Chapter 40
ARLET
It takes very little time for us to prepare and make it to the throne room, but once we are there, I see Mrath surrounded by a group of her sistren, and Thorne at her feet. He looks filthy, and one eye is swollen shut entirely.
If he sees our entrance, I do not know.
“What is this?” Vann asks, nodding to the thoroughly armed women.
“Housekeeping,” Mrath responds. She waits for us to sit, and then begins. “Perfect. We might deal with two stones at once.”
Something about her tone sets my skin crawling.
“We were just about to sentence my dear Thorne to his final fate.”
I straighten, and my muscles twinge, crying out from being too sore.
“Forgive me, Mrath,” Liana starts. “Do you intend to kill him?”
Mrath smirks. “Eventually.”
“So is this a sentencing?” Liana continues.
“Unless Thorne can come up with some excuse to save himself, it might be,” she begins.
Thorne had done much for me. Sure, he had done wrong by Mrath, but he is largely the reason I am still alive.
Vann must sense my readiness to speak because he puts his hand on my leg, silencing me.
“What do you have to say for yourself?” she demands.
Thorne grins. “Killing me would be a mistake.”
She snarls, leaning forward and grabbing his hair.
“Why?”
“Because I have the key to your crown?” he taunts.
“What key?” she snarls. “I already have the artifact. I am the rightful leader of this kingdom.”
Thorne clicks his tongue. “Not without the throne. You need to change the magic back, don’t you?”
“What do you know, snake?”
“You must promise to keep me alive,” he responds. “A life for a kingdom. Small price to pay, don’t you think?”
Mrath looks down at him with as much loathing as I have ever seen capable. She sneers at his face, at his taunting smile.
Then she reaches into her belt, withdraws a knife, and uses the butt of it to hit his head, effectively knocking him out. I flinch as he crumples to the ground.
Is he dead? I wonder.
Not likely.
No one says anything as he is dragged away from the scene.
Mrath watches them go, then looks back at me. “Now that that is dealt with, it is time to handle one other issue. One of much grander scale. “
The room is silent, and I wonder why we still aren’t able to go home.
“You see, Arion is dead, but it seems his line is not.”
My brows draw together, and I am still shaken by her display with Thorne. I’d never seen this side of Mrath before. I’m still not understanding what she is implying, though Vann stiffens immediately. His grip on me turns iron-like.
“You, Arlet, did marry him. The bond between you was sealed well enough, even if that was short-lived. This alone I could forgive.” She pauses and Vann seems to turn to ice at my side.
Even Liana grows troubled. “But during our physicians’ review of you after the arena, we found something surprising. ”
Still utterly confused, I wait for her to continue.
“Go on?” I say when she doesn’t immediately respond.
She stares at me long and hard.
“You carry Arion’s child.”
The words burn through me. My first instinct is to look at Vann, who appears like a stone statue at my side. His face is expressionless and hard.
“But that’s impossible—”
“What is the point of your telling us this? Will you kill her? Or rid her of the child?”
Mrath glowers. “I cannot let an heir live while my own rule is still being established.”
They continue to volley arguments, but I simply cannot keep up.
Pregnant.
Again.
How? I suppose I had bled recently, but I had bled without getting pregnant many times before.
Was it the herbs? I mean, I haven’t even—
Wait.
The night in the cell, when Thorne let Vann and I stay together before the final trial.
This pregnancy is new. Extremely so.
A host of fears well up. I could envision loss like a tangible prophecy. I don’t need to wonder what it would look like either—I knew the bleeding. The cramps.
The devastation.
I turn to look at Vann again and find him staring at me. He’s stopped fighting with Mrath. In fact, everyone has stopped speaking altogether.
“Queen Mrath,” I start, still unsure of her exact title now. “There is no possibility that I am pregnant with Arion’s child.”
“But you most certainly are pregnant.”
I flush hard. “The only person who could be the father is standing next to me.”
Vann softens. His touch becomes heavier and full of emotion.
“You are sure? Or do you lie to avoid death?” Mrath bites.
Mother Liana steps forward. For the first time, I see her fumble as she rummages around her person. Finally, she withdraws a large blue crystal I don’t know the name of. “I could check,” she says.
Mrath still frowns, but she gestures Liana forward. The Wise Woman crosses to where I lie, letting the crystal pass over my body. When it passes over my womb, she sets it down, applying pressure to the area.
Once satisfied, she passes the gem to Mrath.
“You see? That child is half Enduar.”
Mrath gives a tight-lipped nod, looking back at me.
“Very well, it seems my fears were unfounded. But perhaps this is a sign that you should all return to your homes. Now.”
Liana agrees vehemently. “Yes. She needs to go home, back to the Enduar Mountains. Without the Fuegorra in her chest, she will continue to weaken, and if the separation lasts much longer, she will likely die.”
I blink. When the stone was taken, and I didn’t die right away, I had assumed it meant that I never would. I haven’t been eating regularly either, meaning that I thought my weakness had come from that. Not this.
Death.
Again.
My hands go to my lower belly. And this time with a child?
My child.
Vann’s child.
Cursed One—or Nehvaris, I suppose—smiles. Mortality is fragile, friend. But I wouldn’t worry. Things seem to have turned in your favor.
Mrath exhales through her nose. “Then leave. Let me sort through the situation with my court on my own.”
I push myself upright, each breath scraping my ribs. In the room, I see Castien, Liana, Mrath, the other elves. Going home was a dream I had given up. And now I can go?
Back to my work and my friends and my family and…now a new potential child.
Perhaps.
If everything goes right and I do not lose this one as well.
