Her Cinder Throne (Completed)

Chapter 101

After a few days, Bastian was well enough to sit up and eat some soup. Now when Cole visited him, the room only contained his mother and a few of her maids. She sat in a rocking chair, gliding back and forth by his bedside, hardly more useful than a bouquet but obviously bringing Bastian comfort beyond anything else.

Cole sat on the edge of his bed. "Now that your father is gone, you can be any kind of king you want. You no longer have to fear the crown, because it is yours and yours alone." She picked at a loose thread on the duvet. "I hope that you will choose to be a just and fair king."

Bastian's hand ran across the left side of his chest. "I'm trying. I will try. For as long as I live," he said. His eyes went to his mother, who smiled absently as she stitched some flowers onto some linen. "I don't want to let whatever my father left behind in me to control me. Like you said, we're both our own persons. Bastian and Cole. We can choose whatever we want to become."

Cole smiled. "Yes, and I'm choosing to never again wear those awful leather leggings you men love so much." She swished her legs under her skirt as if to show just how pleasant free legs felt.

Bastian rolled his eyes. "Well, I'm glad you've sorted out your royal wardrobe," he said, almost laughing.

"I have to be prepared to go back to court," she said, hoping the fear didn't show in her voice.

Bastian nodded. "I was told you're leaving later today." He glanced up at her.

"We have to return to rebuild what we can. There are many people displaced and confused. They need a queen again."

Bastian set his bowl of soup on the side table and leaned back into his pillows. "Thank you," he said. "For not killing me at the ball way back then. And, for saving me from being a Cursed even though it would have been easier to kill me."

Cole shook her head. "No, you knew who I was and what I wanted at that ball. You're the one who could have easily killed me, but you chose not to. That was brave beyond anything I could imagine." She glanced at the window and the rolling clouds that ran across the sky. "You already were just and true. You just have to stay that way."

"I wanted to tell you one more thing," he said. "I ordered that the Sparkstone mines be shut down until we can improve their constructions and make them safe to enter. Once they reopen, the workers will be paid for the danger they take on, and we'll be building a small town by the mines so they can live in safety with their families."

Cole smiled. "That's lovely, Bastian. Thank you." She took his hand, holding it loosely. "If I was still working there, I'd love you as a king already."

Bastian grinned, but underneath it she saw that sadness once again. She looked away quickly, not ready to face it.

"I'll say farewell now, then. And, just know that any of your people are welcome to come to Soma and stay. For so long we thought the fae extinct, but now that we know they are still here, then we'd like to offer our friendship once again."

"It's a bit harder for humans to come to Avallen, so I can't offer the same as easily as you. But, we will gladly visit and trade and live alongside the humans. Because I'm one of you, too."

She stood up, shaking Bastian's hand and kissing his mother's soft cheek. They said their farewells, awkward and shallow, but it was the best they could do. Too much that might have been was no longer, and too much that was no longer was now beginning to grow again. It was impossible to tell how to feel, so they stiltedly said their goodbyes and promised each other that when they met again, it would be in a better and brand new world.