Chapter 66 Kiera
Kiera
Aiden crushed my hand as though he meant to never let go.
I cried out as my shoulder wrenched in its socket and my body slammed into the stony debris left from the bridge.
Aiden roared, his muscles contorting as he lifted me up.
We collapsed together at the edge of the watery abyss.
“You’re alive,” Aiden murmured, brushing my hair out of my face. “You’re alive.”
Then he sealed his lips against mine. I’d never felt such relief in a kiss. Such life. Such joy.
I smiled against his lips. Tears trailed down my cheeks as he gazed at me like I was the most precious thing in the world.
I held his face in my hands. He was alive. He was whole.
My body shuddered with exhaustion, but I couldn’t let him go.
“I almost lost you,” he murmured in a broken voice. “Why, why, did you blow up the bridge, Kiera?”
I pressed my forehead against his. “It was the only way to save you.”
“When you jumped . . .” He swallowed hard. “I’d never been so afraid in my life.”
I brushed my thumb over his taut brow. “I wasn’t afraid because I knew you would catch me.”
“Always.” He caressed the tears from my cheeks. “I plan to capture you in my arms at least once a day for the rest of our lives, my love.”
My heart stuttered. I stopped breathing. What was he saying? Forever?
“Kiera!”
I turned my head just as Ruru wrapped his thin arms around my shoulders.
“Fucking Four, you made it!” he cried hoarsely, as if he’d been shouting for hours. He smelled of blood and sweat, reminding me of the battle.
I pulled against Aiden’s arms, which tightened for a moment before releasing me.
We all stood up. Ruru and Aiden supported me when pain seized my body, particularly my wrenched shoulder. My body would be one large bruise tomorrow. But I was alive.
I surveyed the destruction of the Noble Quarter, my heart falling.
The battle had ended, presumably around the time I’d jumped from the bridge. Dozens of Shadow-Wolf bodies lay like bits of charcoal among other bodies. Rellmiran, Dag, and Eloren ones.
A familiar hulking figure stepped forward amid the crowd of soldiers still standing.
I cried out and rushed to embrace Maz. He clutched me against his shiny armor. “Ah, lovely, don’t cry. It’s over. We won. You won. And I can hardly wait to get that heart tattoo on my ass.”
I gave a watery chuckle and stepped back. Immediately, Yarina, Sigrid, and Bruna engulfed me in a big, sweaty hug. They were bloodied, their clothes torn, and they held a few fractured weapons, but they were beaming.
Daire waved to me from a mansion stoop where Jek leaned heavily on him, a bloody wound on his leg and Nikella’s spear still in his hand.
They were all alive. Gods, I could hardly believe it.
We did it, Mother. We finally won.
“Are we secure?” Aiden asked, coming up behind me.
Maz nodded. “We were already winning when the bridge exploded. The rest of the Wolves ran for the Noble Quarter gate.”
Henry jogged up to us, his uniform torn and a bloody scratch on his neck. “We routed the Wolves from the city, killing who we could.”
“Good,” Aiden said. “We’ll send out a warning for any who escaped. Their reign, as well as Renwell’s, has ended.”
Henry gave a slight bow, startling me.
That was when I noticed how all the other soldiers were staring at Aiden. With hope and respect in their eyes. Shedding enemy blood and protecting each other in battle would do that.
The snap of fabric drew my attention upward. An older soldier carried a strange flag that danced above the gruesome Noble Quarter. Strange, yet so familiar.
A falcon, a pair of clasped hands, and the half sun of Rellmira gathered on the field of deep violet. It was a flag that proclaimed Aiden’s royal heritage and what he stood for. From the looks of the surrounding soldiers, he had won over a fair amount of the garrison from the city walls and gates.
His claim to the throne was no longer an idea. It was reality. It was his.
I shifted the slightest bit away from him, wary of what people might think to see me so close to the future king.
Aiden glanced down at me, his brow furrowed, but he said nothing.
Henry’s eyes widened as he realized who was standing before him. “Delysia?” he asked desperately.
“Alive,” I said with a tight smile. “But in the palace with no way for us to cross over.”
He released a heavy breath, his shoulders dropping. “Thank the Four. We will find a way to cross, I promise you.”
“I’ll construct a rope bridge immediately,” Aiden said, his gaze never leaving the side of my face.
