Epilogue
ALLIE
“It looks good on you,” Ryker murmured, staring at the top of my head as if the sun had descended upon it.
“Thank you.” I patted the crown, still amazed that I not only got to wear it, but the symbols shone so hard, they cast a glow I could almost see on the tip of my nose. “Isn’t it a bit pompous to wear it when I’m greeting them for the first time?”
“It’s just the right amount of pomp,” he said in my mind. I didn’t think I’d ever get used to the sensation of having him so intimately entangled with me. Each time we spoke like this, my heart did a little happy flip, enthusiastic and amazed. “Plus, Dax is beside himself.”
My cousin had been glancing at my crown every chance he got for the past two days, since we’d left the city and headed for the crater’s exit. Each time, his smile widened.
When he caught me looking, he just shrugged. “Told you.”
“Told me what?” I asked.
“That you were raised for this.” He patted the wolves' heads and hoisted his travel pack from the sled.
It looked suspiciously large.
“Please tell me you didn’t take the wings with you.” I sighed.
“It’s not like either of you were using them.” He groaned as he settled the heavy pack on his back. “My friend in the Fair Isles might be able to improve the initial model and make them less deadly.”
My breath hitched once more, as it always did when I heard he was going to that dreaded place. Only he, Ryker, and I knew his destination.
Dax had filled out an entire library of ledgers with the information he’d stolen from the Protectorate vaults. With Lioran clueless about who Silas was protecting, Bia Marino was still our likeliest suspect, but she could have been dust and bones by now, murdered at the wedding.
Or she could have been plotting with that mysterious heir to assassinate us all.
While it was the likeliest theory, something still didn’t quite add up.
If my father had noticed the discrepancies, why hadn’t he said anything? Bia, while Clara’s best friend and respected within the Clan, hadn’t exactly been one of its leaders.
If Silas didn’t bother to protect his own family, why would he care about this woman?
Those were answers the ledgers couldn’t discover for us–and Dax had no more information trapped in that big brain of his.
But he now had a purpose–finding where the poison had come from.
Nobody could convince him this mission was too dangerous.
He was like all of us Veghearas.
Too stubborn for our own good.
And I couldn’t blame or stop him.
We needed the cure.
So I had to let him go and find it.
“Are you absolutely sure you don’t want us to come along?” I asked for the tenth time.
“I appreciate the offer, dear cousin, but–and don’t take this the wrong way–you and your ominous partner here will scare people away, which would only make my mission harder,” Dax said. “I work better alone.”
Ryker hummed, but said nothing else. He felt proud, though.
“Thanks, cousin,” I deadpanned. “You’re so kind.”
“It’s the truth.” Dax shrugged. “You two are intimidating, especially together. This task needs finesse.”
I huffed a laugh. “You’re impossible.”
“The best at it.” Dax grinned.
He might have been leaving, but that didn’t mean I wouldn’t spend every possible second with him while he was still here, so Ryker and I escorted him out of this frozen tundra I had a feeling Dax had grown soft for.
I also had my own mission on this short voyage.
The Blood Brotherhood army was still camping on the rim of the crater, catching the last of the Northern deserters. Ryker had thought it best not to bring the troops inside the crater.
After all, another traitor could be hiding among those ranks and the fewer people knew about the entrance to Solkar’s Reach, the better.
Still no sign of Beren and Nadya, but the immediate threat of an attack had been totally annihilated.
The army was getting ready to return to the Capital and I wanted to come face to face with the Dragon before they did.
We hadn’t exactly had the best introduction. But if I wanted to conquer Aquila, I needed all the support I could get.
If I could leave the crater.
“Tell the truth,” I said as we walked toward the crater’s entrance, which was still one menacing dark wall that towered over us, the sun barely peeking on the horizon. “You refused our offer because you wanted to fly there.”
“You got me.” Dax rolled his eyes. “I can’t wait to squish myself against a mountain, like a bug.”
“I wouldn’t put it past you,” Ryker grumbled. “But for the sake of family unity, it would be best if you didn’t.”
Family.
Unity.
Ryker caring for Dax’s wellbeing and almost saying it.
It was a bigger miracle than us surviving a war and an attack.
“I also hope you don’t get murdered in your sleep,” Dax said primly. “Don’t forget to light a candle for Vylkor from me when you visit the crypt.”
“I already told you I would.”
I shook my head, a smile playing on my lips.
Danger still nipped at our heels, waiting in the shadows, but these small moments filled me with hope.
And, gods, we needed hope to face whatever was coming our way.
