Chapter Sixty-Three
The Reckoning
They had already outrun every power that tried to break them.
Now they would answer destiny with fire.
Amerei watched him vanish down the stairs, her heart aching with yearning yet alive with hope. Juliet crossed toward her, a gentle smile softening her lips.
“This Leolis does not yet know… he is standing at the gates of Hell.”
“What will Viktor do?” Amerei asked, falling back against her chamber doorway as though it could hold her upright.
Juliet brushed her shoulder as she passed, voice low and sure.
“Your betrothed commands fire, the wind, the sky.”
She sank into a chair in the study.
“His powers are not meant to trifle with men.”
“So he will fight them with arms?” Amerei pressed, fingers curling against the frame.
Juliet’s gaze shifted toward the window. Her smile was quiet, almost secret.
“He will not need to fight them at all.”
Amerei’s eyes lifted to the eastern cliffs. In her mind she saw lightning split the horizon, imagined it striking at Viktor’s command.
Her voice wavered. “Will The Midnight tell him how?”
Juliet laughed softly. “Is that what you call his seer?”
Amerei only nodded, her gaze still caught by the sky.
Juliet leaned back, thoughtful.
“If they are the children of Eiliyah Aradostylan, which one was surrendered to the Elders?”
“Líri…”
The name left Amerei in a whisper as she sank to her knees beside her grandmother, shaken by the thought.
Surrendered to the Elders?
Juliet’s brow furrowed.
“No. It cannot be your betrothed—he is too old.”
Her head tilted, lips barely parting.
“Then is Viktor’s seer truly a seventeen-year-old boy?”
The truth struck Amerei harder than any blow. She gasped, the weight of it pressing into her chest.
“Mama died seventeen years ago…”
Juliet leaned forward, her hands warm against Amerei’s face, as though she had always known.
“Mama died—”
“Darling girl,” Juliet whispered, gathering her close.
Tears spilled from Amerei’s eyes, her lips quivering with each breath. All her life she had been told her mother died of fever—but she had been so young, far too young for some common illness to steal her breath.
Something had happened all those years ago.
Something had driven Eiliyah to seek the Elders.
Something had convinced Zeporah she could seize the throne.
Something had killed her mother.
“You found Viktor by no accident.”
Juliet pressed her cheek to Amerei’s hair.
“The hand of fate set him in your path—chose you to bear each other’s burdens, to be tempered in each other’s fire.”
Her fingers swept over Amerei’s face, drawing her up, her eyes fierce and unwavering.
“The moment you are wed, you will tear it all apart. You will defy the wickedness that sought to divide you before you ever met.”
“We were—”
“Destined.”
Juliet’s voice broke, sharp as prophecy.
“Destined to find one another. Destined to set the world aright. He calls himself a scout—then how does he lose himself in your arms? You are the Princess of Casqadia. His hands should never touch you, yet he will make you his own. You must see it, Amerei. Tell me you see it.”
“I do…” Amerei whispered, her whole body shuddering. “I see it, Líri.”
Her eyes closed, and she could almost feel Viktor’s heat searing through her—as if he stood ablaze before her.
So much had been taken: her mother, her throne, her right to exist as more than Zeporah’s handmaiden.
And Viktor—tormented the same. Forced into silence, made to hide what he was, suffering beneath power until the Vykenraven revealed him.
Their meeting was no accident. Their love was no mistake. They had already outrun every power that tried to break them. Now they would answer destiny with fire.
“He’s coming back,” Amerei murmured, her smile breaking through tears.
“Yes.” Juliet kissed her brow. “Trust me, dear. A hundred men are nothing before your Ruakite—scattered like autumn leaves by the swing of his arm.”
Amerei drew a shaky breath. “Then I’ll need to be ready for him.”
“You will be.” Juliet’s tone brightened. “Come—let’s see you dressed while he’s away.”
Amerei brushed her sleeve beneath her eyes, laughter shivering in her throat.
“Is this how you felt when you married your Ruakite?”
Juliet clasped her hands, helping her rise. Her eyes gleamed with something like memory, something like warning.
“Bright one… my marriage ended the Bloodforge.”
She tightened her hold, voice low and resolute.
“Yours will summon the reckoning.”