64. Nicholas
64
Nicholas
A s the sounds of battle dulled into the stillness of night, Rahana’s people gathered in the square. Marco and a couple of his soldiers marched toward the dock to check on Alaina. Ravinder stood tall, a leader in the aftermath, gathering reports on his soldiers and their conditions.
“Allies, hm?” I said toward the stoic warrior, referring to our last conversation. I pursed my lips, nodding as I surveyed the disturbed market. Rough lines in the dirt painted the scuffle that’d occurred, and crimson splatter darkened areas where men had taken their last stand.
Melody tended to a few wounded Rahana soldiers, bandaging what she could. The fire wielder Sverik chatted amongst more of Ravinder’s men. Odion wasted no time gathering abandoned swords and shields, carrying them down to his shop.
He deserved them.
Ravinder directed his attention to me, a one-sided smirk spreading over his blood splattered face. “Like I said, important.”
I unwrapped my arm from Nora’s shoulders, approaching the man who was instrumental in changing the tides of tonight’s outcome. With a hand extended, he met my offering with an equally firm grip. “I owe you and your brother a debt.”
A woman sauntered up to our exchange. “I’ll take a piece of that action, Your Highness. Can’t go forgetting the women now, can you?” Ro glanced up between me and Ravinder, resting her hands on her hips in assessment.
I angled myself to face her head on, crossing my arms. “Are you thinking more payment in castle silverware?”
Her pale, freckled skin may have only been brightened by moonlight, but the minimal color noticeably drained. Ravinder chuckled as she looked at him in panic.
Nora rounded me from behind and took the spunky huntress into her arms, pulling her in for a solid hug. “Ignore him. I take it you were my backup?” Nora gripped the anchored bow on Ro’s back and shook gently.
“Couldn’t let the kingdom miss out on a badass queen’s reign.” She returned Nora’s embrace, a radiant smile blooming as she held my future wife.
A moment of almost unfathomable clarity washed over me.
My future wife, my queen, stood by my side in the presence of allying armies. And she fit in perfectly, forging connections and friendships that weren’t political facades.
She was strong as steel and disarming as iron. Fierce as a warrior, and equally as compassionate.
There may have been an unending supply of injustices in the world, but the gods got something right by placing her here with me. I couldn’t take the separation for a moment longer, so I slipped my hand over her back and squeezed her hip, tucking myself into her side.
“Seriously, whatever your people need. Healers, meals, sleeping accommodations, we’ll have you taken care of before dawn,” I vowed, surveying the couple dozen men and women that’d rallied for us.
Ravinder relayed a few instructions to his people before addressing me again. “A few of your guards fled. Do you want us to track them down?”
I rubbed my jaw as I reflected on the situation.
“Are any of your people willing to travel back to Rahana tonight? Head them off if they try to escape up the Splits?” Nora suggested.
“That’s a damn good idea,” I said, “and we should get back to the castle before word reaches whoever is aligned with Druller there. I’d rather not give them the opportunity to mobilize against us upon our return.”
Ravinder nodded, whistling and waving over a few of his crew. As they discussed the proposal, Ro rubbed at her neck and sighed. “Damn. I was hoping to get a little rest before heading back.”
“Actually,” Nora said thoughtfully, tilting her head with feline grace as she eyed the experienced bow wielder. “I think we’ll need an escort back to the castle. Then might as well spend the night in one of our guest suites. You’ve earned rest in a castle bed.”
Ro lit up and placed her closed fist over her chest, like a soldier being sworn in for duty. “I pledge my service to you tonight, Queen Nora.”
The women laughed, shifting the atmosphere of the unfortunate battleground. But we still had work to do tonight.
With a few from Rahana escorting us back in carriages Druller and his men had taken to South Harbor, we crossed the drawbridge and found Evenita waiting by the entrance.
She greeted us with a smile that made her glow. “I had all the faith in the world in you, Nora.”
Nora and Melody walked up to the elderly woman, greeting her with a hug.
“I owe you everything,” Nora said, a slight tremble of emotion in her voice.
Evenita patted her arm. “Everything will work out just fine.”
I strutted toward the group of ladies that had salvaged the destiny of this kingdom. “Please know you have our eternal gratitude. Ask for anything, and it shall be yours.” I bowed at the waist before the seer.
“There are many who deserve such things, Your Highness. You will be good to them, I am certain.” There was a subtlety in her eyes that told me she did not rank herself among such a group. Before I could insist, my wife, the clever minx, demonstrated once again why she was going to be a most competent ruler.
“Actually, would you mind helping us with something before you leave?”
We combed through filed away documents in stashed away trunks in the king’s office. Ledgers and bookkeeping records from years ago.
Before we’d started, Evenita had assisted us with her abilities, identifying several guards we came across in the castle that were faithful to Sebastian’s cause.
A nightdress and robe wearing Ricks was summoned from sleep, and delegated the task of rounding up the traitors currently within the walls. He was also tasked with supplying Ravinder’s crew with whatever tokens or supplies they required.
With Evenita and Ro deposited at their sleeping quarters for the night, Melody, Nora, and I scoured piles of aged documents. I’d seen the look in Nora’s eye when she’d insisted we come directly here.
