Chapter 51
Chapter Fifty-One
Everything ached. Her throat felt like old, cheap parchment, dry and cracked all over.
If this was the afterlife, it was not living up to her expectations.
Her surroundings were nothing more than messy blotches of color. Alvara sat up—or tried to, but the world spun, and she fell back onto the mattress.
Where was she?
There was little to see, only her bed and the unfocused form of someone sleeping in the far corner of the room.
Alvara squinted, the details emerging as her vision slowly returned.
A pile of clothes lay at the person’s feet, as if whoever it was hadn’t left the room in days.
They sat in an uncomfortable-looking wooden chair, their tattooed arms crossed against their chest—
Tattoos.
“Boden?” The words barely fought their way out of her ravaged throat. If he was here, then she was…alive?
He stirred and rubbed his eyes. “Damn it, I still hear her.”
“I should hope so.”
Boden’s head snapped up, and he was beside her in a second. His shaking hands reached for hers. “Alvara.”
Dark circles dragged down his face, and blood and gods knew what still clung to his hair and beard, like he hadn’t bathed since the battle. “Did the town run out of soap?”
He laughed, though it sounded more like choking. “You have looked better yourself, you know. Good gods, Alvara, you’re never allowed to do that to me again.”
“If you could actually hold your own in a fight, I wouldn’t have had to save you.” Alvara pushed herself upright and immediately regretted it when her head hammered, and her ears rang.
“I thought I heard a new voice.” Heila handed Alvara a cup of steaming liquid. “Drink this, you need to regain your strength. You were unconscious for two days.”
She accepted the hot mug and cautiously sipped the broth, wondering how the human healer had managed to save her. Where Alvara had gone, nothing but magic should have been able to bring her back.
Wait, had the woman just spoken Elvish to her?
“Alvara, this is Queen Kivuri.” Boden dipped his head in the old healer’s direction.
Alvara jolted, spilling broth down her front. “King Einar’s mother? That’s impossible. The humans kidnapped you. You were never found.” But she could see it—her tawny skin, emerald eyes, and plentiful wrinkles.
That, and the fact that Alvara was alive and not currently burning atop a pile of wood.
“My seluri was a…difficult male,” Queen Kivuri said with a sad smile.
“The humans came to us, asking for aid with a plague that had been massacring their people. And he had no desire to help them.” She ladled soup into a bowl, and Alvara’s stomach growled.
“I believed they deserved our help, and I argued with him for days, but he refused to listen. I decided to go despite him, and in his rage, well…” She placed the food in Alvara’s lap.
“You know what happened next. Even after his fading and the creation of the barrier, I chose to stay like a selfish coward.”
“So, they never kidnapped you? The broken blood oath with the gods, the barrier, it was all true?”
The queen folded her hands in front of her stomach.
“It was. The humans had only asked for help, nothing more. And he chose to attack them unprovoked, only because of my actions. I am the reason we lost our magic in these lands so many years ago. And the reason my son…” She turned away.
“I will give you two a moment.” The queen shut the door quietly behind her, leaving just Alvara and Boden.
And the soup.
If nothing else convinced Alvara of Queen Kivuri’s story, her perfect use of Elvish did. Though the entire concept was still mad. She brought spoonful after spoonful of soup to her mouth while her mind churned.
Boden’s thumb rubbed the back of her hand, and Alvara took a break from her frantic shoveling to look at him.
He was alive.
“Is it over?” Alvara gripped the sides of her bowl. “Oh gods, Kat, Rav—"
“Safe. Aurilena, Lilja, my mother, Pyry and Oda—they all survived unscathed, thank Vitharen. King Einar is gone. Queen Kivuri agreed to return to Tasírath to rule in his stead while we piece the kingdoms back together and find a new heir to the throne. Valo and Nyr will need new rulers.” He took a short breath and promptly shut his mouth.
A haunted glaze settled over his eyes, and Alvara set down her spoon, squeezing her fingers where theirs met.
“I almost lost you,” Boden whispered. “I watched you fading in front of me, and for a moment I truly thought—” His voice broke, and he drew in a long breath.
“If the queen hadn’t been able to help you, I would have torn the town to rubble trying to find a way to keep you on this earth.
I’ve never been more terrified than I was in that moment. ”
She had offered her life for his without hesitation, not stopping to think how she would have felt had the roles been reversed.
If she had been forced to watch him fade…
Dalviri knew what horrors she would have been capable of.
“I’m sorry. I didn’t want to lose you, and you deserved to live a life free from him. I owed you that much.”
“Life without you isn’t much of a life at all.” He leaned forward and tucked a strand of hair behind her ear, and her stomach turned upside down, despite the gods-awful state they both were in. The kiss they had shared—it burned hot in her mind as she took him in.
But devastation lay just outside these four walls. There was work to be done and kingdoms to repair. However much Alvara wanted to stay here in this tiny room, just her and Boden, it would have to wait. They had been gifted more time to discover what lay between them, and they would.
One day.
“Will you help me outside? I could use the fresh air, and I want to see the town.”
Boden removed the mostly empty bowl from her lap.
“You really need to rest. I’ll bring you more food and some tea.
I’m aware how unbearably hot it is in here, but I promise tea will help you feel much better.
Though I would have to ask Queen Kivuri where she keeps it.
I haven’t thought about it since before the battle, but I have no doubt she has some since she’s somehow from Ela—”
“Boden. All I need right now is you beside me. And it’s just a walk. I’m not asking to face someone in combat.”
“You tell me you’re not gifted with words, and yet you always manage to convince me to do just about anything.
” He slid his arm around Alvara as she swung her legs to the edge of the bed, and he set her on wobbly feet.
“And when exactly were you going to tell me you have the ability to freeze time?”
Oh that. “I had no idea. I’ve known a few Dalvians born with that power, but I’ve never seen it in person. If I had found that out about myself much earlier, I would’ve used it to leave more than a few social events early.”
He shook his head and let out a hearty laugh. “You’re unbelievable.” They paused at the door, his strong hand warming her side. “Are you ready?”
“I guess we’re about to find out.”
They stepped into the ela air, where the smell of fresh blooms greeted them with a soft touch. All the color leached from Alvara’s vision for a few painstaking moments. What was left, if anything?
The town pieced itself together before her, and it had clearly not escaped without its own scars. Though considering the threat that breached its walls, the damage done was less than she had expected.
But it wasn’t the ravaged buildings that caught her eye, or the vines that still clung to their bones.
It was the people.
The humans and elves, sharing a load of heavy timber, laughing over the small mishaps of the day. Rebuilding. Together.
Alvara laid her head on Boden’s shoulder, and she peered up at his beaming face. “It’s everything you ever dreamed of.”
He gazed down at her, his eyes full of light and life. “Everything and more.”
As they watched the flurry of activity, hope settled into her chest, as timid and gentle as a butterfly emerging from its cocoon and spreading its wings for the first time.
Their people could not only coexist but build lives together. Build a new world together.
She glanced at Boden once again, and the wings fluttered.
Alvara had hope for a new home.