Despite my best efforts, my heart still trembled as I stood in front of the entrance which had denied me passage.
How would I ever be able to reclaim my throne if I couldn’t leave?
“The war is over,” Ryker said, his thumb drawing gentle, calming circles on my wrist. “You’re safer now.”
Safer didn’t mean safe. “The crater might disagree.”
“We’ll find a way.”
I squeezed his hand, that small touch centering me as the sun’s rays finally illuminated the wall.
The dark stone glimmered.
The air turned heavy and leaden as the entrance opened.
Daring me to try again.
I rolled my shoulders back and raised my arm. The symbols on my crown shined brighter, bouncing off the crater’s shimmer.
Beside me, Ryker held his breath as the tips of my fingers grazed the wall.
They vanished through.
I closed my eyes and sighed.
“Either the crater really likes you or really hates you,” Dax said.
“I sleep better thinking it’s just looking out for me,” I said, letting the entrance engulf my hand up to my wrist.
Cold greeted me on the other side, seeping into my skin.
Dax cracked his neck from side to side. “Let’s get this over with. The sooner we go in, the sooner we get out. Right?”
Ryker and I stepped through the barrier first.
The entrance felt as barren as when we’d left it after the first attack.
No pressure, no sucking away all the joy inside of me.
But there were no lights among the crevices.
No life.
In the deadly silence, I heard the echoes of Geryll’s screams when his leg got wounded. Next to me, the same screams tortured Ryker.
Why hadn’t the crater protected Geryll?
If Solkar’s Reach had sensed Nadya’s plan, why hadn’t it stopped him from going to war?
“That question has haunted me,” Ryker said. “I still don’t have an answer. Only a theory.”
“You know this crater best,” I said while Dax looked at us like we were insane.
“I don’t think it was reacting to Nadya’s plans,” Ryker went on.
“But the heir’s. If he has part of Solkar’s Heart and using it, the crater could have sensed it.
Geryll…Geryll was only a piece of the puzzle in this heir’s plan, perhaps barely a glimmer of a thought, if that.
You and your cousins are the main target. ”
“It would explain why it tried to stop me from meeting Orion, as well.” I licked the inside of my cheek. “It let me pass now. And Dax.”
“Which either means you are indeed safer…”
“Or this heir found a way to trick the crater into giving us a false sense of security,” I said the words he refused to utter, even in his thoughts.
“I also sleep much better at night thinking the crater is still protecting us.” His thumb rested on the pulse point on my wrist. “And I will protect you.”
With his life.
The words he caged even in his own mind, because he knew I would protest.
But I felt.
And I appreciated.
I leaned my head on his shoulder, my calm, controlled support through all of this chaos.
“I hate leaving Mrs. Thornbrew’s wild berry jam behind, but I am not going to miss this part.” Dax shivered, drawing his shoulders tighter. “No wonder people don’t want to visit you.”
“The opening is close,” Ryker said. “As soon as we see the light, we go right, three paces forward, then jump to the left.”
“Because…we need the extra activity?”
“Because you might lose your leg if you don’t.”
Blood Brotherhood army or not, Ryker hadn’t deactivated the traps. I had a feeling he wouldn’t for a very, very long time.
The hazy rays of sun greeted us slower than I would have wanted, but finally, mercifully, we were out in the open. My lungs relished in the fresh, open air, even as we followed Ryker’s lead and jumped over the invisible traps waiting in the ground.
I didn’t know what magic was spun to dig them in, but the earth looked undisturbed for years. That Calyx of his must have truly been a genius at deadly objects.
In the distance, where the small glade had once been, the Blood Brotherhood army was still enjoying breakfast, courtesy of Mrs. Thornbrew’s kitchen. Only the rock Orion had slammed me against remained out of the entire ordeal.
The warriors buzzed around with their bowls, ripping into pieces of tender meat and drinking cups of goat milk Krysor had insisted on sending up to the rim.
I thought it had been a kind gesture before Dax had informed me Krysor actually had grand plans of starting a very lucrative dairy business and wanted to attract his first clients from outside the crater.
Zandyr stood in front of a large, leather tent. The mighty Dragon who’d crashed Evie’s wedding looked as fearsome as he had on that day, even without his menacing sword.
I tilted my chin up and rolled my shoulders back as we approached under his unflinching gaze.
He might have been married to my cousin, but this was a meeting between leaders.
My personal feelings regarding his smug face didn’t matter. I knew they’d sprouted when he’d hurt Evie at the wedding and had nothing to do with his status.