Chapter 57 - Eternally Yours
Not even an hour after the golden sunrise spilled onto Bloodstone Fortress, Brietta dipped her quill into the inkwell.
The Barons all gathered in the dining hall to sign the new Lycaster charter Brietta had drafted. Soldiers in both red and blue uniforms lined the walls to bear witness. Some of Lycaster’s army, including Grigory Thornebow, had fled the moment I had released my power over them.
If I never saw Grigory again, it would be too soon.
Riyan and I stood on either side of Brietta as the Barons prepared to sign. We were her immortals, her shield and sword.
Baron Elvar was the first to sign the charter. He added his large signature with a flourish, but not before cutting Riyan an icy glare.
“ I don’t trust him, ” Riyan said through our bond.
I kept my eyes on Baron Elvar’s back as he walked away. “ Me neither. He is not going to just let go of his Little Diamond being taken away. ”
Baron Amberfield was next in line with the quill and the other Barons followed behind him. The Barons had agreed to grant every woman in Lycaster equal rights and privileges in exchange for a full pardon for their treasonous sedition. Evereon had suggested at least cutting off a finger to serve as a reminder, but Brietta stressed that her rule was based on progress and healing. To prove that point, Brietta reinstated the Baronage of Ravenwood.
The golden Ravenwood pin gleamed on Father’s chest as he added his signature at the bottom of the charter. He gave Riyan an approving smile before returning to stand with Mother. Mother held both Erik’s and Endre’s hands, her smile rosy as a fresh blossom.
Only one more Baron needed to sign.
“ I hope this works, ” Riyan whispered through our bond.
Annalisa handed Magnus to Rosaline and she broke away from the crowd. The pack of Hyton sisters whispered to each other.
Derrick had decided to remain out of sight so he would not darken the occasion with the past. I was glad he was not there to react to what was about to happen.
Even though her eyes were downcast, Annalisa kept her spine pin-straight like a proper Ashmore student as she walked to the center of the room.
I sent a whisper of confidence into her mind, reminding her of what the three lionesses had discussed the night before. She clicked her nails together once before looking up.
“There was no such thing as an unmarried noble woman before today.” Her voice was dry, but she swallowed and gathered her strength. “But a new Lycaster gave us choices.”
Annalisa glanced at my parents. “I choose to join the House of Ravenwood, to honor my grandmother,” she cleared her throat and then her voice rang out, “Ilsa Ravenwood.”
The crowd murmured. Ilsa’s name was no longer verboten.
Elation splashed across my parents’ faces, and, just as I predicted, Endre unclasped his green cape.
Daigen was not the only one who could predict the choices of others with exact precision.
I suppressed a smile as Endre strode over to Annalisa and wrapped the cape around her shoulders. He gave her a soft smile and kissed her hand. “Welcome, Annalisa Ravenwood.”
“ Go, Riyan, ” I prodded through our bond.
“And on the same…theme.” Riyan’s voice faded. He forgot his lines. I had no idea why Brietta had insisted on giving Riyan a script.
Riyan reached into his pocket and pulled out the golden Bloodstone pin. “We cannot choose how we are born…or who we are born to,” he walked forward until he stood in front of Endre. Annalisa shot me a sly glance and backed up as she held the green cape around her shoulders.
Endre looked up at Riyan with a quizzical look. Riyan smiled back at him. “On the recommendation of Captain Mydina of the Bloodstone army, I pass the Baronage of Bloodstone to the fearless Endre Ravenwood.”
Erik’s face blanched as his younger brother slowly took the pin.
Endre flashed Riyan a smile. “You really think a bird can be a Baron?”
Riyan returned the smile. “Better than an immortal bastard like me.”
Endre winked and fastened the golden pin of the snarling bear to his chest. He unsheathed the dueling sword at his hip with a quick flourish and gave the crowd a gentleman’s bow. “An honor to serve the North.”
The crowd returned Endre’s bow with warm applause, even Annalisa clapped with fervor, but I could not help but notice Erik’s ice-cold glare.
Just as I predicted Endre’s acceptance of the Bloodstone baronage, I also knew our stuffy big brother would be furious about it.
