by JA Andrews
“I’m sorry.” Sini squeezed his hand. “Is anyone else hurt? Sora? Douglon? Avina?”
“Sora and Douglon have minor wounds, but nothing serious.”
“How did the dwarves get here in time? And how did the elves get here at all?”
“The dwarves were already headed south when news came of the skirmishes, so they picked up their pace. And apparently the dwarves had been talking to Rass. When she heard what was going on, she roused all the crazy elflings and they hurried down to join the fun.”
She let out a tired laugh. Besides looking tired, he looked perfectly healthy. “How long have you been awake?”
“I woke up in the middle of the night on the floor in the study,” he raised an eyebrow, “with your head on my chest.”
She let out a small laugh. “I was…really tired.”
“I gathered that when I couldn’t wake you up.” He sobered. “When I saw Rett and Lukas, I went for help.”
Something clamped down on her chest at their names. “Both of them died saving me.”
He squeezed her hand but didn’t answer.
She tried to shift her pillows, and Rett helped her so she could lean back on them. It occurred to her that instead of his normal drab grey, he was wearing a real guard’s uniform. She set her arm down gently across her stomach and fixed her attention to him. “Your father is being charged! Are you…?” She fumbled the question. “Do they blame you? Are you…accused of anything?”
“No.” He blew out a long breath. “Sadly, everyone could see I was just a pawn. Lukas needed a husband for Madeleine so she would be a strong heir. And my father offered me.”
Sini could think of nothing to say.
“No one else in Greentree seemed to have any knowledge of it, either. My older brother has been named duke. He was worried we’d be stripped of the title. We weren’t, but it will be ages before Greentree is trusted again.” He ran his free hand through his hair. “The betrothal is off, obviously.”
Sini’s attention caught on the last words and her hand tightened on his. “Are you…” The question felt awkward. “Disappointed?”
He gave her an incredulous look. “What possible reason could I have for being disappointed?”
She had no answer to that. “What will you do now?” She realized she was gripping his hand. She loosened her hold, but he held hers firmly.
“Madeleine—” He shifted. “I mean, the queen is allowing me to rejoin the guard. I have two years left in my original contract and she’s decided that I can continue as though there was no interruption. As long as I ‘continue my exemplary service’ and have no communication with my father.”
A tumultuous series of emotions greeted this news. “Where will you be stationed?”
“For now, the battalion is in northeast Marshwell.”
Marshwell sounded far away from either Queenstown or the Stronghold. She stopped at the thought. It would be a long time before anyone lived at the Stronghold again. “When do you leave?”
“I petitioned to stay until after Will and Sora’s wedding and Madel—the queen agreed.”
Sini started. “Wedding?”
“Oh.” He grimaced. “I probably should have let Will tell you that. They’re planning it for as soon as we get back to Queenstown. I’ll join my battalion once it’s over.”
She was surprised at how much her stomach sank at the news. “That so…soon.”
“True.” He ran his hand through his hair, looking uncertain. “The mail system between the troops and the capital is quite good. Would you mind if I wrote to you?”
She smiled. “I’d be honored, lord cons—” She clapped her hand to her mouth. “I can’t call you that anymore!”
He laughed. “Thankfully.”
“But what will I call you now? The Not Future Lord Consort is too unwieldy.”
“I suppose Roan is out of the question?”
She nodded and considered him for a moment. The captain’s pin on his collar was a bright bronze. “I’ll have to settle for captain. I’ve never written to a captain before.”
“I’ll be the only captain in the guard getting personal letters from a Keeper.”
“Unless I meet another interesting captain,” she pointed out. “Then I may decide just to write to him.”
“I’ll have to work hard to get a promotion so I can order him to stop writing you.”
She grinned. “Two years of wearing unrelenting grey is going to be nice for you.”
“Not two straight years,” he pointed out. “Captains get a fortnight off twice a year. If you’re in the capital, I’ll be able to find you easily.”
“Don’t say such a horrible thing! I hope I’ll be back at the Stronghold long before two years is up.”
“Well I know how to find that now too.”
She smiled. “You’ll have to come through the ghosts.”
He made a pained face, but his hand tightened on her. “It’d be worth it.”
Chapter Forty
There was no rush to get back to Queenstown and the trip was put off until Sini and Roan were both fully recovered. Sora, too, had been injured, receiving a cut on the leg during the fighting, but was recovering quickly.
Both Lukas and Rett’s bodies were cremated and their ashes brought north to be buried in the Stronghold. Sini had thought that Will or Alaric might object to the idea of Lukas in the Stronghold, but all Alaric said was, “I only wish we’d been able to bring him there years ago.”
“Speaking of Lukas,” Will said. “I think you should have this, Sini.” He handed her the dull sword that had once been so horribly dark. The runes Swift Death looked more worn than threatening.
She took it, cringing. “Why?”
“Does it have any light?”
“No.” She held it at arms’ length. “It never did though. It only had shadows.”
Will ran his fingers through his beard. “It has emotions.”
Both Sini and Alaric stared at him.
“Something like…” Will focused on the sword. “Regret? But it’s tinged with hope.”
