Court of Ice and Ash: Chapter 33
us on the journey downriver. We kept lanterns doused, voices soft. The only light came from the flicker of starlight and the nearly full moon above. My skin reeked of smoke and blood. The horrors of the night clung to me like a new layer.
From the sternpost, a bucket of fresh water hung for the taking. My hands shook as I ladled a horn. The cool drip scorched against my rough throat. I ladled more. Valen’s fury had robbed him of strength, then to add the revelation that Sol—I could hardly think it—his brother lived. It was a wonder he was standing at the bow at all.
“Elise.” My gaze dropped to the back notch. Ari grinned, his face dripping in smeared kohl and smoke. I blinked through tears and reached for his hand. He kissed the top of mine. “I am glad you live, dear Kvinna.”
“I am glad you were wise and freed them,” I said, voice rough. “No doubt it was a surprise.”
Ari grinned. “That I had imprisoned the Night Prince? Yes, you could say it was a bit of a shock. Yet, the more I think on it, somewhere inside I always knew he was a leader. It’s why I always included him or wanted him to be involved in all my schemes.”
“You helped him find himself again by trusting him.”
“No,” Ari said. “You did all that. Only you drew him back to Ravenspire. I’m afraid I had no choice but to release the bindings. I was certain he would slaughter us all if I didn’t. Alas, who knew I would secure my own abdication by releasing them. I have grown accustomed to ordering folk around.”
I scoffed, though nothing was funny, not really. “You are a fine leader, Ari. You will always have my respect.”
“Then I shall die a happy man.” He squeezed my hand again. “And I have mighty plans to continue irritating our dear prince by insisting you take vows with me and not him.”
I grinned and pressed a kiss to his forehead. “So long as you say it when he isn’t holding his axes.”
I left him and made my way through the oarsmen, back to the front. The wreckage of the battle was grave. Calista slept beneath a heavy fur. Kari busied with a bandage over a deep wound in Halvar’s side. He grinned through it all, demanding she take note of his naked chest, and admire his handsomeness until she was laughing. Brant held a bloody cloth to his face. I doubted he’d keep his eye. Frey, Stieg, Casper. They all bore wounds and scars. Junie hugged her knees to her chest, tears on her cheeks. Siv and Mattis held each other, eyes closed against what had happened.
Tor. My chest squeezed. He had not spoken; he’d not looked at anyone. His eyes were locked at the destruction we’d left in the dark. No one asked him to speak. No one bothered him. What was there to say? Still, I could not pass by without mourning with him. If the tables had turned, if once again, I’d been torn from Valen, I could not imagine the sorrow.
I took his hand and curled it around a horn of water. His eyes were wet and broken. But he squeezed my hand once before he turned away again.
The Night Prince stared at the expanse of river before us. Distant. Alone. I rested a hand between his shoulders. He startled slightly, then curled me against his side. We were silent for a long while. Any words I thought to say fell short.
At long last, Valen leaned his head to mine and whispered, “Elise, I don’t know what to do. What to think.”
I wrapped an arm around his waist. “I think there is only one way forward.”
Vulnerability and fear burdened his gaze. In this moment, with me, he could be a normal man. I’d read about his mother’s love for his father, but especially in those moments when King Arvad confessed his fears to her, when he was her lover and companion more than a king.
“You go forward, Valen Ferus. You take the crown; you fight to free your brother. You are his only chance.”
He closed his eyes. “You do not wish him dead?”
“Why would I?”
“I hear whispers,” he said. “People seething betrayal from a son of Etta.”
“Valen,” I said, resting one hand to his cheek. “They have manipulated Sol. I was with him in the dungeon without knowing, and he was docile. It was only after Calder called him that he . . .” I shook my head. “We will free him.”
He covered my hand with his and pressed a kiss to my palm. “You should know, Kvinna, my heart and soul are yours for the taking.”
“Then, I have all I could want.” I kissed him, unashamed. A raw need built in my chest to restore all he had lost, to heal the scars this land had left behind.
When we returned to Ruskig, reparations were made to the fury barriers. With Valen and his guild unbound, the walls were higher and stronger than before. I escaped after discovering the children left behind were well and seeing that Calista was welcomed with Ellis. He mourned his mother; she was an outcast who was more afraid than she let on. Until we figured out what to do with the storyteller, perhaps the children could be a comfort to each other.
My shanty had been split in two, but I took Siv’s since she would be with Mattis. Alone, I bathed and cried. My mother was dead. She’d died for me. I cried for Sol. Calista had, in a way, befriended the Sun Prince. He had goodness inside him, he must have goodness. To help a child with words for her fate spells, maybe he understood she was helping his brother.
His fury was horrifying. I shuddered remembering the pain of his poison. As if each muscle, each vein in my body were bursting with fire.
Ravenspire used him as a weapon. No mistake the poison that had taken my father’s eye came from some torture and manipulation of the Sun Prince. For centuries he’d been Ravenspire’s greatest secret—more than the cursed prince. They held tight to the death fury. Truth be told, it made a great deal of sense now how Ravenspire had always frightened Night Folk or found ways to control them. With fury like Sol’s—there was no telling what they could do.
