Cale kissed her. It was so unexpected Rachael didn’t know how to react. Her heart stopped, then raced. Her mind clouded over.
She leaned into it just as he pulled away.
He smiled when she moved closer and kissed her again.
So soft. So gentle.
Rachael relaxed and forgot her worries. They’d still be there in an hour.
Epilogue
A month had passed since their victory in the Red Wastes. A month of paperwork, approving new laws, and changing or cutting old ones. Hunting the gifted or hurting them because they had the gift was officially against the law. Rachael had done her duty behind the desk—
Now came the hard part. She had spent most of the last month preparing herself for the moment she’d enter Blackrock again. She couldn’t look weak but entering the place that had caused her so much pain wasn’t as easy as simply walking through the gates.
Memories were here. Most of them were bad.
“Do you know where you want to place it?” Desma asked beside her.
Rachael nodded. She knew just the right one.
She was grateful she didn’t have to return on her own. Cale and Desma were with her, as well as the sculptor she’d already set to work on Kaida’s and Kiana’s memorials. She had commissioned a war memorial, too, with the names of everyone who’d died, gifted or not. Her sculptor was going to be a busy man, but he knew what she wanted better than the others she’d spoken to. They’d already made plans for this statue. He just needed to see where she wanted it.
“Let’s go.” Rachael spurred Kaori on and rode through the gates.
Commander Dryden had suggested they travel by carriage, but Rachael wanted to be seen after her absence. She wanted everyone to know that she was here to stay and wasn’t afraid for her people to see her.
Even if today wasn’t the easiest thing she’d ever done.
People stopped to watch as they rode into Blackrock. She hadn’t announced her arrival against Cale’s advice. The last thing she wanted after the last few months was a fuss, and it wasn’t like she was moving back into the town.
Rachael didn’t know how to feel when more and more people stopped to look at her small procession. Had her vision for Rifarne’s future changed how they looked at her, or was it her clothes and crown? She’d always suspected that fancy silks and leathers helped, and she doubted there were many riding gears finer than hers. Rachael hadn’t wanted a dress. They weren’t practical to ride in, and she felt more like herself in leathers.
She was surprised that some looked ashamed, but she wasn’t here to judge them like they’d judged her. She was here to remember an old friend.
She stopped and jumped off Kaori when they reached the spot.
“This is the place.”
The sculptor frowned. “In front of this ruin? Why not the town square?”
She liked that he questioned her decisions. More and more people in her palace had confessed that they’d always had the gift but had been too afraid to say something. Her sculptor was one of those people.
“Because this isn’t any ruin.”
Rachael regarded what was left of the house. Cephy’s old home was little more than charred foundations and pillars. The villagers had tidied most of it, but she assumed they feared the remains. They’d always been gullible, and this house had been burnt down by magic. Not any magic, but Cephy’s magic. They were likely scared they’d conjure her wrath if they tidied away her handiwork.
“Cephy burnt this house down the night I asked her to stay with me. Her father had beaten her for practising her gift. Her mother had taught her in secret, so he’d beaten her too. Cephy was scared.
“This ruin stands here because of one man’s unjustified hatred. The memorial will remind people that their own hatred belongs in the past, and what it can cause.”
They had held a small service in the palace, but this felt more final. After today, Rachael could move on.
Cale placed a hand on her shoulder. “It’s perfect.” She drew strength from his touch.
Cephy’s need to be loved, to be accepted for who she was, had driven her into darkness. Her desire to trust had driven her into Aeron’s arms and led her to embrace the Dark One. Perhaps Rachael had pushed her away. Perhaps, if she’d paid more attention…
But it was too late for all that now. Her regret wouldn’t bring the little girl clutching her teddy bear back, but it could remind others that acceptance was necessary. Rachael wouldn’t let it happen again. The gifted’s suffering had ended.
“Are you still happy with the design we’ve chosen?” her sculptor asked.
They’d decided on an open palm with the gift dancing inside it. The gift’s representation would lack details, so everyone could see their own in it.
“Yes. Please go ahead.”
Rachael turned around, ready to ride back to the White City, when a wall of people greeted her. She’d been so absorbed in her thoughts of Cephy that she hadn’t noticed the group gather behind her. Rachael hoped they’d heard her words. She hoped they’d honour them.
At the front of the group, one face stood out to her. A small woman with a kind face. She blushed when Rachael met her eyes, and bowed.
Rachael stepped up to the group. “I remember you. You’re the lady who left food out for me.”
The crowd parted to expose the woman, who fell to her knees and kept her head bowed. “Yes, my queen.”
Rachael had grown so used to hating it when people bowed to her that she no longer bothered telling them to stop. She’d found a better way to baffle them.
She knelt before the woman and cocked her head until she could almost see her eyes. “I survived because of you. Thank you.”
The crowd had fallen perfectly silent the moment Rachael had gone to her knees. She expected they’d never seen anyone important literally lower themselves to their level.
