Chapter Nineteen
The following evening, Beth stepped out of Fritz’s house and tucked her parka more closely around herself.
As she waited in the cold, she exhaled and watched the white plume roll up and disappear.
Behind her, in the parlor, Wrath was still talking to the Brothers about the nightly schedule, and she was content to give him whatever time he needed.
She’d slept hard all day long. So had Wrath. In fact, she could have sworn they woke up in the same position they’d crashed in—then again, the last couple of hours of the night had seemed to last a month.
The blessings of those two slain males had been beautiful and heartbreaking.
The way Wrath had stood over each of the beds, his hands resting on the feet under the blankets that covered up the brutal damage, his head lowered in respect and reverence as the parents had wept.
Throughout the ceremony, his voice had been low and steady as he’d spoken ancient combinations of words in the Old Language, and then the parents had said their final goodbyes.
After that, both males had been cremated—along with the other four—and they were going to take the ashes to all the families later tonight.
The closing of a heartbreaking chapter in so many lives. God, it was just awful…
And given how emotional that was going to be, she was glad to have a moment to gather herself here on the porch. As she looked off into the crystal-clear night sky, she wondered where her own son was. What he was doing. How he was doing.
Shuli had refused to leave his house, and said he didn’t know where L.W. was. And sure, the Brotherhood could surveil the hell out of the property, but something told her if her son didn’t want to be seen…he wasn’t going to be.
She just wished he could let them know he was okay. The estrangement was never going to be easy, and she did find herself praying Wrath was right and there was something under all that anger.
If there was, she hoped whatever it was would come out soon.
Before something happened—
“Okay, let’s go.”
Glancing over her shoulder, she forced herself to snap out of it and smile at Wrath. He’d carried George out with him, the dog overflowing even his master’s heavy arms—paws and golden locks everywhere.
Oh, that was one happy canine, wasn’t it.
“You good in Dad’s hold?” she asked as she ruffled his ear and then kissed his smiling face. “Yeah? Yes, you are…”
“He’s his mahmen’s good boy. He sure is.” Wrath’s lips lifted a little. Then he got serious. “I want you to follow me.”
“I thought we were going to go hit PetSmart for lambies?”
“Not yet.”
“All right…where are we heading, then?”
“You’ll find out.”
As her mate dematerialized, she closed her eyes and followed the signal of her own blood north and east. When she re-formed, she wasn’t all that surprised to find them in the driveway of the Audience House.
And while she stared at the cheerful, yellow light spilling from the windows onto the snowy landscape, she thought of the many nights she had come here with a pit in her stomach.
And then Wrath had returned, and she’d stopped having a reason to be up here on a regular basis. Almost at all, really.
“You know,” she said roughly as Rhage and V discreetly re-formed behind them, “a part of me expects to never, ever return here again. I mean, I know I’ve already stopped by once or twice, but each time…I’m always shocked that I’m on the property.”
He put George down on the ground. “Go potties, big man. Go on.”
The golden trotted over to the driveway’s snowbank and jumped into the lawn, his sniffing and circling leaving a trail of disruption in the fresh drifts from the newest storm.
“Is it hard for you to be back?” he asked. “Like, would you rather not?”
“No, it’s okay, I mean…” She smiled in his direction. “I’m here with you, so it’s very different—good boy, George. That’s a good boy, doin’ your business.”
Just as the dog settled back on all fours from lifting his leg, Wrath leaned down and patted his thigh. “Come’re, my man.”
Beth chuckled. “It’s amazing how you know when he’s finished.”
“Well, he is efficient and you’re cold. We need to get inside.”
“I am chilly. How did you know?”
“You’re shifting your weight back and forth and blowing out your breath through your teeth. It’s what you do.”
When he held out his hand, she took it, and together with George, they went to the back door.
After they passed through the three checkpoints, they were in the kitchen.
As usual, the pastry chefs were in full swing, baking so that there were Danishes and croissants available for the staff, even though no civilians were coming in tonight.
Well, the staff and Hollywood, of course.