Riyan and I both snuck out of the keep as the celebration feast began. Riyan left first, saying he was going to bury his father in a place so secret that not even the ravens would find him. When he disappeared, I headed for the door with the painted flowers.
Daigen held Astrid in his arms as the three of us stepped through the air to the snowy peak of Nordingaard. Slowly, I lowered her into the churning rainbow well with me.
In the darkness of the chasm, I summoned Astrid’s mind. She appeared through the dark water, but the body I held in my arms was no longer hers, having aged twenty-two years without her.
None of it seemed fair…or balanced.
My power formed a ribbon of white light that slithered through the darkness and pressed against the veil into the next world. The cold hand that I had seen once before answered me.
Just as the first sorceress had fought Death over an injustice, so did I.
Astrid’s life was stolen from her, I argued. Her life must be returned to her.
Appeased by my reasoning, the darkness in the chasm began to swirl around us. My healing light poured into Astrid’s body as her mind returned to it. I erased wrinkles, strengthened her muscles, and returned the freckles to her face.
When I rose from the grave of millions of tears, the golden-haired girl in my arms was seventeen again.
We sheltered in Daigen’s hovel for a few hours, taking turns to help Astrid navigate her body again. Despite me turning back the clock, her mind struggled to connect with flesh and bone. Wiggling her fingers was a triumph, taking steps would be near impossible.
But Astrid did not care if she never walked again, she just wanted to return to the fortress.
She had someone she was desperate to see.
I stepped through the air beneath a sky smeared with pink. We stood in the courtyard and Fraleigh had joined us, happy to see Astrid healed.
“Is he coming?” Astrid asked from Daigen’s arms.
I pulled on my bond. “Soon, Astrid.”
With a crunching footstep in the grass, we looked up. Riyan stepped out from behind the shadows of the tower, a bouquet of purple and white flowers in his hand.
His shoulders curved forward and he gave her a soft smile. “Mother, I—”
“Put me down!” Astrid cried as she pushed off Daigen’s chest. Daigen gently dropped her legs and held onto her hand. I grabbed her other hand to keep her steady. She hissed out a determined breath and took her first step in the grass.
Her heartbeat pulsed in her wrist as she took another. She yanked her hands out of ours and sprinted for only a heartbeat before her knees buckled and she tumbled down.
Riyan ran for her. Daigen and I both lurched forward to help her, but Astrid snarled out a breath and crawled on her trembling forearms through the grass.
“Riyan!” She pulled forward as her body shook. “My baby! Baby! ”
He dropped to his knees and pulled his mother into an embrace, pressing his cheek against hers. Astrid’s trembling arms could not raise all the way, but a smile spread across her face as her fingers wrapped around Riyan’s arm.
She finally held her baby.
I could not stop the tears that escaped. I looked over my shoulder for Daigen, but he was no longer in the courtyard.
The master of illusions had disappeared and he took Fraleigh with him.
Free at last.
I stood against the wall as everyone danced—the ideal place to be. Evereon played his violin. Calder strummed the lute. Alastar the Conqueror’s armor stood in the center of the feasting table. Annalisa and Astrid had painted a giant blue “B” in the center of the breastplate, surrounding it with thumbprint flower petals.
Mead poured freely as the new Baron of Bloodstone danced with every woman that he could get his hands on, as well as a few men.
I smiled as Endre picked Astrid up out of her wheeled chair as the music swelled. Astrid laughed as he held her in his arms and spun.
The door next to me clicked open and Annalisa stepped out. She brushed a tear from her eyes and folded her arms. “He did not take it well.”
I leaned toward her so she could hear me over the music. “You are not leaving him, not really.”
“That is what I told him—a dozen times.” She pulled a familiar gleam of bronze from a belt around her waist. “Promising to keep this on me calmed him down.”
The sight of the Hyton dagger in her hand warmed my heart.
“Love and protection?” I asked.
She smiled. “Something like that.”
Annalisa looked out onto the crowd. Mother sat in Father’s lap as they drank merrily. Erik stood with his shoulders against the opposite wall.
She sneered. “Do I have to stay with Bird Brain?”
I laughed. “Go find my mother—she always knows what to do.” My eyes flicked to the closed door. “I will handle him.”
Annalisa wrapped me into a hug as Endre bounded over.
