46. Chapter Forty-Six
With the rebellion forces spread all over the realm, my hands were tied. Sapphire sent signals for those in surrounding courts as soon as we’d been pushed past the gates, but I feared it wasn’t enough.
I feared we lost it all.
But Sapphire portaled us to the border between Spring and Winter, and I’d been awestruck yet again. In less than two hours—the time it took to accept the gifts from Queen Evangeline in exchange for my submission—hundreds of soldiers had returned to their post. Where there had once been tents and training grounds was now riddled with men and women sitting on stumps, sharpening their blades, unfit for battle.
But that was no matter—not with the weaponry in our carriage. One by one, they lined up and accepted their blades until we’d run dry. The archers replenished their arrows, and each soldier had their fill—each had accepted the call to untimely war without a spoken word.
Staag’s Keep in the Winter Court was still secured, and those soldiers were ready to pounce at any moment. We had a presence in half a dozen other Winter Court towns, but that didn’t matter. None of it did until Aurelie was found safe again.
More arrived—those with magic portaled to our location, while others sent word of transport. My heart ached in the best way, but we were far from done. I would not be pleased until Aurelie was back in my arms.
We would start in a realm I knew well. So well, in fact, that I feared it’d be a hindrance. I knew the most solitary corners of the Winter Court, but my soldiers didn’t. They’d go in with fresh eyes and perhaps find the things I was ignorant to. Perhaps they’d uncover something so long forgotten, it maybe didn’t exist at all. In the end, the existence of such a tomb was negligible.
In the end, it was all about finding my bride. My mate. My witchling.
So, I explained our plan to them, that we would lay siege to my home—our home, at the end of it all. We would reclaim the cities closest to the border before spreading into the wilderness and searching for my witchling.
The plan remained the same, whether we found her there or not. The instructions were clear. “Once the Winter Court has been reclaimed, whether in flame and fury or in surrender and secession, we make way to the Summer Court. We move to tear down a tyrant king and his queen consort to save a dear friend.”
As if that was all they needed, as if that was the only thing that would bring unlikely allies together, they cheered. They clacked their swords together and sloshed their mead up into the air. I wanted to smile. I wanted to laugh and celebrate all of the training and efforts made over the past two centuries, but I couldn’t, not with the weight of my love—not with the weight of my witchling’s agony.
So I stepped aside, far enough that the crowds were out of sight, and sat down to breathe. My crown had once been the only glimmering jewel in my dreams—but now, there was something so much brighter than power, than revenge. I’d nearly lost her once, and terrible, terrible things happened while I scrambled to find her. She didn’t know how to fight, didn’t know how to call to her magic—she was, in many ways, weak. In a world designed to fail her, she’d overcome these trials. Often with a smile on her face.
Now, I had failed her a second time. Now, I had to sit and let the consequences of my negligence stir.
Sapphire broke from the crowd, magic sparking from her skin. She was the only thing glamouring us away from prying eyes—she was my last hope, really. Azalea was helping for now, but I was unsure how far that aid would go.
Azalea remained behind, but her gaze lingered on us. I made no gesture acknowledging her judgment, nor did I greet Sapphire. I merely stared ahead, clutching my flask of water so tight, my knuckles were turning white. Sapphire sat alongside me and sighed.
“We’ll find them, you know. Both of them.”
“In what condition?” I muttered slowly. “That’s the true question.”
“Alive, and if they are not well, they will be soon. Have faith.”
I glanced at my cousin sideways and frowned. “You know, it’s more than just Aurelie and Casynox. I failed Lyra, in a way—I’d promised her brother a safe return for years. If it wasn’t from my mouth, then it came from Casynox’s. Yet…” I sighed, trying to wipe clean the vision of his head spiked through that log. “Yet I let him die too. They waited for us to leave. They had been watching.”
“We knew that. We knew that a long time ago.”
I rolled my eyes and lowered my gaze back to the ground. “And we have been blindsided more times than I can count.”
“Do you remember what I told you about cowardice when you questioned whether you should entertain Novus?” Sapphire nudged me with her elbow before snorting, and a small smile inked onto my lips.
“I thought about that the other day, in fact,” I said before I cleared my throat and prepared my best impression. “‘They may sever a finger for thieves, but I’ll sever a hand for cowardice. What’ll it be, Eero?’ You know, I slept with my hands tucked under my back that entire night because of your threat.”
“Good. It worked, and I’m prepared to scare you shitless again if you don’t stop thinking about what if.”
There is no point to ifs. Not right now. Those were Aurelie’s words. Gods, those were Aurelie’s fucking words. The last time I lost her, the last time I let her slip through my fingers like sand, I let one singular tear thread down my cheek. Now, though?
It was uncontrollable.
I feared she’d been lost forever. I feared that, in my brother’s blind rage and Yenira’s cruelness, she had finally met her match. Sapphire didn’t chastise me for my tears—she didn’t even question it. She simply hugged me and choked on her own sob.
Sapphire never cried, but tonight, we both let go of our guards. We both let our sadness, our fear, our anguish win.
“Everything will be okay, Eero,” she croaked. “No matter what.”
I parted from her hug when my tears slowed and looked at her. “I need you to promise me you will be safe, Saph. You’ve done so much for me, for this cause, all while having your own demons to battle. I need you to see this through.”
She lifted her pinky and wiggled it teasingly. “Only if you do.”
I cracked a smile and hooked it with mine, turning my head toward the horizon. I watched the sun slowly sink against the horizon, knowing that before it rose again, we’d set foot in a place that had once been my home. A place that would be my destiny.
And just as I silently wished for it to be with Aurelie, starlight started to form a cyclone in the sky. I blinked in disbelief, watching it get brighter…stronger. Then, it vanished.
And with it, my heart.