And immediately, the pair of doggen in whites stopped and curtsied their greetings.
“Smells wonderful,” Wrath said as Rhage and V likewise came in. “We’ve already eaten, or we would fill ourselves.”
It was such a diplomatic way of avoiding getting ladened with twelve dozen of whatever was coming out of the oven. But her hellren could be like that. Not charming, no. He was too harsh for that.
He did have moments of kindness, though. Especially to his loyal servants.
As he was the one who led the way into the safety corridor, she noted how he progressed through things, locating door handles, walking with George at his side.
It was all such a beautiful coordination between dog and male, really.
And all the while, her mate’s head was up and front-facing, making no rounds as he did not use his eyes.
Did not need them.
“Give us a minute,” he told the Brothers.
As V leaned back against the wall to light up, and Rhage dug into the first of the three Danishes he’d snagged, there was only the most minor of hesitation as her mate searched the wall for the seam of the door to the audience room, and she was willing to bet in another month, that would be all gone.
He really was incredibly facile at getting where he wanted to go—where he needed to be.
And then there were the Brothers. Always with him.
Safety was relative, and they would take no chances they could avoid.
It was the best she was going to get in this war—and the same that every other spouse was granted.
Funny, how that argument with L.W. had given her a gift of sorts. Even as it had broken her heart into a million pieces.
“So last night, something dawned on me,” Wrath said as they stepped out of the steel core of the building and into the audience room alone.
“What was that?” she murmured as she looked around.
With the banked fire crackling in a subdued way, the pair of armchairs looked like something out of a cozy cottage mystery series on the Hallmark streaming service.
In fact, the grandmother aesthetic was echoed throughout the entire facility, a deliberate choice to put everybody at ease, the homey, rustic-ish furniture a balance to all the state-of-the-art security that could only partially be hidden.
“When you mentioned you knew Emile,” he continued, “it was because you were here for the blessing of him. In person.”
“Yes.” She nodded as George went over and lay down next to Wrath’s chair, even though his master stayed standing. “And as I said, I certainly never thought I’d be witness to his last rites.”
“Rahvyn told me that you were here every night with her. That you made almost all the decisions in real time.”
“Ah, yeah, I did.” She went across to the wall opposite the chairs and touched the frame of the mirror she’d had hung, re-centering the thing on the nail it hung off of.
“It didn’t start like that. In the beginning, she took the audiences as you alone, and at the end of each evening, I’d review everything and do whatever had to be done.
That was so inefficient, though. We used the reflection in this mirror over here to communicate.
I’d look at her and blink in code. We had other signals, too.
And if things were really complicated, we tabled the issue so I could talk to her or Saxton more fully either during the breaks or at the end of the night. But that was pretty rare.”
“You worked so hard. You did us proud, Beth, and I never thanked you for everything you did to keep the throne intact. And you know what else? The Brotherhood told me you pulled them together right after I disappeared. They said you were the reason they kept going.”
Beth felt her eyes start tearing up as she looked over her shoulder at her mate. “What else was I going to do.”
“You could have done nothing.” Wrath walked over to her. “You could have let it all go. Instead, you fought for the throne, you safeguarded the species, you took care of everybody—even while you were in mourning. And I’m sorry you had to do all that, but I am not surprised you could and did.”
“Well…” She put her arms around his waist. “I’m grateful to have my contributions acknowledged.”
“They have been. They are.” He dropped a kiss on her mouth. “And then I show up, and everything stops.”
Leaning into him, she rested her head on his pec. “Well, it was a good break the first couple of nights. But you know, I have felt a little useless—”
Knock. Knock.
“Come in,” Wrath called out.
At the door the civilians came through, Saxton entered with a wide smile. “I found what I think will do for the short term while the proper one is made.”
Tonight, the solicitor was wearing another dark blue suit, but he had on a full tie in red with little Hs interlocking in a pattern. As always, his blond hair had been perfectly fashioned, the gorgeous golden wave rising off his forehead and falling in perfect order.