“I wanted to do more,” the woman said, “but—”
“But you couldn’t. I understand.”
The woman shook her head and held out her hand. She picked up a leaf with the other and placed it in her open palm, where it danced on a small breeze.
Rachael stared at it. “You have the gift.”
“I felt so guilty.” The woman shook. “You were so thin, almost starved and frozen, and here I was, comfortable inside my own home with plenty to eat when we were the same.”
The woman cried, and Rachael pulled her into her arms. She owed her life to this woman; without her kindness, Rachael would have starved to death years ago.
“No more guilt,” Rachael said. “No more hiding. You are welcome in the White City and my palace anytime.”
Rachael hadn’t realised until now how much she owed this stranger, and she didn’t even know the woman’s name.
“Who should I watch for?” she asked.
The woman sniffed and quickly wiped her nose on her sleeve. “Jonie, my queen. Jonie Taylor. It’s my husband’s profession.”
Rachael would have to think of a way to honour her, but right now she wanted to get back home. She was too close to the Tramuran border for her liking, and their king wasn’t happy that his ambassador had died on a state’s visit. The details had been too complicated to explain by letter, so her first duty would be to arrange a meeting. It was about time that Tramura and Rifarne got along, no matter how long it took her.
And then there was Kaethe. She had offered its people refuge and a new life in Rifarne. There weren’t many, and some had decided to stay and make a new life there, but the few that had taken her offer would arrive within days.
And then there were repairs to the city to consider, people’s complaints, reparations, translation of the tomes, some books about the Sparrows’ history Kleon had mentioned…
On second thought, perhaps they could stay somewhere overnight. She was in no rush to get back.
Rachael gently touched Jonie’s cheek and helped the trembling woman stand. “Thank you again. Please think about my offer.�
�� She turned to Cale and Desma. “Let’s get going. I want to make at least some progress before it gets dark.”
It was tempting to stay, if only because she was tired, but it wasn’t just Blackrock that held memories. Aeron’s hut and Arlo’s sanctuary were nearby, too. Maybe they could stay in an inn along the road, but she wouldn’t stay here.
Riding out of the village felt good. Rachael herself felt lighter.
“What’s next?” Desma asked.
Rachael smiled. “I don’t know.” Since Cale had placed Kaida’s necklace around her neck, she hadn’t had a single vision. She no longer felt her gift, but it was there, waiting for the time she’d need it again.
She hoped that day was far away yet. Today, she was content to let tomorrow surprise her.
The End
CONNECT
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ALSO BY SARINA LANGER
Relics of Ar’Zac
Rise of the Sparrows (#1)
Wardens of Archos (#2)
Shadow in Ar’Sanciond (#0.5, coming December 2019)
Darkened Light
Darkened Light (#1)
Brightened Shadows (#2, coming 2020)
Acknowledgements
Right, friends, we made it! It’s been an interesting, exciting, stressful, and extremely satisfying four years. Writing a book is hard, and to be honest, this one especially tried my patience several times (I’m looking at you, first and second big edits! *shakes fist*).
BUT I made it, we made it, and that’s thanks to a lot of people who helped me through the difficult moments and celebrated the good days with me.
A really big thank you always goes to my amazing editor Briana Morgan for talking sense into me and putting up with me no matter how rough the writing–and you’ve seen some shit, my dear! Remember that time I sent you Rise of the Sparrows the first time? Good times. Thank you for staying with me for this whole trilogy. I couldn’t have a better champion <3
Thank you to my cover designer, Andrew at Design for Writers, for being an absolute god and always knowing what I want even when I have no idea. And thank you to Rebecca, too, for putting up with my emails, ramblings about tea, and surprising/shocking lack of organisation where setting release dates is concerned. I promise to do better in the future.
Thank you—and welcome to my team!—to Becky Wright, my formatter who has saved many of my nerves. Many, let me tell you.
Thank you to Glynn Seal at MonkeyBlood Design for turning my horrendous sketches into beautiful maps.
Thank you to my familiar for making sure I didn’t leave my office until I was done and cuddling me when I needed it.
Thank you to my Sparrow Review Team (you’ll forgive me if I don’t mention all of you by name <3) for making sure my baby already had some love on release day.
Thank you to my brand-new Facebook Reader Group for loving my books enough to want to be in my Reader Group. You don’t know how much that makes my day.
Thank you to Bev, Rhi, Vill, and Faith, for being my critique partners and helping me fix the early version of this book. You know, the one that was roughly 20k too short. Yikes.
The biggest thank you of all goes to my boyfriend (which makes me sound like I’m fifteen, hehe), who’s been so patient and understanding and allows me to follow my passion. I actually couldn’t have done any of this without you.
And, finally, thank you, for being here and reading these books. It’s been a journey, and it means a lot that you’ve gone on it with me and Rachael. Hopefully you’ve enjoyed it while you were at it—but since this is the final book in the trilogy and you’re still here, I imagine you did and probably still do, and that makes my heart so very full.
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