I’d just wrapped a linen towel around my body when my door opened, and Valen stepped inside.
His eyes flashed in a heat of desire when he took me in, then his lips curled. “I’ve come to beg you for mercy that you might allow me to stay in here. Ari will not stop insisting I take the royal longhouse, and I am simply not ready to face it yet.”
“I’m not sure that’s wise Prince Valen.”
He closed the space between us, one brow lifted. “Oh? Why is that?”
My fingers traced the planes of his chest as he pulled me against him. “I have a very protective lover, you see. He has these axes that are terrifying. The type of man who wears a mask and causes havoc.”
Valen brushed his lips along the curve of my ear, smiling. “He sounds awful, and you should consider loving a prince instead.”
I closed my eyes when he left a trail of kisses down my neck. “You make a compelling point.”
He claimed my mouth as his own. Then, held me closer, loved deeper. We’d faced what it would mean to lose each other, and it came out in every touch, every kiss, every movement. His hands, his mouth, wiped away the marks left by Runa’s cruelty. They healed the fear of being Jarl’s body to ruin.
I did not release him until the sun rose the next morning.
By the time we made our way to the longhouse, already a crowd had gathered as a council in the hall. Halvar had spent the early hours of the morning explaining what had become of the Night Prince. He explained the curse and lack of memory. I think Valen breathed a little easier knowing he didn’t need to relive the curse yet again.
Still, the walls were crowded. Everyone wished to hear from the Night Prince. I’d since learned he’d made his declaration during a bloody battle and had not explained anything to the people of Ruskig. To know they’d followed him into battle without knowing his full tale meant something.
It gave me hope.
“I abdicate,” Ari said when everyone had settled. “I willingly give the crown to Va—”
“Wait,” Valen said, raising a hand. “Before you do, it should be known I am no longer the heir.”
“Valen,” Halvar said with a touch of sadness.
“I know what you’re going to say. I also know that . . . Sol is not in a place to take his birthright, but our laws of Etta stated if a king or queen could not rule in their mind, but still lived, the power would fall to their consort.”
My mouth dropped.
Tor shrunk a bit into the wall. Other eyes followed as Valen went to Tor’s side and placed a hand on his shoulder. “Perhaps some do not realize, but Torsten is my brother’s consort. The crown falls to him.”
Ari let out a long breath and scrubbed his face. “There are too many bleeding people with claim to this bleeding crown.”
Tor lifted his gaze, only looking at Valen. “I am no king. I do not want his crown, or yours. But I will fight for and serve the Ferus line until my last breath.”
“All right, then. Wonderful. Settled,” Ari said. “May I abdicate, now?”
“What of Herja?” Valen folded his arms over his chest. “Sol is alive, who is to say they have not hidden my sister somewhere?”
“Valen,” Halvar said gently. “Herja was not Night Folk.”
“She had other talents; you know this. She would be valuable, so shouldn’t we make sure she is dead before we assume?”
Halvar nodded. “But until we know for certain, these folk—all of us—we need a king, a leader. You are that leader.”
Valen studied the room, he stood at the front. “If it is your wish, I will serve you, but we do all we can to retrieve the Sun Prince—”
“He serves Ravenspire,” a voice shouted at the back of the room.
“By force,” I shouted back. “Don’t be fools. You think the Sun Prince would willingly fight for the people who killed his family?” Valen wore a bemused grin and stepped back as I stomped forward. “You do not know what my people are capable of. How desperate they are to keep the throne. Calista come here.” I turned to the corner where the girl sat beside Ellis and Kari. She jumped but obeyed. “Tell them what you know of the Sun Prince. You spent the most time with him.”
She licked her chapped lips, gave Valen a shy look, then met the eager faces in the hall. “I . . . I didn’t know he was a prince. Thought there was only one, even though I guessed he had old fury. Still, I didn’t know his name, but he sometimes talked to me. He helped me cast, uh, spells that helped us break out. If he was so bad, he wouldn’t have helped me. Don’t be stupid folk. He’s one of you, just a little twisted because those sods at the castle feed him his own poison. They torture him.”
Tor seemed ready to faint. He pulled out a chair, sat, and dragged his fingers through his hair, avoiding any glances.
Valen cleared his throat. “Can you write anything? A story that will ensure we get to him.”
Calista paled and shook her head. “It doesn’t work like that. I think I’ve crossed too many lines. My magic is sort of a push and pull with fate. She doesn’t like to be manipulated, by me or anyone. I tried to write something the second we got here, but it burned me in my head, and in my heart. It’s like at this point, in this story, your fate is in your hands. I have done all she will allow.”
“Then, we do what we can to rescue him,” Valen said. “But . . . if he is gone, then my brother would rather not live.”