Melody and I exchanged glances between each other a few times, silently agreeing that Nora was too committed to be deterred, notwithstanding the heavy toll from the night already.
So despite my shirt being caked in drying blood, I hauled out another trunk and slammed it atop my desk. Nora admitted she didn’t know what exactly she was looking for, but her father’s discreet journal had plagued her for years. She didn’t want to believe Druller, and wouldn’t take the word of a genocidal scumbag.
Pity glances from Melody confirmed my own thoughts. The Commander had no reason to lie.
“Nora, I found something.” Melody lifted from her knees, bringing a contract parchment to where Nora filtered through stacks of port logs.
I maneuvered around the assortment of trunks and placed a hand on my fiancée’s shoulder. She read over the contract, the one that assigned Hamish Caine a mortgage debt from the Crown, signed by Sebastian.
“This is dated months before my father disappeared,” Nora’s voice swelled like a cloud carrying a heavy load of rain.
“He was a good man, Nora. An honorable man.” Melody fell to her sister’s side, wrapping her arms around her.
“He used Caine as a front man. I bet if we searched financial records, we’d see that Druller signed over a large sum to your father, and when he refused to indulge their partnership, Druller needed a way to disguise the missing funds. Recorded it as a mortgage loan, in Caine’s name.”
If the bastard commander wasn’t already dead, I’d have had him strung up in the square. Dirty dealings in the name of the Crown, staining the reputation I’d been trying to cleanse. Who knew how many records were forged and counterfeit in an attempt to cover up this brewing scheme.
“I’ll have the treasurer pull all the accounts Druller signed off on. See if we can figure out any more of his connections, who’s at the head of this kidnapping operation.” I joined the women on the floor and pressed my forehead to my fiancée’s temple.
Tears flowed silently down her cheeks. “I’ve been so mad at him for dying. I held so much anger toward this place, toward you. But he tried to get out. He tried to make it right. Yet I’ve still blamed him.” Her body shook with years of torment, of corrosive resentment she could finally let go of.
“He wouldn’t blame you, Nora. I think he’d be so proud of the woman you’ve become. How you held his legacy accountable. How you fight for the right things.” Melody cried alongside her sister, reminiscing about a man I’d never have the pleasure of meeting.
“His legacy will live on through you. Through all the good we’ll do together,” I reassured my love as she broke in our arms. “Let’s go wash up and get some rest.”
She reluctantly agreed and rose to her feet. I scooped her up from the floor, cradling her within the safety of my arms where she could continue to fall apart.
I would forever be the keeper of her broken pieces, but I would never let her shatter.
We saw Melody to her suite that remained guarded by loyal guardsmen. Then we retreated to our chambers, and I lathered Nora’s midnight hair in floral oils to rinse off the remnants of her revenge. I tended to her softly, silently reassuring that my presence would forever remain by her side. I whispered notions of pride, reassurances of her goodness and character as I wiped away her falling tears.
After finally settling for the night, we lay naked in bed, only the softness of our skin and the sheets blanketing us. Nora took her finger and made tiny swirls across my chest, directly over the spot that’d been healed.
“Marco’s a fantastic healer. I bet you can’t even feel a scar,” I said.
She sighed heavily, continuing her perusing traces. “You could have died because you spent your magic on me.”
I didn’t need to hear the words to know the weight of her guilt. It threaded the very air between us. I wrapped my hand around hers, holding it firm over my heart. “And I would have had not one regret.”
She shifted closer, her limbs warming me like a comforting fire. “I know you can’t promise this, but I’m going to make you do it anyway. Promise you’ll never leave me. That you’ll always reserve some healing magic for yourself so you won’t die.”
Even a prince doesn’t have the resources to impede death, but if I could find a way, I’d bind its power so that it would never reach for us. Instead, I offered what I could, “I promise I will do everything I can, Nora.” I squeezed her tighter into my side as I pressed a loving kiss to her still wet hair.
“How long have you known that you had magic?” she asked.
“My father pushed me particularly hard one training session. A boy of fifteen shouldn’t have been wielding blades against an experienced soldier, but he and Druller apparently both lacked the empathetic part of their souls.
“I left the ring with a nasty slice down my arm. No healer was summoned for me. I was expected to take myself to the healer’s quarters. On the way, I nearly collapsed in the hall. It was then that the light awakened, that I somehow knew to reach for that glowing source inside myself.
“When I did, my wound scabbed over. It was all I could manage at the time, which I suppose was good since my father and Seb would have known of my power if that brutal slice was suddenly gone. My mother encouraged me to keep it quiet, to practice on my own. Marco was the only other person I ever confided in since I knew he wielded the same.”
“Why didn’t you tell me?” she asked. “After the poisoning?”
I shrugged. “I’d grown so used to keeping that part of me secret it hadn’t crossed my mind, to be honest. After you woke, all I cared about was that I had you back. Nothing else mattered.”
I stroked my thumb along her arm, confirming for myself that she was still here.
“I guess I can’t be mad at you for it. I kept the fact that I was planning your assassination a secret. Now we can call it even.” She lifted her beautiful face to peer up at me, flashing an all too innocent smile.
I laughed from deep within my chest. “Sure, even.”