SWNOVELS Chapter Song of Sorrows and Fate: Epilogue 1
Apparently, Silas and I needed to be coronated.
Gorm, that logical fool, was the one who insisted until we all caved. The blood fae was soft spoken, but damn unrelenting. It was a true gift, a power no one could manage without bending beneath his insistence on what must be done because that is simply what is done.
I tugged at the collar of the satin gown Saga had brought from the new Borough in the Southern realms. My hair was out of its rough braids for the first time in what seemed forever, and I finally relented and agreed to wear the silver circlet Gorm had fashioned for me turns ago.
Silas was across the bed chamber, and I might have liked to stare at him the whole of the day rather than be seated on a bleeding throne.
A clean, deep blue tunic with dark trousers. Silver runes stitched the hems of his sleeves, and his hair had been braided down the center of his head, like a bleeding warrior. No mistake, he was my favorite sight of all.
Hus Rose was promptly decided on as a neutral fortress. It would be a gathering of realms. Here we fought for our folk, our lands, so here we’d gather as one land, every turn, perhaps every two. If Silas had his way, it would be every five.
In the center knolls, Silas and I would take our place. Already, plans for a longhouse all our own had been mapped out and designed. Ari had a great deal to say about it, insisting there be rooms aplenty for when our royals decided to drop in from time to time.
Silas spun a silver band around his center finger, once, twice.
I chuckled and took hold of his palm. “Unsettled?”
“Always.”
“About truly taking a place as king, or something else?”
“I don’t much care what folk call me. I’ll leave you to do all the talking anyway.” He grinned, but a pink flush tinged his cheeks. “I’ve never left Raven Row. At least, not for centuries. It’s strange to think, soon we won’t be here.”
I took his hands in mine. “We can stay here if you’d rather.”
“No.” He kissed me quickly. “No, I want to leave. I am a prisoner in many ways when I’m here, Little Rose. Still, it’s unsettling, and I feel ridiculous about it.”
I stroked the sharp line of his jaw. “It’s not ridiculous.”
“A bit.” Silas finished securing the blade on his belt. “We literally survived a war of worlds, and what frightens me is a new dwelling.”
“Well, when you put it that way.”
He tugged on the end of my hair like he always did when we were littles and ushered me to walk ahead of him toward the great hall.
The hall was truly a sight. A raised dais had been positioned at the far end. Blossoms and vines of berries donned the edges. Atop the platform were eight bleeding thrones. Simple for now, but Gorm assured every royal house the fortress would be fitted with proper thrones soon enough.
I didn’t think any of us cared where we plopped our asses.
Already, my royals were seated in their places. Elise and Valen both wore circlets made of silver and moonvane. They had their fingers laced, and kept their heads close, whispering through grins.
I never knew what my Cursed King and Kind Heart snickered about, but it brightened my soul to know they were once more at ease and laughing together.
Kase seemed ready to bolt if one more fae or warrior dipped their chin in respect. He, in fact, had managed to find a way not to wear his black crown. Malin smiled when we appeared in the doorway, her gown was like liquid silver. I smiled back. This was the moment—I could recall it now—but I knew this was the moment I’d shown the dying memory queen all those turns ago.
A true queen of fate seated beside her king amidst the united thrones.
Ari and Saga both wore dark circlets of raven’s wings. Saga waved once she saw me, but Ari was too distracted with his daughter. Mira seemed content to sit on her father’s lap, playing tricks with their illusion magic, laughing as they kept trying to outsmart the other by making pebbles appear and disappear in Ari’s palm.
Seats in the hall skidded as folk rose. Sol and Tor stood near the front. My Sun Prince strained to catch a look at the two of us, grinning. Lilianna and Arvad stood hand in hand beside them.
I was their storyteller. I’d been the one to guide them once, but somewhere along the way we’d switched places. They guided me, taught me, loved me. The fools had already dragged me into their family before discovering the truth, but even more now, they treated me as their own.
Like their blood family.
Gorm and Elder Klok from Etta stepped in front of us.
“To a king and queen of fate,” Gorm said, bowing his head.
“To the king and queen,” said Elder Klok. “For a queen of cunning who united us all.”
The two men marked our foreheads in runes with goat blood. Then, they left us to take our places among the others. Silas clung to my hand. He’d removed his mask, and even knowing how little scars bothered our folk, he despised scrutiny; likely worse than the Nightrender.
I clung to him much the same. My pulse raced. Hard to imagine we were finally here after all this time. This was the ending my father, my mother, my Rave brother, had all sacrificed their lives for our lands to reach.