“I have danced with most of your sisters already.” He flashed Annalisa a charming smile and held out his hand. “I saved the best one for last.”
Annalisa rolled her eyes, but accepted his hand as he pulled her into a dance. I turned around and let out a breath before I opened the door.
Derrick sat in front of the crackling fireplace, his arms folded over his knees. The room was surprisingly quiet despite the party outside.
I held my hands in front of my stomach. “She is going to be just fine, you know. We all will.”
He turned to me. The Alastar might have been dead, but his eyes were still hollow. “Some of us more than others.”
I swallowed and tugged on my bond to beckon Riyan away from the mead barrels.
I took a few steps forward, erasing the distance between us. Derrick’s eyes lingered on the Hyton Blue ribbons I had tied above my elbows.
I picked at the threads of my skirt as I found my voice. “I am sorry…for being so cruel to you.”
He gave me a wan smile. “Truly I am the cruel one. I begged you to stay and yet I am the one who will leave in the end.” His smile warmed. “Though whatever time I get on this earth, I am grateful to have a friend who will tolerate me.”
I smiled back and gestured to the door. “You belong out there with us. You should be proud of what you have done.”
He scoffed. “Proud? I am a stain on the Duchess’s new reign. A burden of the past.”
Before I could step in, a low voice filled the air. “Burden?”
Derrick and I turned our heads. Riyan held open the door as noise from the party flooded in. He clicked the door shut behind him and his brow creased as he stepped toward Derrick. “No man who gave what you did is ever a burden.”
Derrick stiffly rose from his chair, but I took a step back. We had planned this meeting to be calmer, but I let Riyan handle it—man to man.
Riyan took a few steps forward but Derrick did not unclench.
“You freed Sera. And the girls. And my mother.” Riyan’s lip trembled only once. “And me.”
Derrick’s face softened.
“I remember thinking my life was nothing but bleak loneliness,” Riyan said. “I thought I was broken, never to be fixed.” His chest rose and fell as his eyes watered. “And if you think I am going to let the man who gave me an eternity of happiness go through the rest of his life alone in the dark, you are dead wrong.”
Derrick’s eyes widened as Riyan lowered to one knee. Riyan looked up at him and only a single heavy heartbeat passed before he spoke again. “Serafina gave her eternity to Brietta, but my eternity is yours. I will serve you, your line, and your legacy, though it will never be enough to repay what you have given me.” His voice shook as tears gleamed in his eyes. “And I swear to you, so long as I walk this earth, you will be known to history as Alastar the Liberator.”
Derrick’s hard shell finally broke. He swallowed a trembling breath and his voice was low. “I…I have a few requests.”
“Name them,” Riyan said.
“First,” Derrick said with a measured tone, “my Duchess needs a General.”
My heart jumped as Riyan’s eyebrows raised. After a thudding heartbeat, Riyan smoothed into steel. “Done.”
“Then, I want you to swear to me, that even after I am dead…” Derrick’s eyes swept to me. “Dance with her. Send her notes. Give her roasted hazelnuts just because. Never forget her birthday.”
Tears lined my eyes. Warmth spread through my chest from that sweet ember that first showed me what love felt like.
Derrick gave me a soft smile and returned his attention to Riyan. “I will never see the end of eternity, but promise me that you will love her the entire way.”
Riyan’s eyes glistened. “Always.”
Derrick lowered his arm and his smile grew. “Welcome to the new House of Hyton.”
Riyan gripped Derrick’s forearm and rose. He looked him in the eye for only a second before crushing him to his chest in an embrace.
My heart swelled, the rainbow flames twisted around my chest, and the red ember in my heart glowed as Derrick’s beautiful blue eyes looked over Riyan’s shoulder at me.
Even though Derrick would one day leave me, that little red ember would blaze in my heart as long as it was beating.
I would love him. I would protect his children and his grandchildren. I would be his friend as his skin wrinkled and his hair bleached. I would cry at his grave.
Even as thousands of midnights passed on the timeline, Riyan and I would stand beside him.
So I looked into his Hyton Blue eyes and sent a message into his mind. From Birdie to Midnight.
We were, and forever would be,
“ Eternally yours. ”