My hand moves from my belly to my chest, finding only emptiness beneath my skin.
Mrath looks at me. “You are lucky, allies.”
After so many years of trying, after the heartbreak and humiliation and sadness, I think I agree. But not for the reasons she says now.
Mrath looks at Vann and Liana. “I don’t think you require any more of my services for the time being, but tell your king to expect a letter from me soon.”
Vann frowns. “Queen Mrath—”
She waves him off. “Don’t argue. You’ve earned your way out, and frankly, I’m done watching you bleed on my floors.” Then her mouth quirks into a crooked smile. “Besides, you’ve got an annoying visitor waiting outside.”
My brows draw together. “Visitor?”
Mrath’s waves us away. “You’ll see. Try not to faint this time.”
Before we move, I hesitate. I shouldn’t ask. I know it could cause problems, but I have to know. “And Thorne?”
The air changes. For a second, even the shadows seem to pause.
Mrath’s expression hardens—no humor now, only steel. “Thorne will be…handled.” Her tone turns colder, unreadable. “Leave him to me.”
“Very well,” Liana says, gathering her satchel, glancing uneasily between Mrath and Vann, and gestures for me to rise.
Vesilane watches us both with quiet fascination, as if cataloging how mortals bruise and heal. She seems younger than she did when she was serving me. Together, we leave the throne room.
Vann wraps his arm around me, helping me to hobble away and down the walkway.
I suck in deep breaths the second I am truly free.
Free to return home. Already, I can practically taste the cave bear meat and smell the scents of the under mountain.
I nod to Vesilane. “I know our time together was short, but thank you for your kindness with the others. It was appreciated.”
She smiles. “I’m just happy to help my father. He did a brilliant job in keeping everything together during a coup. I enjoyed my time with Liana as well.”
“Oh, that is kind,” Liana says. “To be honest, it was nice to be back in Shvathemar, if only for a little while.”
Vesilane watches her carefully. “You could stay with father and I again, like you did before. Your talents are wasted reading crystals in that cavern.”
Wait. Like before? I look between the three of them, confused.
Liana smiles. “Perhaps. But after a lifetime of chaos, I like it well enough.”
“Then maybe father will let me come stay with you for a while .” Vesilane looks at Lord Castien.
He tilts his head to the side, then says, “I think we will take Liana home, my flower. She wouldn’t fit on the mode of transportation our esteemed Arlet seems so fond of using.”
Confused, I catch a glimpse of golden scales out the window and excitement floods through me.
Seraph.
She survived the chaos.
“Can I ride her if I am expecting?” I blurt out.
Liana laughs. “I don’t see why not. Especially with your mate.”
That comment centers me once more. So much happens at once, I almost missed the way he’s quietly been watching me.
When I meet his eyes, a somber feeling settles over me.
We need to speak.
“Very well,” I begin. “I will see you all back in Enduvida.”
I bid farewells, and then take Vann’s hand. He follows me out of the palace. Quiet.
He doesn’t speak for a long while. I don’t either. Instead, my hands cover my midsection.
“You are…”
“Pregnant with your child.”
I go a little dizzy with the thought.
His fists tighten. “Then we must get you back to Enduvida as soon as possible. You need your Fuegorra.”
His response is logical, practical even. It still unsettles me.
“Wait,” I say before he can run off. I peer up at him. This is the Vann I have come to know. Protective. Gruff, perhaps.
But I need more. I would need more moving forward.
“Are you…happy?”
He hesitates. “Are you? I know how much you have struggled. But I do not even know if you have fully forgiven me.”
I think on his words for a long moment. “I am shocked. Scared. But yes. I do think I am happy.”
His expression changes to something deeply emotional. His eyes rim with tears and he clears his throat. “Arlet, you know that they gave me my heart back. Once I was healed, there is nothing I wouldn’t do to make it back to your side. For however long you’d have me. ”
And though his words are spoken, I feel them in my soul. In my lower belly. I feel them like the tight wrap of his tail around my body. As if he could overwhelm me, the first night he’d ever awakened a passion in my soul.
“And if we are not only bound by divine right, but also by blood. The blood of our child? I never thought I would know this life. The joy you bring me is immeasurable.”
I let out a long breath.
We follow Mrath out, and I feel lighter. The corridor opens into sunlight spilling through broken arches. Warm wind carries the scent of ash and rain—and there, gleaming amid the ruin, stands a dragon.
Seraph’s scales shimmer gold, molten and alive, each breath scattering light like embers.
“Hello, my friend,” I breathe.
The dragon lowers her massive head, one bright eye focusing on me. It’s as if I can hear her voice, wry and affectionate, in my head. Like she’s telling me, “Hello again.”
“Thank you for bringing him. And thank you for helping us,” I whisper. “I am so grateful.”
She flaps her wings once, expressively. And I marvel at how she has not had to wither one moment since leaving Dragonsreach. She left the place grieving, yet now she looks like the picture of strength.
“Where were you hiding?” I ask, holding out my hand, that she might press her warm nose into it.
Vann moves to my side. “I left her in the mountains, north of here. I didn’t want her hurt before she had a chance to see you again. Hopefully, she returned there during the fight.”
My throat closes. Another demonstration of his goodness and sacrifice. I look at him again.
“Thank you.”
Vann helps me onto Seraph.
As Seraph spreads her wings, the hollow in my chest pulses once—soft, living, whole. Then she launches straight up from the palace gardens. She pumps her wings as we gain height. If I weren’t so weak, I would enjoy this more. But for now, I think I am just glad to be leaving this place.
This place of nightmares. Of bigotry. Of starvation.
I want, more than anything, to return home.