Silas held my hand as I stepped onto the dais, struggling with the damn gown. I’d much prefer trousers, but for one bleeding day I supposed I could manage.
Once he was on the dais with me, he took my hand again, and as Gorm had instructed before dawn, we sat as one in the center thrones.
“To the kings and queens!” Gorm shouted again, then took to one knee.
“To the kings and queens!” Folk rumbled after, every land, every kingdom lowering to their knees (except for Niklas and Junie, but I thought it was more to draw out Kase’s deeper scowl than anything).
I looked to my sides, taking in the faces of my royals. I refused to cry, but the sting was there.
My folk. My family. They’d fought for me. They’d saved me. Much more than I’d ever saved them.
I faced Silas, grinning. I would always love my royals for their bold choices, their will to love so fiercely. Without them, I would never have found him.
Feasts followed. A final night of celebration, for tomorrow the trials of the remaining sea fae would be had. Dreary works. Most of our captives were young fae. All the grown folk left them to be at the mercy of enemies.
It seemed the Ever Kingdom did not know the meaning of loyalty. Not like it was known here.
I snuck a glance at the table where the young royals ate with each other.
“Livie,” I said, crouching down by the sneaky princess. “What’s that you’ve got?”
She flushed and held up a silver charm in the shape of a swallow. “Bought it from a forest fae. Thinking of making a necklace with it. Maybe an arm band.”
“What’s the meaning behind the bird?”
She popped a shoulder, studying her little charm. “I just like it.”
I lifted a brow. She was clearly wanting me to cease with the questions. I pressed a kiss to the top of her head. “Looks beautiful. Giving it as a gift?”
“I don’t know. Maybe.”
“Well, if you do, whoever receives it will be fortunate.”
Sun split the hazy clouds over the sea. What looked to be a storm hovered over the thrashing current of the Chasm of Seas. The black streak of darker water never faded, never stilled. Sometimes it seemed like the sea knew its king remained on land and would not calm until it took him back.
Now that the coronation was finished, the sea fae were at last set to be returned to their watery kingdom. Two weeks since Davorin’s death, two weeks since they’d lived within the tides.
I anticipated a bit more land sickness, but the young king held his head high as Niklas strategically took a bit of the boy’s blood.
Erik Bloodsinger sneered at the Falkyn. “Boils in the veins. Sort of makes folk froth at the mouth right before it fills their lungs with blood.”
He nodded at the blood on the Falkyn’s blade. Niklas was bold, but even the Falkyn lead knew how deadly the king’s blood could be and dropped it into one of his vials with care.
“This elixir I’ve created will ward the Chasm against you, boy,” Niklas explained. “You’ll never step foot in our realms again, understand? Your people are to be locked in your kingdom for good.”
Erik never lost his arrogant, boyish smirk. “We’ll see.”
My stomach turned when the sea fae captives were brought before every royal seat on the dais by the shore. Sick that our only captives were two boys. Battle worn and hardened, but boys abandoned by their own people.
Cousins, yet they didn’t look at each other, they hardly seemed to acknowledge they were not alone. I wasn’t certain they even cared for each other, despite sharing blood.
Stieg led Erik Bloodsinger through the center of the crowds, Halvar led Harald’s son. Either he’d been injured in the battle, or still bore a wound from his torture at the Black Palace, but the limp to the king’s leg was noticeable and Stieg knew it. Where the warrior could’ve shoved the boy to the ground, he let Erik lower to his knees of his own accord, in his own time.
When the Ever King lifted his head, a bit of twine slid from beneath his dingy shirt. At the end was the glimmer of a charm—a silver wing of a bird in flight.
Well, damn.
One glance at Livia standing between her mother and father, and it was obvious the girl was the most unsettled of us all. She couldn’t even lift her gaze to look at the young king.
Harald’s son shook Halvar’s grip off and the First Knight allowed it.
We’d discussed how to proceed in the early hours of the morning, but in truth, the way all my royals, the way Silas and I, hesitated, I wasn’t convinced any of us knew how to go about this. Sol and Tor looked squeamish whenever they glanced at the Ever King.
Everyone but the young royals knew what Erik Bloodsinger had done for Tor.
“What is your name, Harald’s son?” Ari was the first to speak.
The boy didn’t speak until Halvar nudged his shoulder.
“Tait,” he rasped. “Tait Heartwalker.”
“These names, Bloodsinger, Heartwalker,” Ari muttered, then looked back to the boys. “Tait Heartwalker, a royal of the Ever—”
“I serve the House of Kings,” Tait snapped. “I do not claim the seat.”
