Chapter 52
I embrace Elias again, kissing him and holding him close.
Around us, the armies have started to disperse, the truce holding.
“I will have my people bring provisions for yours and healers to tend your wounded,” Riven tells us after some time.
Elias has yet to rise to his feet but is finally sitting upright, an arm wrapped around my shoulders.
“Thank you,” Elias replies. “That is generous. Your people would be so willing?”
They do need the help. While I am sure the Unseelie packed salves and such with them, there are many injured. It’s not like they can all shift back to cities either, like many of the Seelie have been able to do.
“The bonds between us are closer than I knew,” Riven admits. “Consider it our first act of peace and goodwill toward my cousins.”
“Cousins?” Katiya leaps to her feet. She’d briefly left to give orders to the Unseelie commanders, regrettably reporting that some fled after she killed Orek, their whereabouts unknown.
But most held to their king and remained.
She returned after, refusing to leave her brother’s side in case he tried to die on her again.
“Who—” Elias’s brows knit as he looks around, trying to figure out who the King of the Forest is talking about.
“They don’t know yet,” I say to Riven. Then, to Elias and Katiya, “We found out what happened to Esme’s sister, Evelyn.”
Elias stiffens. Katiya pales. They cannot have been expecting that.
I take a deep breath. “She stayed here in Faery, and she lived a good life. She loved and was loved in return. She even had a child.”
I let my gaze trail back to the King of the Forest.
“You.” Katiya blinks rapidly, seeing him in a new light. “That’s what you meant when you healed me, when you said we were connected.”
“It is.” Riven nods. “And yes, I am Evelyn’s child.”
Katiya’s gaze narrows, and she crosses her arms. “Did you know as much when you deceived us?”
“Katiya,” Elias warns at her sharp tone.
“No.” Riven crosses his arms right back. “Nor when you tried to kill me with a poisoned arrow.”
The bitter irony isn’t lost on me. I let out a little fake laugh. “There are clearly a lot of complicated histories to work out here.”
Sigurd picks that of all moments to drop from the sky into our little group chat.
“And are you Evelyn’s child as well?” Katiya asks Sigurd.
He literally stumbles back, blinking. “No. I— We—”
“He was in love with her and held a grudge against me and my court for years because Evelyn chose my father instead,” Riven says, matter-of-factly.
Sigurd scowls at him, flushing all the while. “That is not how I would have preferred to be introduced to the Unseelie King.”
“Like I said.” I stand up and jump into the conversation before it can devolve further. “Lots of complicated histories here, but I think we can all agree we’d like a brighter future, yes?”
I stare at them each in turn with a wobbly smile. I return to sit next to Elias, who wraps an arm around me and pulls me close in a show of support.
Then to Riven, Elias says, “Thank you for healing us. You helped the people I love most. I will not forget that, cousin.”
He gets a little tangled up over the last word.
But Riven doesn’t seem to mind. Some of the Forest King’s ire smooths out, and he nods in acknowledgment to Elias. “When you are well, we have much to discuss.”
“Agreed,” Sigurd says. “And perhaps we can leave some of the past as just that.”
“Speaking of rest.” I lay my palm against Elias’s chest. We helped him remove his armor so that we could properly clean the wound and apply a salve, though it had already mostly healed due to the healing magic.
Now he just wears a thin tunic and pants, looking like any wounded soldier rather than a king.
Not that he seems to mind. “Sleep will help you heal.”
“And before you argue, I will watch after those here,” Katiya adds.
Elias sighs but smiles. “My protective women.”
“You know it.” I wink.
“Aimee!”
I sit up straight, every hair on my body standing on end. At first, I think I’m hearing things. I must be. But then it comes again.
“Aimee!”
I slide from Elias’s embrace and stand, looking in the direction of the voice. “Matt?”
And there, walking across a battlefield, headed straight for us is Matt, with Selena, Mira, and the King of Fire in his wake.
Seeing my brother here, out in Faery, after all that has happened in the minutes we’ve been apart, it feels like a dream. Or like maybe I did die.
“Aimee!” He waves wildly as he jogs in my direction, a blinding smile upon his face.
I run to him. “Why on earth are you here?”
This is definitely not the safest place for him to be, even if the battle is over.
“He begged,” Lysandir says as the humans catch their breath. “Incessantly.”
Matt is hunched over, breathing hard, and when he finally lifts his head, his gaze narrows, head cocking to the side. “What happened to your shirt?”
I nearly groan. Of course he’d ask about that. Since Riven literally ripped mine off in search of my wound, I’m wearing a spare Seelie tunic that’s much too big. “Long story.”
He leans forward. “Is that blood on you?”
“Probably.” I shrug. “But why are you here?” My attention darts to Mira and Selena, pinning them in accusation. “Why bring him here?”
“He was very insistent on seeing you and knowing that you were okay,” Mira says, giving him a flat look. “With the battle over, we felt it was safe enough if he was with us.”
“And I said I wouldn’t let him out of my sight,” Selena adds. “So, I didn’t.”
Matt just grins.
A deep sigh escapes me. I really hope they didn’t tell him I almost died. Though he probably wouldn’t be so calm if he knew.
“Well, you’ve seen me. Now go back somewhere safe.” It’s so impossible for me to be mad with him, even when he’s ridiculous.
Matt looks like he’s about to say something, but then his smile drops away, his mouth hanging open with it. Selena’s eyes widen, and she takes a step back closer to Mira, who adjusts her grip on her staff.
“So, you are Aimee’s brother.”
Breath catches in my throat, and I whip around to see Elias, his arm thrown around Katiya, who is helping him stand. No wonder my brother and the others panicked. They know who he is by his appearance alone.
Searing pressure pushes out from within my ribs. Oh God. They had to meet at some point, I guess, but I am not prepared.
“You’re the Unseelie King,” Matt says in awed wonder.
Elias’s lips quirk up in one corner. “I am.”
Matt’s attention slides to Katiya, giving her a quick once-over. “And you’re—”
“Katiya,” she answers for him with a blinding grin. “Aimee said much about you but never how handsome you are.” Her eyebrows jump, and her tail flicks mischievously.
Matt flushes scarlet, but his smile is beaming. “That’s my Aims,” he says, rubbing the back of his neck. “Always leaving out the important things.”
“I do not,” I protest.
But Matt ignores me, as does Katiya, who looks like she might pounce on my brother at any moment—in a good way, if there is such a thing.
“Will you come and stay with us?” Katiya presses. “I’d like to become more acquainted.”
Selena lets out a little choked squeak.
Matt, oblivious, replies, “I’d love to visit!”
Katiya, apparently deciding that Elias can stand on his own, slips away from him to speak more with my brother. I quickly take up her place at Elias’s side.
“I hope it’s okay,” I say, “if he does come to visit? I know you just met him and all.”
“Me, reject a human visitor?” Elias says with a wry grin.
Okay, when it puts it like that, it does seem silly. They’ll need more humans now after all. “I just know it will be strange, having someone new around. For you and your people.”
I don’t know what Matt will want now. That will be his choice to make, but I’d be lying if I said I didn’t want him with us.
“My people will delight in any visitors,” Elias says. “And anyone you love so much to risk yourself for them is someone I know that I will love as well.”
“I hope so.” I lean into his side, not enough to unsettle him, just to be nearer.
His smile broadens. “I know so.”