. “Shall I take you back?”
“Not yet. I’m enjoying the view. And being with you both.”
He didn’t want to be alone. I knew that feeling well and squeezed his hand. If it was truly over, then we were both free to do as we pleased. He could go anywhere he wished, be with anyone. And while I loved him more than my heart could hold, I also knew he was too bright and brilliant a thing to keep to myself.
“I’ll go with you,” he said, clearly having heard my earlier concerns. “I can’t go back to Pain, not yet. Take me to your home, Arin. I want to see the flowers.”
I wrapped my arm around him and tucked him close. “All right.”
CHAPTER57
Lark
The wagon rattledso much that I had to lie under its canopy and try to keep the movement from unpicking the vicious stab wound Razak had left me with. I was a long way from healed, but I’d get there. We all would.
The wagon I rode in wound its way along the roads from War, toward Love, and I watched the fluffy clouds build and felt the air cool, then fill with the light scent of flowers after the rain.Home, my heart told me. Since the moment I’d first seen Arin’s court and knelt before him as a nineteen-year-old young man, I’d dreamed of being a part of Arin’s world, and now that dream was coming true.
We passed people on the roads, returning home with what few belongings they had. With the threat of Razak gone, they’d begun to rebuild without fear.
Noemi came with us. She wanted to help build a new shatterlands, and to do that, she had to see all of it. I suspected she would ask Arin and I to join her in this hopeful venture, but I wasn’t ready to do any more for others. Whatever happened next would be for me.
We arrived at the Overlook Inn on a bright, sunlit morning to find the inn teeming with life, inside and out. There appeared to be a traders’ market taking place in the street outside. Arin helped me climb down from the wagon, and the smile on his face made everything worth it. He was home, and these were his people.
“Is that you, Lark?”
I turned at a voice I recognized. Ellyn stood outside the inn’s front entrance. Her eyes widened, then brimmed with tears.
“Hello, Ellyn.”
She set the plates aside on a trader’s stall without looking and flung herself into me, wrapping her arms tight. “Ah, easy… I’m fragile.”
She pulled back, glowered, and stepped away. “You asshole.”
“I missed you too.”
“I have a mind to slap you, but as you’re all messed up and scruffy, I clearly can’t do that, so just understand I’m mad at you, but… I did miss you.” She chewed on her bottom lip. “And I’m glad you’re all right. Even though you lied—a lot.I’m still mad. When you’re feeling better, I’ll slap you then. Just know you have a lot of making up to do—”
“Hello.” Noemi appeared beside me. She’d traded her blue cloak on the road and wore a pair of green pants and a brown waistcoat, with her red hair bundled high. “I’m Noemi, Lark’s friend.”
“Oh.” Ellyn blinked at Noemi, then at me. Her face flushed some more. “Hello.” She wiped her hands on her apron and smiled. “I suppose you’re Lark’s latest conquest?”
I coughed a laugh at Noemi’s puzzled face. “Actually, Noemi meet Ellyn, a dear friend, despite hating me for much of our friendship, as you can see.”
Noemi smiled politely. “I’ve learned those who love Lark often dislike him too.”
Ellyn gasped. “Did he lie to you too?”
“Well, yes, but not without reason. Many of them justified.”