“I have no idea what you’re talking about, nor do I truly care. Truth be told, boy, I’m tired. I’m wholly tired of this fighting. I’d like to simply rid our shores of any enemies and go home to my magnificent palace, and live out my days with my stunning wife, and delightful daughter, undisturbed.”
Ari was tired, we all were. Now, the Golden King would begin to ramble.
Saga took hold of Ari’s hand, looking like she might be fighting a grin too. Instead, she addressed the enemy fae. “For raising blades against our folk, we banish you to the Ever Kingdom. Should you rise and walk upon our lands again, boy or not, you will not be shown such mercy.”
Tait kept his red gaze steeled on the ground.
Silence went on long enough I began to squirm in my seat. At long last, Valen rose from his seat. He strode toward the young king.
Erik Bloodsinger never looked away.
“You did not challenge me, boy. Was that not your purpose for being here?”
“The opportunity was taken . . .” Erik said, his crimson eyes flicked toward Torsten before he returned his smug smirk to the Night Folk king. “By other things.”
“You must wait ten turns again? Remember, we spoke already of that temperamental power. Perhaps it will not want you.”
“I suppose we’ll find out.”
“It won’t happen,” Valen said. “As we’ve already said, the sea fae will never rise through the Chasm again. We will ward up the barriers between our worlds.”
Valen lowered to a crouch again, his voice too low to hear, but I knew what he was saying. He told us he would do it. He’d offer Erik Bloodsinger a place among the Night Folk.
Valen was an enemy to the boy, but my Cursed King was no bitter soul. He knew what it would mean to a boy to avenge his father, cruel as that father was. We’d all witnessed Harald’s rage. If Erik was raised by such an uncle, it was a wonder the boy did not try to bite and lash against us all.
But more than that, he knew his daughter’s open heart had tried to befriend the boy. She wanted peace, and as doting as a father as he was, Valen wanted to grant her that. Even if she didn’t realize it, Valen was trying to keep a peaceful existence for his girl. Even if it meant welcoming an enemy into his clans.
For a moment, Erik studied the Night Folk king, as though confused. He cast a quick look to the dais, then back to the king.
Was he considering it? Would he stay among us? Would he demand peace between our worlds?
The notion of it was so foreign, I almost couldn’t fathom it, but my grip tightened on Silas’s hand in anticipation all the same. Silas chuckled and threaded our fingers together. Peace. We might have it. The Ever King was young, but he still had the title of king.
We could guide him, help him navigate his folk into allies with us, not enemies.
Then, Erik’s sneer returned. He lifted his voice loud enough we could hear. “The Ever will never be at peace with the earth fae. I will never stop, never cease fighting against this realm, until I hold the heart of my father’s killer. Until everything he loves is in the hands of the Ever Kingdom.”
The red in Erik’s eyes burned. Did he bleeding want to get his throat slit?
Valen’s shoulders curled a bit. He shook his head and rose back to standing. He’d done all he could do. The king wanted peace, no mistake, but the boy kept threatening his life, now his family. Everything Valen loved? It was his wife and child.
Valen wouldn’t keep threats near them.
“You leave us no choice. Erik Bloodsinger, you are banished to your kingdom. The wards on the Chasm will be built with your blood. Even if sea folk found a way through in some distant time, you will never be allowed to cross. You, Ever King, are a prisoner in your own realm. A merciful prison, but a prison all the same.”
“Maj, I don’t think it has to be this way.” Livia whispered. “I don’t think Bloodsinger means it.”
Elise took her daughter’s hand but didn’t falter as Valen leveled his word on the sea fae.
“Livie, sometimes no matter how much we want peace, some folk are not willing to do the same.”
Livia’s chin crinkled. She let go of her mother’s hand and rubbed a spot on her arm below the crook of her elbow. When the guards gathered the two sea fae boys, the Night Folk princess closed her eyes and turned away as the warriors led them to the shore.
I didn’t know how fate would unfold for the Ever King. I didn’t know if the faint song between his heart and a princess of his enemy would die or build. But my Kind Heart was right, he brought this act on himself.
Valen had offered a road to peace, and the Ever King was determined to remain a threat.
“How are we supposed to make certain they’re gone?” Kase asked. “Drop them in the sea and hope they swim away?”
“Look.” Malin gestured to the sea.
Erik and Harald’s son had stepped into the tides to their knees. The waves rose, lapping around them when Erik raised his hands.
“You thought we were alone. The king is never without his ship.” Bloodsinger waved his hand, and a fierce thrashing gathered near the borders of the Chasm’s current.
