45. Chapter 45
Chapter forty-five
Erix
The stables at Kelvadan were still my favorite part of the city—a welcome escape from the crush of activity and life in the streets and the palace. Especially on a day like today, when the entire population seemed to have piled into the courtyard for Aderyn’s coronation.
I expected myself to dread the celebration, but as Keera and I together laid the circlet on Aderyn’s head—high lords of the desert crowning the Queen of its Great City—I found myself glad of the crowd.
The people of Kelvadan loved her as she loved them, and she understood their ways in a way that made her better suited to handling their politics than Keera or I ever had been.
Of course, we would always draw our swords for Kelvadan if ever the need arose. Just as we would fight for any clan of the desert that needed our aid. Keera and I served the whole desert, and Kelvadan deserved a leader who cared for it the same way a lord cared for their clan.
Still, after hours of celebration, I found myself craving the warm scent of horseflesh and a moment of peace. There was another whose company I craved as well.
Alza’s head poked over the edge of the stall before I even approached, having sensed me coming. Her eyes were bright, and she nickered happily. She was adjusting to life as a pampered pet well—not that she had ever been less than perfectly cared for as my primary mount.
I slipped out a piece of fruit that I had been hiding in my sleeve, pilfered from one of the trays at the celebration, and offered it to her. She crunched on it in satisfaction as I ran my fingers over her silky forelock.
“Look at you, all fat and happy,” I murmured. Indeed, her coat was silky and shiny, and her athletic frame was already filled out. Her injury had healed, but as I had known in my heart the moment it happened, she would never bear my weight again.
The sadness in my chest at the thought was tinged bittersweet. I knew Alza would live out her remaining years as the happiest of horses—fed and admired and brushed to her heart’s content by the horse masters here in Kelvadan. I would visit her as often as I could.
In truth, she was not a young horse anymore.
Even without her injury, it would not have been right to ride her as far as I often did for many more years.
The excited nickering from the stall next to her told me that Doka, though, was excited by the prospect of many long journeys and wild gallops.
In fact, he had reappeared shortly after the battle died down, tossing his head and seemingly offended that I had not let him accompany me into whatever grand battle I had been a part of.
Maybe the desert was right in teaching me that part of love was letting go. I sighed heavily and pressed my forehead to Alza’s, even as my throat tightened and the back of my eyes burned.
She had been my only companion through the darkest moments of my life, and even the most comfortable of retirements did not seem like an adequate repayment.
“You need to keep these new horse masters in line,” I murmured to her. “Make sure they do things to my father’s standards.”
She snorted as if in agreement. Or perhaps she was simply trying to snuffle out another snack. At that thought of my father, I pulled back and looked into her wise, dark eyes.
“Do you think he’d be proud?” I whispered.
Only silence greeted me, leaving me to answer my own question.
But beyond the silence, there was the distant sound of celebration, and even beyond that, the quiet hum of magic.
It was different than the cacophony of voices that had haunted me my whole life.
My mind still wasn’t silent—I didn’t even wish for it to be—but now the desert sounded of quiet harmony.
And in that quiet, I knew that the ghosts of my parents would no longer haunt me.
As I listened contentedly to the subtle music of snorting horses and scurrying mice in the stables, another sound joined them: A quiet murmuring voice coming from the back row of stalls. I cocked my head. I wasn’t alone.
Peeking curiously around a corner, I found General Warrick standing in the aisle, a young paint filly leaning over the door of her stall to snuffle happily at his copper hair.
Back here, a partially collapsed roof let in thick beams of sunlight, making both his hair and the horse’s Palamino coat shimmer.
I inhaled sharply at the sight, causing Warrick to spin around in surprise.
The filly didn’t seem perturbed, choosing to mouth at his ear instead.
I raised a single brow. “Were the celebrations not to your liking?”
“They were lovely, and I’m happy to have Doran on good terms with the Queen of Kelvadan—and the high lords of the desert, of course.” Warrick sighed and rubbed his hand over his beard. “But my men and I will be leaving shortly after the celebration.”
“I expected you to be looking forward to heading back to the mountains of Doran. You have made no secret of your distaste for the heat and the wild ways of our goddess.”
Warrick reached up and patted the nose of the horse who seemed utterly unperturbed by his distraction, and she gently lipped at his fingers. “It turns out there are some things about this land I might miss after all.”
I crossed my arms and leaned my shoulder against the frame of the nearest stall.
My eyes roved over the damaged roof of the stable, partially caved in on one side, letting in large stripes of sunshine.
It had caved in during the earthquakes while Keera and I were at the top of the palace.
To my surprise, we were told later that Warrick led the charge into the partially collapsed building to free the trapped mounts.
“Was she one of the horses you saved?” I asked.
“She’s been following me around ever since. But I know she must get used to living in a stall again when I take my men back to Doran.”
“Does she have a rider?”
Warrick shook his head. “She belonged to a man that fell in the battle.”
“I know Doran and Viltov have both always coveted a cavalry of horses from the Ballan Desert—”
Warrick quickly shook his head and held up his hands palm out. “I have seen how your goddess treasures these creatures and the intensity of her wrath. I have no wish to anger such a… passionate deity.”
I smiled. He certainly seemed to miss the reserved, disciplined ways of his own lands. But his goddess and ours were sisters after all. Perhaps the eldest goddess would treasure just one of her youngest sister’s creatures.
“I’m not sure one mount would be enough to make a difference for your forces, but if she follows you willingly, perhaps we should let her.”
Warrick’s pale eyes widened. “The people of the desert have never allowed their horses to leave their lands before.”
“We had never fought side by side with foreigners either, but it seems to be the beginning of a new era.”
Warrick paused, then raised his fingers to his brow and tapped his knuckles hesitantly against his temple. It was the symbol of respect of the desert—not a gesture I had ever seen him or any of his men make before.
“Thank you, High Lord.”
The filly at his side nickered enthusiastically, as if she had understood the whole conversation and approved of the outcome.
Before I could respond, footsteps approached, and thin fingers wrapped around my wrist. “I thought I would find you in here,” Keera commented. “Come on. I want to make sure we eat all the bread and oranges we can before we leave with the clans.”
I let her lead me back out into the celebrations willingly. As the sun set over the city, I admired the way petals fell from the larrea flowers draped over every balcony of the palace, drifting down like golden rain.
They clung in hair and dusted the ground, letting out their soft fragrance as they were crushed under dancing feet. I smiled as Keera flung her arms around Aderyn, hugging her tightly before scooping her baby from her arms.
Torryn, they had named him. It would be a kingly name someday.
He was passed next to Izumi and Badha, who kissed him on the head and tossed him in the air, having appointed themselves his informal protectors after being present at his rather unconventional birth.
The clans and the city had never been friends like this before, even in the days of Kelvar and Alyx.
Perhaps this was a new age of peace for the desert.
And in case there was war—as there always would be from time to time in such a violent and harsh land—Keera and I would be ready to protect her, both as her high lords, and her Heart.