“Well done.” Wrath smiled, revealing the tips of his fangs. “I knew you’d take care of it.”
At that point, a pair of doggen in workmen’s clothes came in with a—
“Oh, does your armchair not feel right?” she asked as she eyed the heavy piece of furniture the males were carrying.
“No,” he said as the thing was taken over to the other two. “This is for you.”
Beth went still. “For me…? Wait, what?”
Saxton bowed, as did the two males, and then she and her mate were alone again. “I don’t understand, Wrath.”
He walked forward with his hand out into the thin air, and George immediately got up on his paws and ran interference, stopping his master before Wrath knocked into the new addition.
“I want you to join me here. I want you to be a part of the blessings and the disputes and the complaints…even the heartbreaks. In fact, if you need me to be King, then I need you to continue to make your contributions. You and I will do this together, as a team.”
As emotion started rising, she had to blink away the tears. “I don’t understand. I…” She had to clear her throat. “They’re here to see you.”
“And you’re their Queen.” Wrath took her over and sat her down. “But you’re not going to be in the corner. That’s where they told me you used to sit, and that’s not fucking right. No, from now on, you’re right with me. As a team.”
Wrath sat down beside her and looked over in her direction.
“What do you say, leelan? I can think of no one more sensible and compassionate or more intelligent and respected than you. And before you talk about people coming here only to see me, you need to know that the front desk mentioned to me just the other night that the civilians have missed you. They’ve been asking about you, missing you, worried something was wrong. ”
Beth lowered her head as she ran her palms up and down the padded arms. The fabric was plain and red and it matched the gingham print on the other two chairs.
“Did this come from the common area at the Wheel?” she asked because she was in total shock and couldn’t think right.
“I don’t know. Do you like it?”
“I do.” And then she smiled at him, even though he couldn’t see her, and wiped her face. “It’s perfect, actually. This whole thing…is perfect.”
“I missed a lot of anniversaries,” he said roughly.
“And I’m going to make them all up to you, one by one.
I figured I’d start tonight so that by this July we’re back on track, and I wanted to begin with something really big.
Be with me, here, in this job I do. And this time, let’s have it really be the two of us. Together.”
His head was still turned toward her, the wraparounds so steady it seemed like he was really staring at her.
“You don’t have to do this,” she hedged. “I mean, you could have kicked it all off with some roses or something.”
“You don’t like roses. You prefer wildflowers.
” His mouth lifted in a smile, and then that faded.
“I should have moved this extra chair in from the very first night I came back here. I love you, Beth, and you’ve more than earned the right to be ruling with me. It’s what you’ve been doing all along.”
Laughing in a short burst, she could only shake her head. “I don’t know what to say.”
“Well, how does it make you feel?” he murmured. “Knowing that everything you’ve done matters so much to so many. Matters to me.”
There was a long silence, and she felt like the years of mourning melted away, as if they had never been, the pain not just erased but cleansed out of her.
Reaching up to his wraparounds, she took his sunglasses off and stared into his beautiful, blind eyes. With a trembling hand, she brushed under each one.
“Seen,” she replied hoarsely as she leaned in to kiss him. “It makes me feel…seen.”
As their mouths met, he whispered, “Happy Anniversary, leelan.”
Oh, God. How many years had she yearned to hear those words.
There was another discreet knock, and as Wrath beckoned, Saxton leaned back in. “Are you ready for the first audience of the evening?”
“I thought you canceled the schedule,” she said with confusion as V and Rhage came in from the other door.
“We have three hours. I sent Fritz for the lambies and figured we’d start as we mean to go on. Are you ready?”
She mopped herself up and kissed him again. “Yes, I am.”
With that, the great Blind King smiled in the secret way he did only with her. Just like the photograph in that album in the attic…just like in all the daydreams and fantasies she had tortured herself with for those thirty-three years, nine months, three days, and nine hours they’d been apart.
“Good,” he said. He turned in Saxton’s direction. “My Queen and I will see our citizens now…”
The End