Sini tightened her grip on the hilt. “Lukas’s emotions?”
Will shrugged. “I don’t know. But from what you told me, it fits. And you and Rett were the only ones who ever felt anything like hope for Lukas. So I think you should have this.”
“What happened to Svard Naj?”
“The Shield has it,” Alaric said. “There are discussion going on as to whether it should be kept somewhere safe or destroyed.”
“Flibbet the Peddler told Killien that sword was meant to mend the torn.” She pressed her eyes shut against the image of Rett’s broken body. “That’s not what it did.”
“I don’t know,” Will said slowly, “It did terrible things, but in the end, it healed Roan. And maybe it somehow healed Lukas too.”
“At a terrible price,” she said.
“Yes.” He considered the dull sword in Sini’s hand. “Maybe the words applied to both swords together.”
She fixed him with an incredulous look. “How? This one is even worse.”
“Is it? I can feel the hope in it.” Will touched the flat of the blade with his finger tip. “And if a piece of cold metal can hold onto hope, maybe the rest of us can too.”
By the next day, when Sini was feeling good enough to walk and she’d been able to heal her arm from the worst of the injuries, the field hospital had been disbanded. The worst of the wounded had been moved into the hold where they could receive better care, and those who could travel had headed home. Sini and Roan searched the area for her ring, but the ground was stained red. Even if the ring had fallen off there, a bloodied ring with a red garnet would have been nearly impossible to find. She cast out, hoping to find a trace of the gem’s vitalle, but found nothing.
Her finger felt empty without the ring, and she couldn’t decide if that was good or bad.
The day was gloriously sunny, and she drew in a little sunfire as she walked with Roan along
the river. The day of the battle had proven both the power and the limitations of the sunfire. How tempting it could be, and how she could control it.
She felt a wave of frustration. If only she’d had light that night. There was no doubt she could have destroyed the sword with it, and then Lukas would still be alive and Rett would not have been hurt.
But everything that had happened was too complicated to throw such a simplistic wish at. If Rett hadn’t been hurt, Lukas might not have realized who he’d become. Maybe he’d have escaped. Maybe he’d have brought back the dragons, continued the war. Maybe he’d still be the twisted shadow of himself that he’d thrown off in the end.
She sighed, her mind tangled in the thoughts.
“Have you seen Douglon?” Roan asked.
“No, why?”
A smile pulled up the side of his mouth. “Patlon brought him very good news. Something about a perfectly scandalous dalliance between Patlon’s great-grandmother and Douglon's great-grandfather. The implications of it being that the line of succession should have been in Patlon’s family for the last two generations.”
Sini laughed. “Douglon must be overjoyed.”
“He relinquished the position of High Dwarf to Patlon as soon as he could find two dwarves of high enough rank to witness the transfer. As of late this morning, Douglon is a free dwarf.”
“I’m glad. It was sad to think of him being separated from Rass.”
Roan nodded. “The two of them feature heroically in the story of the battle Will’s already composing.”
“Of course they do.”
Roan glanced at her and a little smile crossed his face. “People are calling you a hero too, you know.”
Sini frowned, then groaned. “I told Will what happened with Lukas.”
“I know. Everybody knows. Last night, while the last battalion of the city guard was still here, Will went down to their camp and told the whole story. You’re getting quite a reputation.”
“That explains some of the looks I’ve gotten today.”
“I went down myself to hear it,” he grinned. “You were very heroic.”
She sighed. “Who knew living through heroic moments was so painful?”
His smile softened. “Probably all the other heroes.”
When they finally reached Queenstown three days later, it was in time for one more surprise. They’d arrived, Sini had enjoyed a long, warm bath, and they’d prepared for a formal dinner with the new queen when someone knocked on her door.
She opened it to find Alaric, beaming at her, gingerly carrying a small bundle. “Sini, I’d like you to meet my daughter, Lillan.”
A very small, very scrunched face was nestled in the blanket, fast asleep. Sini reached out to touch her cheek. “She’s beautiful!”
“She’s the most beautiful baby ever born,” Alaric said seriously. “She was born this morning.
“Lillan is a beautiful name.”
“It’s elvish for spring. It means new beginnings and growth and freshness. Douglon is already calling her Lilly.”
“Hello, Lillan,” Sini said softly. “We need more freshness and new beginnings.”
Everyone gathered for Will and Sora’s wedding on a sunny afternoon in the private garden outside Douglon’s room at the palace in Queenstown. Will had suggested a formal state affair in the great hall, but Sora had informed him that if that was his plan he could find a different bride.
The leaves of the two oak trees in the garden were a glorious gold near the trunk, darkening to brilliant red at the ends. In the sunlight they looked like enormous lanterns draped in scarlet silks.
Avina, who’d come back to Queenstown with Douglon and Rass, sang happily among the branches in a haunting, birdlike song. Two elves had been killed in the fighting, and another had died the next day from his wounds. The other elves had taken the bodies back to the Elder Grove. The deaths had shaken them and they’d grown more somber.
