Chapter 50
FIFTY
ELIAS WINTERTON
I had just stared into the eyes of a woman on fire. One moment, she’d been invincible, burning with divine, terrifying power. Then, she’d doused her own flames with cool water. Then, she’d sacrificed every ounce of her strength to save another.
Her body fell limp beside me. I caught her before her head could hit the ground.
Our fighters retreated per Valda’s command, but I remained kneeling on the bloody forest floor. Death, pain, and destruction were everywhere, and the smell of charred flesh made me want to vomit. Beyond the water barrier that Aryella made, a few spots still burned.
Aryella.
I couldn’t fucking breathe, and not because of the smoke. It was her, and fuck , she looked so small and felt so breakable . But I’d seen what she’d just done. I knew she would be powerful, but she was so fragile, too. I felt… terror like I’d never known before.
I thought that my queen was gone, but she’d been right in front of me for weeks. And now I held her in my arms. My friend .
No, she was… more .
My arms shook, but I couldn’t let her go. She was so beautiful with her soft skin, long lashes, full, rosy lips. Even now, when pale and drained of power. I swallowed and traced my eyes along the bruises coloring her neck and face. The bruises that she had gotten from…
Oh, gods. What had I done? What had I allowed inside my own fortress walls?
“Commander!” Valda snapped. “We have to?—”
She halted abruptly when she saw I held the queen in my arms.
“Valda,” I breathed. “Help me.” When I blinked, something wet and hot trailed down my cheek. A tear? Valda saw it, too. Horror and sympathy clashed in her dark eyes.
When was the last time I fucking cried ?
I carefully brushed a silver lock off her soft cheek and tucked it behind her ear.
“She’s breathing.” I slid my fingers under the curve of her chin and felt a steady pulse. “She’s stable, I think, just unconscious. She…” My eyes landed on Tremaine, who lay alone in the grass covered in blood but without a single wound.
When I saw the spear go straight through Tremaine, I knew there was no way she would survive. And yet, her breathing was now steady and her body calm.
Viridian. My eyes dragged down to the nearly healed snake bite on my arm, then to the miracle of a young woman in my arms. Had she… ?
Fuck.
“Get Tremaine,” I ordered Valda. “She’s your responsibility. Protect her at all costs.”
“Commander, I must?—”
“At all costs!” I roared, rising swiftly to my feet.
There were more than a few things that Fera— Aryella— would likely never forgive me for. Losing Tremaine was something I refused to add to the list.
Valda carefully lifted Tremaine into her arms, looking down at her in worry. “Back to the fortress?”
“No. Send word for the cadets to move from the Barracks to the Caves. We’ll complete the final tests there.”
“Commander—“
“Our queen is alive, Captain!” I snapped with authority. For once, it felt forced. “This changes everything.”
Valda gave Aryella one last wide-eyed look before nodding firmly and turning to follow the rest back to camp.
I gazed back down at Aryella, marveling at her beauty.
Since the moment I saw her, I’d thought she was stunning.
Irritatingly so. Feeling things for her I didn’t think I was supposed to feel had plagued me with guilt for weeks.
I huffed out a disbelieving laugh and brushed a piece of stray silver hair from her face. She was the right woman the whole time.
Hope had been absent among us all for months, but now? After what I had just seen? She changed everything . And we needed her.
But why had she lied? Frustration nagged at me, and while it didn’t come close to overwhelming the hope and reverence I felt, it was there. I prayed she had a good explanation for it all. More than that, I feared what had been done to her in Brinnea.
The gods knew I had a lot to atone for, and I would. Today, I did all I could do.
I picked her up, and I carried her home.