Chapter 20
Chapter Twenty
WOLFE
The waning sun sank lower, meeting the horizon in a burnt-orange glow. Trees swayed languidly around me, bowing to and fro, a contrast to the still sand beneath my boots.
I always came out to this spot on the beach when I needed clarity and space to think.
It was one of the furthest points on the manor grounds.
My father confessed, when he handed the place to me, that he’d laid out the grounds like this on purpose.
Everyone needed their space from time to time, especially a leader.
He needed the most space. Making the wrong decisions and mistakes could prove costly not just to him, but an entire kingdom.
I’d followed my father’s counsel well over the centuries. I always came out here for that clarity. Even when it didn’t work.
The dragons, sensing my troubled mind, would sometimes fly out to meet me. They wanted to do it today, but I stopped them. I didn’t like them seeing me like this.
Broken and conflicted, sitting on the sand, like I’d lost the will to keep going.
Never show them weakness. You are the lord of the dragons. They must honor you…
My father’s words rang through my mind. They always did. I was so close to him we had our own bond. Not magical, just the bond between a father and son who deeply respected each other.
He’d know what to do if he were here. Or not. Perhaps he’d be just as conflicted as me.
My father lived through many wars. But they were different times. Never had we had a conflict such as this. At least not in my lifetime.
My father also never had to fight to stay married to my mother. In the beginning, many were against their union because she wasn’t from any of the higher-born houses that sat at the High Table, but once my parents overcame that, nothing more was said.
I’d married my girl, bent the laws between realms to keep her, owned her soul, and still, I couldn’t have her.
I’d been out here for a few hours. Earlier, when I took her, I’d needed to feel like she was still mine. She did, but this was never about that.
Elariya Nightblade could feel like she belonged to me but never be.
The ghost of her touch still lingered on my skin and in my soul. Maybe that was all I’d ever have of her.
Glimpses of her in memories that would haunt me forever.
I felt like I’d been beaten at my own game and like I just couldn’t seem to catch a break.
I wouldn’t act like a fool and completely disregard Elariya’s suggestion. If she had been someone else, I would have accepted the idea gladly.
And that was the very problem. She wasn’t someone else. She was my wife.
The scenarios kept playing in my mind. If I kept her here, it would start a whole new reason for war. If I allowed her to go, I couldn’t control things from this side.
We couldn’t be certain that she would gain anything from Thayden. Nor could we be certain that she’d be safe from Zyrra and the dark forces.
Aside from that, I myself had to be careful, careful for her.
No one in my lifetime had managed to escape from the Citadel, but when it happened in the past, they searched for you.
They sent otherworldly enforcers that would destroy you with one look.
No matter how strong I was, I wouldn’t be able to counter that.
If I died, she would die, too. That was reason enough to stay alive.
I just didn’t know what path to choose.
All my life, I’d always been able to get myself out of any situation. I’d always had the confidence to do so. But this…
The situation was a challenge that felt like water slipping through my fingers.
Footsteps sounded behind me. A few of them. I didn’t have to turn around to check to see who was there.
Alaric emerged beside me first, lowering to sit. Bastian and Garrick leaned against the trees opposite me. And Kaem walked out a little way before glancing back at me.
The old Fae warrior had proven to be more than useful to me. He was the support we all needed.
Wisdom shone brightly in his eyes, but he didn’t say anything. He looked away and gazed ahead at the rolling tide pulling in and out of the shoreline.
I looked at each member of my Bloodsworn, pausing on Alaric.
“Thought you may be out here,” he said with a gentle nod.
I raised my brows. “Come to talk sense into me?”
“Yes and no.”
“Starting to sound as indecisive as me, brother.”
“That’s no bad thing. Being like you.” He held my gaze.
I studied him a moment, processing the loyalty in his eyes before looking at Bastian and Garrick.
Garrick folded his arms over his chest and cocked his head. “There’s a lot more to your mage than you give her credit for.”
His words were a call back to the beginning when I’d first declared Elariya mine.
My mage.
“I’m inclined to agree,” Alaric tipped his head. “She has a fearlessness in her that most lack. She’s resourceful and adaptable. People like that always find a way to land on their feet.”
I agreed. Elariya was all those things. “You want me to send her back.” It wasn’t a question.
“The decision isn’t mine. All we can do is advise you.”
I looked at Bastian; he’d been as quiet as Kaem. Of the guys, he was the only other person in a relationship.
“What say ye?” I nodded toward him. “You want me to send my wife back to the man who tried to take her from me? Give her up?”
A faint smile pulled at his mouth. “You know my answer. I’d be just like you. I wouldn’t give Arielle to anyone. But no one is asking you to give her up.”
“These are difficult times, my boy.” Finally, Kaem spoke. “The kind where everyone has to play their part.”
He looked back at me and made his way closer, stopping a pace away before crouching to my level. He ran a thumb through the damp sand. “It’s a good idea, Wolfe. It’s a chance.”
“We don’t know that. It may all be for nothing.”
“Or it may give us the edge we desperately need. We don’t know what Zyrra is, and there are pieces of this nightmare we cannot figure out.
This could be the way.” He met my gaze and gave me a long, hard stare.
The look of an elder imparting wisdom. “If you do not take this chance, I fear it will damn us all. Then there may be nothing left to save. In case you didn’t notice, young Nightblade, the dark ones have the law on their side. In both realms. You don’t.”
The sharpness in his words pierced me. Being selfish wasn’t an option.
Only a fool would take that road. Because things were bad.
They’d grown substantially worse, to the point where all the problems were so ingrained you couldn’t unravel them without creating even bigger problems.
“I hear you. And I’m listening,” I replied.
“Good, because you need to.”
He straightened and headed back through the trees. One by one, my Bloodsworn followed, each sparing me a final glance. A final plea.
Left alone again, I accepted there was only one path. And I had to be the kind of leader no one had ever seen before.
Take the risk or suffer through losing it all. Including her.
On that harrowing thought, I stood, took one long look at the retreating sun, and phased back to the bedroom.
Elariya hadn’t left.
She sat in the chair by the hearth reading the journal I’d given her. She closed it when I appeared and sat straighter. Her hair hung over her shoulders, framing her face the way I liked it.
I knelt before her on one knee and took her hand into mine. She laced her fingers through, keeping her eyes fixed on mine.
“Your idea is good,” I began. “We will do it… my queen.”
Her eyes widened. “Queen.” She said the word like she was testing out the sound.
“Yes. And I respect you as that, so… I will follow your command. You were right. This could be our chance. It is better to take it than not.”
She reached out and touched my face, running her fingers over the scruff of my beard.
“Weeks ago, you told me something that stayed with me.” One dainty finger lingered on the cleft of my chin. “You said we were inevitable.”
“We are.”
“I know.” The conviction in her eyes gripped me. “I took that to mean we’d always find our way back to each other, so we will.”
I nodded once. “We will.”
“La níyneria, a mun dair.”
“La níyneria.”
We moved to each other for a gentle kiss, sealing the promise.
As her lips touched mine, I vowed I would always find her.
And I’d burn everything to the ground and leave nothing, not even ashes in the wind, until she was mine again.