I rested a gentle hand on his arm. All gods, I prayed he would not be faced with killing Sol. But, it seemed, the burden of a kingdom, of an entire people, had fallen atop his shoulders at last. He would do what was needed to protect them above all else.
The people grew quiet and somber. Ari cleared his throat and stood. “At the high moon, then. We’ll make it official.”
At dusk, Valen, his guild, and I stood at the edge of the sea. A trader’s ship bobbed in the tide, a skiff being loaded with textiles and herbs for distant kingdoms waited to embark into the waves. Junie shouldered a satchel and tightened a fur mantle around Calista’s shoulders.
“I’ll see her to her homeland. In the west, right girl?”
“I live in Raven Row,” she said, dryly. “Some say it was the first kingdom, you know.”
Junie snorted. “Well, your highness, I shall see you to this Raven Row then.”
I wrapped my arms around Junius, holding her tightly. “You did not need to fight, but you did. I will always be grateful to you. And I hope you keep your husband from burning the world.”
She grinned, longing in her eyes as she handed me a parchment with a post for a foreign land.
“Should you need me, you need only ask.” Junie looked to Valen. “My guild at home, we call ourselves the Falkyns, but it has been an honor to be a Shade. Do not forget us. I know you will come to mean a great deal to my people. I don’t know how, but I do not think this will be the last time we meet.”
“A king is a good friend to have, after all,” Valen said. “Even a temporary one.”
“It is. I mean it,” she said, pointing to the parchment in my hands, “should you need anything, ask. You have foreign allies now.”
“Goodbye, kind heart,” Calista said. When she lifted her gaze, her eyes grew stormy, like pale clouds covered the irises. “Your battle ends when his begins.”
My stomach twisted. “Calista? When whose battle begins?”
Valen came to my side, watching the girl curiously. When she spoke again, her voice was hushed, her words changed.
“The breaker of night and fear begins his fight when yours ends.” Calista blinked rapidly, then smiled as if nothing were amiss in the slightest. “Goodbye, cursed prince. Don’t forget what I did for you. The good things, I mean.”
Valen and I shared a look.
“What was that?” he whispered as Calista darted down to the boat.
“She sees things. I don’t know what it means. I’m not sure she even realizes she said it.”
He let out a long sigh, jaw tight. “Knowing the tricks of fate, we’ll find out soon enough.”
“And as uncomfortably as she can manage, no doubt,” I grumbled.
Valen grinned, kissed the side of my head, and paid the dock men an extra purse of silver shim to ensure Junie and Calista made it to their lands safely, with an added threat if they did not, the Guild of Shade would destroy their trade, then their lives.
A glimpse at the pyre on Tor’s palms was enough to get the dock man to nod and make a hundred assurances before they rowed into the waves.
I slipped my fingers into Valen’s and watched the horizon. “Are you ready?”
He pressed a kiss to my knuckles. “As much as I ever will be.”
The coronation pyre raged into the black velvet sky. Women were crowned in moonvane, men wore crowns made of smoothed twigs. Everyone had dressed in their best gowns, best tunics. They wore bones in their ears, runes on their hands and faces.
I stood near the empty chair beneath a white canopy and moonvane archway. Tor and Halvar remained beside me, the royal advisor, and first knight. Siv clung to Mattis’s arm, beaming at me. She’d lived with the clans her entire life. This was a night she’d trusted would come and it struck me that this meant more than an ascension to these people. It meant freedom.
The crowd silenced when Valen, Ari, and Elder Klok stepped into the light. Valen wore a fur cloak, and Klok carried in his hands the silver circlet Ari had worn as king. My stomach clenched. How long ago it seemed from the night Legion Grey became my vow negotiator. I’d resisted him, then fell for him. Together we survived a coup, we survived lies, a curse. Now, in this moment, when his eyes met mine, I had no doubt whatever fate had in store, we could face it together.
Ari turned to the people. “For centuries we have believed our true royals, the family of Etta, the Ferus line would rise again. Their magic never died. We knew it. We felt it. We held onto it. It is my honor to abdicate this crown to our true king, Valen Ferus.”
Valen lowered to one knee. The very wind stilled as Klok placed the circlet on his head. A sheen of light gathered across the moonvane blossoms. As if the earth were celebrating our victory.
When Valen rose, the people cheered. Siv jumped on her toes, then kissed Mattis like it was the last. Stieg and Casper roared their pleasure. Frey pounded a fist over his chest, as did Ari. Halvar smiled and winked at me. Tor—even Tor smiled.
Valen went to the throne. His face was calm, but the way he shook out his hands, he was no doubt filled with hot anxiety.
“What is the first order, King Valen?” Ari asked.
Valen studied his people. He looked to me. I didn’t blink. When he turned back to the crowd, he lifted his chin. “I declare war on Castle Ravenspire, on the new king and queen of Timoran.”
A battle cry that rocked me to my core rose with the embers into the night.
A confident grin spread over Valen’s mouth. His voice deepened. “Prepare to fight for your families! For your people and your land. This war never ended, but I swear to the gods, it will end with us. It begins now.”