I nodded, my throat tight.
I hadn’t seen any Wolves in the palace, only guards. Hopefully, Everett and Delysia would be safe there.
A soldier approached, older and weather-beaten with a stiff spine. He wore a captain’s badge. “Shall I declare the city safe, King Aiden?”
Another tremor shook my heart. He wasn’t crowned yet, but these men clearly assumed that was just a formality.
Aiden nodded. “Have any able-bodied soldiers spread the word. Tell them the city is ours. That we will celebrate soon, but right now we need food, medicine, and shelter for the wounded. And a pyre for those we lost.”
I slipped away as they continued speaking. There was one person I needed to share the good news with.
I picked my way across the bloody battlefield that seemed so at odds with its noble surroundings. Faces peered down at me from polished windows, but I ignored them.
Passing the bronze dancer, I brushed my fingers over her foot just as the doors of The Silk Dancer burst open.
Melaena stood framed in the doorway, her usually flowing curls pinned into a tight bun. Gone were her silks, replaced by supple leather and a knife at her hip.
Tears pearled in her blue eyes as she stared down at me. “Is it . . . Did we . . .”
I nodded.
She cried out and ran down the steps, wrapping me in a tight hug. I hugged her back.
“Your mother would be so proud,” she whispered.
My jaw dropped as I stared at her. “You knew her?”
Melaena smiled through her tears. “Why do you think I hired Aiden and Maz? Your mother sent them to me.”
I smiled back, a sense of peace stealing through me. I felt, in a way, that I’d finished what Mother had set out to do. And I truly hoped she was as proud of me as I was of her.
“Kiera!”
I turned to see Ruru rushing toward me, his face split in a huge grin.
“Your brother and sister!” he shouted, waving me toward him. “They’re calling for you!”
The next few days were gloriously busy.
As word spread that the city was free from Renwell and his Wolves and now under the protection of the Falcryn king, life breathed back into Aquinon.
Everyone helped to clear the streets and burn the dead. Nobles and city folk alike shared food and medicine with the injured and opened their homes to those who needed it. Melaena took in widows and newly orphaned children, caring for them in the opulence of her club.
Aiden cleared out Asher’s mansion, which Renwell had been using as a garrison for his Shadow-Wolves. Now, Rellmiran soldiers mingled with Dag warriors and Eloren sailors on the once-pristine grounds.
Pride swelled through me every moment I witnessed the city come together in a way I’d never experienced. It was amazing how life flourished once the heavy shadow of fear dissipated.
I helped as much as I could, but I constantly drifted by the waterfall. After I’d ensured that Everett and Delysia were alive and well—through much shouting and dancing and more tears, I grew impatient for the temporary rope bridge to be finished.
Aiden had started its construction immediately, as he said he would. Our archers had shot many ropes across the perilous gap, and Pierce and a few other friendly guards had anchored it on their side of the bridge.
Daire and several brave sailors, who were used to climbing the ropes of their ships, ventured out to twist the ropes into a bridge. We secured the workers to our side with ropes around their waists, but I still watched them with my heart in my throat.
Sometimes—my favorite times—Aiden would keep watch with me. He’d sneak away from his many tasks, wrap me in his arms, and stare at the palace with me. The beautiful prison, with its sunrise-colored stone turrets and gleaming windows, was something we’d both avoided our whole lives.
And yet . . .
We didn’t speak of it. But the future loomed as large as the palace.
A question needed to be asked. And answered.
Occasionally, I’d glance down to where the waterfall pounded into the sea, knowing that Renwell was dead at the bottom. Like that woman from Mynastra’s Tide so many years ago. My old mentor was another sacrifice Mynastra had gladly taken. But she probably preferred the other one we gave her.
Before burning the Shadow-Wolf bodies, Aiden ordered some soldiers to toss all the sunstone armor and weapons into the sea.
Just as at Calimber, the weapons of the night sky met the sea with a sigh.
As if Mynastra were exhaling in relief. The water glittered in the dying sun, the remnants of a dark legacy melting away.
On the third day, Aiden shook me awake from where I slept in one of Asher’s rooms. I typically collapsed into whatever bed was empty—Aiden joining me in the brittle hours before dawn.
He swept a kiss over my brow. “Come to the palace with me, Kiera.”