Chapter 53
Fifty-Three
SENAN
As the dust settles, I look around at those who were lost, those who have fallen, including our king, and my heart breaks anew. Boris’s lifeless body lies at my feet, the crown he loved so much askew on his head, still glinting in the sunlight.
Bloody rivulets trail like crimson rivers down my hands, dripping onto white marble as I bend down to pick up the crown.
So much death and destruction, all for this scrap of metal.
It seems so asinine, so pointless. Who in their right mind would want that sort of weight on their shoulders? How crippling. How damning .
Boris might have blamed me for what happened to the woman he claimed to love, but I blame this cursed relic for his madness.
Is it even possible to live a full, happy life knowing that one wrong move could cause your kingdom to fall? That one bad choice means good people pay the price?
It’s all so overwhelming. Suffocating .
For as long as I can remember, this castle has felt like a cage, and this crown is like the manacles I no longer wear, tethering its owner to this world of gluttony and greed.
A world I long to forget.
Look at what this crown did to the people I love. Kyffin barely survived, and I have a sinking feeling that the scar across his throat isn’t the only one he’ll carry from these dark days. Allette was forced to take yet another life to save her own, and my own brother’s blood still paints my hands.
I want nothing to do with any of it, and yet here I stand, still holding the damn crown, unable to pry my blood-soaked fingers from its golden facets.
Thanks to Aeron’s magic, Braith is awake and able to sit on her own, but without him, she would have been another body added to the toll this coup has taken.
Allette sits beside her friend, the skirts of their uniforms as soiled and bloodstained as my soul.
Aeron’s eyes widen on the crown, and he pushes to his feet, making his way through the wreckage to take the scrap from me. The gold gleams as he turns it over in his hands, swiping my bloody fingerprints from the gems. “A kingdom without a ruler is a sitting target.”
I might not have been a very good student, but I remember the history lessons from before the Vale family took the throne. The horrors of the power struggle between the lords of this nation and the kings and queens on foreign thrones.
Kumulus has seen enough destruction.
Someone must wear this crown today and ascend to that broken throne, lest the cockroaches scuttle out from beneath the rubble to take both for themselves.
My original plan had been for Kyffin to become king, that we would find a trustworthy advisor to help him grow into his new leadership role.
When I think of my little brother, how can I possibly consider burdening him with this responsibility—and after he was so easily swayed by Boris?
He is far too trusting, too impressionable to be saddled with this kingdom upon his small shoulders.
What’s more, Kyffin deserves to have a childhood—one where he is free to make mistakes and grow into a man without this castle becoming his cage.
Rhainn has been shipped off to Allto, and by the time we bring him back, it might be too late.
Aeron has his own responsibilities, which leaves…
Gods help us.
That leaves me.
A duster. A murderer. An exile.
What if I’m not strong enough to fight the darkness that has plagued me for so many years? What if I give in and become a carbon copy of the man still lying on the marble?
Hell, if the antidote doesn’t work, I might not even be here in a month.
What other choice do we have?
The law clearly states that a Vale prince must hold the throne of Kumulus. If one of us does not ascend, then the kingdom falls to the king’s head advisor—Counsellor Windell.
In the burrows, Aeron told me that it was time I give back instead of continuing to take and take.
For a moment, I close my eyes and consider what that might look like, consider that I won’t be as awful a king as my brother. That all these experiences I’ve endured might help me understand the people of Kumulus, make me more compassionate and understanding.
With the right people by my side to keep my selfishness in check, maybe I could do some good for this kingdom with whatever time I have left.
There’s only one way to find out, isn’t there?
When I open my eyes, I find Aeron staring back, a question in his eyes and a crown in his hands.
I nod down at the golden monstrosity, glad I’ll only have to wear the thing on formal occasions. “We both know your head is too big for that thing, so I suppose I’ll have to wear it.”
A rare smile ghosts across Aeron’s features as he raises the crown above my head and rests the circlet upon my brow. “Let those of you gathered here today bear witness to the crowning of your new king, Senan Vale.”
The Tuath who have survived drop to their knees amidst the rubble. The guards are slower to bow, exchanging glances before they take a knee.
Allette stands by my side, beaming up at me with nothing but love and trust in her golden eyes. “I am so proud of you.”
Her support means more than words can explain. That this woman is still by my side despite it all is the only reason I feel the same hope burning through my veins.
This world is still broken, but with time and love, we might find a way to mend the rifts caused by greed and power.
“I might fuck it all up.” And if I do, it won’t only be my own life and happiness at stake.
Her cheeks lift with her smile. “You won’t. And if you do, then I will be there to help you fix it—for as long as you’ll have me.”
As long as I’ll have her? I lace our fingers together and graze my lips along her knuckles. “I’ll have you forever and beyond. Until the sun implodes, and the stars no longer shine.”
She steps toward me—my life, my love, my world—and whispers, “Until the sun implodes, and the stars no longer shine.”