Douglon listened to Rass chatter. Gerone, Mikal, and the Shield sat with Alaric, seriously discussing Lillan, who was fast asleep in Alaric’s arms. Sora hadn’t arrived yet and Will paced nervously along the far wall. He wore his Keeper’s robe as all the Keepers did, but somehow managed to look more formal than usual.
The absence of the twins and Rett was like a cold hole in the courtyard. The three of them would have been overjoyed to see this day. Sini sat alone on a bench near the back wall, letting her black robe soak in the sunshine. The emptiness inside her from the loss of the twins and Rett and Lukas refused to warm.
Roan walked out into the courtyard and Sini raised an eyebrow. Instead of his normal greys, he wore the charcoal dress uniform of the city guard. He saw her and smiled, coming to sit next to her.
“You look nice, captain,” she said. “Maybe military greys aren’t that bad.”
He glanced at her. “You look like the rest of the Keepers.” His gaze lingered on her hair. Dalia had fixed it again, stringing thin ribbons dotted with tiny pink gems into a series of braids. The overall effect had been almost too crownlike for Sini’s taste, but Roan gave her an approving node. “Although I do think you’re the prettiest of the bunch.”
She glanced at the group of men sitting in the courtyard. “Thank you for that high praise.”
He grinned.
There was a small commotion near the door and Queen Madeleine entered, her dress more understated than Sini was used to seeing and only the front of her hair arranged up in braids. The rest hung down her back. She received bows from everyone, stopping next to Alaric to admire the baby, before coming back to where Sini and Roan sat. They stood and Sini curtseyed, bracing for some unpleasantness, while Roan gave the queen a formal bow.
Madeleine considered them with an unreadable expression before turning to Sini. “I’ve heard the story of what you endured, and I’m sorry for your loss.”
Caught off guard, Sini barely managed a “thank you.”
The queen smiled faintly. “I admit I misjudged the former Duke of Greentree,” she flickered a glance at Roan, “and I know we disagreed on Lukas’s intentions, but I hope it brings you some peace that you were right about him in the end.”
“I was terribly mistaken about him almost the whole time,” Sini said. “I couldn’t believe he’d lost himself that much. But in the end, I think he found himself again.”
“I’m also sorry,” Madeleine continued, “that the Stronghold has suffered such damage, but I am glad, Sini, that you will be at court a while longer. I think,” she bit her lip, “that together, you and I could accomplish many things.”
Sini found herself speechless again, and curtseyed.
Madeleine took a seat next to the older Keepers and Sini stared after the queen. At that moment Evangeline came into the courtyard and announced that Sora was ready.
The Shield, beaming, took his place at the front of the courtyard with Will next to him. Sini and Roan joined the others in the chairs. Even Avina came out of the tree and sat next to Douglon.
Sora stepped into the courtyard in the first dress Sini had ever seen her wear. It was long and green and suited her perfectly. Will stared at her with his mouth partway open until Alaric cleared his throat and Will blinked. He walked over to her and offered his arm to lead her up to the Shield.
The ceremony was short and simple. The words the Shield spoke had the feel of age, of being handed down through generations. They spoke of being a Keeper and Sini realized that despite the fact that most Keepers didn’t marry, there was an obvious precedence for it.
Even Mikal’s face softened at the obvious tradition encompassed by the words.
Will kissed Sora, and Rass burst into cheers.
Servants brought out tables of food and two musicians appeared, setting up in a far corner of the garden.
“Congratulations,” Sini told Sora, after waiting her turn to talk to the bride. “You look happy.”
“I am happy,” Sora answered, watching Will talk animatedly with Roan. “Your personal guard
looks handsome today, and less entangled than he used to be.”
Sini let out a half laugh. “He’s entangled with the city guard for another two years, but at least I’m not risking some court scandal by admitting that he does look handsome.”
A familiar face appeared at the door to the courtyard. Captain Liam stepped in, motioning for people behind him to follow.
“Daisy!” Sini hurried forward to greet him. “I’ve missed you by my door.”
“I’ve heard the story of your battle with Lukas,” the captain said with a smile, “and I’m willing to admit that maybe you didn’t need a guard after all.” Before she could answer, he turned. “Someone you know came to the Keepers’ wing looking for you today.” From behind him the huge form of Dalton appeared.
Sini clasped his hand. “How is Goven?”
“Healing more every day,” Dalton said, “thanks to you.”
“I’m so glad.” Behind him a family waited, looking awkwardly into the courtyard.
“He’s recovering at the army hospital along the western edge of Queenstown,” Dalton continued, “and last night this family arrived asking to see a Keeper.” He motioned them forward.
A skinny, red-haired, freckled girl of about twelve slowly stepped toward Sini and opened her hands, showing wide blisters on her palms.
“A new Keeper!” Sini reached out and gently took her hands.
Alaric rushed over and knelt down, looking at her hands closely. “What happened?”
“My little brother was walking too close to the river,” she said. “He fell in and…” she hesitated. “I used the water to push him back out.”
Alaric showed her his own hands, scarred from old burns. “I bet it hurt.”
Kate nodded nervously.
