Kingdom's Vice Series: Journey to Alleria ( #1 2014) #Wattys2015

Chapter Thirty-Seven

The walls are a pale colour, the silver adorning the cracks in the foundations. This is heaven, I think. I hope. I see Alec beside me, his body still lying lifeless. But, his eyes are open! He is looking at me, at me. How is this possible? A trick? Another cruel trick of fate’s hand?

‘You must rest, Skaya.’ Duhamas whispers into my ear. ‘Alec will live, Light be praised.’ He sighs. He hands me something cool to the touch. ‘He had these after all.’

It is the pearls.

‘The Light still shines in our favour,’ he smiles, kissing my forehead before standing and leaving the room in silence. Before I know it, I am on my feet and encased in Alec’s arms again. He absorbs me, takes me in and smells my hair. He struggles to handle me, but I don’t care, I don’t care, I don’t care. He is alive. Alive. He chuckles a little.

‘Easy there, Princess.’ He grins.

I pull back, my eyes puffy and red from my salt-filled tears. He wipes them away with a single stroke of his finger. He pains over me and it breaks me.

‘You cried for me?’ he asks.

What a stupid question. He seems deadly serious.

I slap him on the chest and fall into him again, my body colliding roughly with his. ‘You idiot!’ I exclaim. ‘Of course I did!’

He runs a hand over my hair and I melt. Nothing else matters. He is here. He is alive. He is not dead, O, how my soul rejoices at that. Light be praised!

‘I yield!’ I hear a voice call from the outside, in a weak and tired plea. ‘I yield, My Lord. I concede....send me not to the Valleys of the Fallen, for I wish to fulfil my duties yet to come! I wish to live!’

Another voice rose up. ‘Just as those I love have lived and died? Just as my kin suffers the loss of their loves? Just as you have taken the husband from my flesh and blood?’

Redermarke’s voice throws back reason. ‘Please, My Lord. I did not kill the boy. Yeoman, The Master Swordsman killed many a woman’s husband, many a man’s wife, too! It was not by my hand!’

‘But it was, wasn’t it? The boy’s fate was at your command.’ Uncle’s words come out harsh, knowing.

‘What would you have me do, My Lord? Shall I kiss your hand and bless your cheek to receive mercy? I shall do whatever Your Grace deems fair and just!’ It is not like Redermarke to beg or bend his knee in favour of a King as vain as Xertormei.

I hear Uncle smile. ‘To kill you now would be a mercy, but I shall not spill your blood this day. There may come a time when I will call on you and your forces. But for now, you are free to leave. Take your lover with you, for she is banished. Alleria will no longer harvest traitors in its halls.’

I hear wailing, Gweyntarr’s voice breaks the silence between us. Her pleading falls on deaf ears. The King says nothing more, and the sound of a sword clattering against the ground resounds in my head. It is over.

Alec looks down at me, his chin resting a top my head. ‘What is it?’ he asks me, wincing as he tries to sit upright. I push him back down gently and keep him there with a whisper.

‘Gweyntarr is returning to Bardhelm with my brother.’ I tell him.

He frowns as he shuffles around on the cushion. ‘Your brother?’

I sigh. It’s too hard to explain. ‘Gweyntarr is my brother’s lover,’ I pause. I cannot leave it there. He needs to know the truth. ‘And his accomplice.’ I add, biting my lower lip in a wave of anxiety. ‘She betrayed us, Alec. All of us. She has no place in Alleria anymore, and, by the King’s consent, she is banished.’

He does not seem to believe me, I see it in his eyes; a flicker of hope that I am wrong, that it cannot possibly be the truth. But the cruellest truths are the hardest to accept, are they not? But, everything fades away when he places a hand on my cheek and sighs.

‘She is the least of my concern,’ he tells me, leaning in so his face is so close to mine. ‘I found you. Again.’

Tears flood my eyes and I’m blinded. I can’t see his face clearly, but I don’t need to. I know his face like I know the sun will rise every morning, without fail. I am as sure of his kindness in his eyes as I am sure the night will cover the skies when the sun is laid to rest. I am so sure.

Reality washes over me when I think about them; the lost folk, those of his kin he lost in the fires in Kennah.

‘What of those who fled?’ I ask in a quiet voice, afraid that the subject might shatter him inside, where I cannot pick up the pieces and fix everything like I want to.

He sighs and shakes his head, ‘I did what I could for those who were fit to sail to Katan.’ He says. ‘There were three ships that left the shore safely, from what I remember. Everything else beyond that is a blur.’ Something stirs and he frowns deeply, overcome by an epiphany of some sort. ‘I do not remember,’ he exclaims, ‘How could I possibly forget what happened? I—’ his words melt together as sadness sweeps over him in a long, dragged wave. I rest a hand on his shoulder as he weeps silently.

‘Alec, I...I’m sorry,’ I whisper, kissing his cheek gently, trying desperately to make his pain go away. ‘I’m so sorry.’

He takes my hand in his and kisses it back. ‘The Mines are gone,’ he blurts out in a strained cry, ‘All of it is gone. There are no gems to harvest, no holes to search for hidden treasures. Nothing! It’s all ash and covered in soot. My home is no more.’

Those last words, my home is no more seem to echo louder than the others. I find myself resonating with them for a brief moment or two, for I know that my home is no more, too. Bardhelm, after this, is a place I can no longer gaze upon affectionately. The memories there are cold and bitter, not full of life or prosperity. I look down at my ring, and smile.

I wipe the tears from his eyes and stay strong for him. I force a smile and he weakly believes it. The gleam in his eyes is growing slowly.

‘We still have each other,’ I remind him, before pulling him in for another kiss.

It tastes sweeter now, because I managed to steal him from the clutches of Death, who wanted so desperately to take him away. I imagine he saw his Father there, up in the sky amongst the clouds. I imagine it would have been a tempting offer to stay there, where all good things were given tenfold. And yet, he chose to come back.

Light be praised.