From below the surface the sharp, jagged bow sliced through the tides like a knife. A fearsome sea serpent made the bowsprit. Crimson sails snapped in a new wind. Crewmen bustled about, pulling on the rigs of the numerous masts, humming their eerie songs. The black laths glistened like onyx in the sunlight and aimed one side of the hull toward the boy king.
My eyes widened when a great side door clanked on chains and opened. Harald’s boy didn’t wait, one flick of Erik’s hand and the boy took his leave, letting the tides pull him under and toward the Ever Ship.
Wind wrapped around us in a fury, as though the vessel had brought with it new storms.
“Until we meet again, earth bender,” Erik shouted into the storm.
“Won’t happen, boy,” Valen fired back. “You’ve seen these realms for the final time.”
All the king did was grin, flashing his teeth, then let the waves pull him under.
In the next breath, Niklas hounded Falkyns and Rave warriors to prepare the shields. They watched in a new kind of tension as the strange side door closed on the Ever Ship, and slowly the massive sails, its decks, its horrid sea serpent bow, sank beneath the waves.
The Chasm barrier awakened in violent tides and white foam. It was our only hint the Ever Ship was being pulled through the current, pulled back from where it came.
In the instant the Chasm calmed, Niklas demanded the wards be placed. Fiery streaks shot across the surface of the sea, colliding with the dark barrier. A wall of thrashing water burst toward the sky all along the edges of the kingdom, even curving out of sight on the far reaches. Every border would be shielded against sea fae.
It would take a fierce act of fate to break the guards against the Ever Kingdom.
For another month we remained at the fortress at Raven Row. Soon, battle fatigue shifted to games—archery, axe throwing, feasts.
Until the next full moon rose, white and bright, and it was arranged for every royal to return to their new realm. Their new pieces of the kingdoms. Where we’d rule together, thieves, mortals, fae, and fate workers who never wanted to need their damn seidr again.
The distance between realms and royal houses no longer took weeks or crossing seas. Three days, four at most, to reach any realm in the kingdom. We’d be seeing a great deal of the littles through the turns. I’d be seeing a great deal of all my royals until my last breath, and the thought of it added a bit of warmth to my chest.
“Ready, Little Rose?” Silas draped a satchel strap over his shoulder and held out a hand.
I took in the music room. The tagelharpa, the lyres, all of them had been packed away and would ride with us to our new palace. Still, there was an ache about leaving Raven Row.
True, the fort would remain. Rave would always be here, watching the shores that remained nearest to the Chasm of Seas. Even with the wards in place, there was always a lingering threat beneath the waves.
Gorm was the resounding voice here, a trusted Captain of the Rave. Raum, Tova, Bard, even Malin’s thieving friend and his family would live in the Row. A few Ettans would take the rooms in the fortress, some of Halvar’s brothers and their families. Bo insisted he could not stomach leaving the place where Rune had died and would be one on watch of the waves.
A piece of every realm would be here to trade, to exist, to stand united in the same land, as one people.
I gave Silas a small grin and took his hand. “I’m ready.”
Rave dipped their chins as we strode through the corridors of Hus Rose. It would be built into the fortress eventually. A space large enough we could all gather, not only the royal houses, but folk of the courts and their families.
Once a turn, it was already decided, we would gather again. We’d keep our kingdom safe through royal councils; we’d celebrate peace.
Outside, Silas and I faced Hus Rose as the gates closed against us.
“Ready, My Queen and King?” Cuyler winked from the head charge that would lead a coach to the center knolls.
“What have I said about titles, Cuyler? If you’re our First Knight, I refuse to hear it every damn day.”
“I know,” Cuyler said, adjusting the strap hiding the scar and missing eye. “Which is why I plan to toss them around most liberally to irritate you.”
“We ought to leave him here,” I murmured and made my way for the coach.
Silas chuckled and followed me inside. Doors closed, shades drawn, I was in his lap, arms around his neck.
I kissed Silas, hard and greedy. He clung to my waist, holding me tightly.
When I pulled back, I pressed my forehead against his, stroking my fingertips down the scar on his face. “Thank you for never giving up on me, Whisper.”
He kissed my throat, burying his face against my skin. “You’re my peace, Little Rose. You’re the one who chases away the darkness. Say the word and I’d follow you anywhere.”
I kissed his lips softly. “Tell me now is when we finally get to share each day, tell me now is when we share one lifetime together.”
Silas’s brow furrowed. He brushed a hand over my cheek, swiping stray hair off my brow. “I swear it, Little Rose. Each morning, each night, every beat of my heart is yours. To the Otherworld.”
“To the Otherworld, Whisper.”
He’d been mine since my first breaths, and he would be mine beyond my last.