Epilogue

The light was good for training today.

Sunlight peeked through the gray mottled clouds, and a cool breeze blew across the field, giving my students a much-needed reprieve from the heat.

"One more drill," I called across the sea of trainees, which caused a chorus of groans.

A cup nudged my elbow and the scent of steeped mint and cardamom wafted toward me.

"Another? They'll be cursing your name by the end of the day."

I took the tea from Mazin gratefully and inhaled. "At least they'll know how to block properly. Which is more than I can say for Imran right now."

Mazin put his arm around my chest and pressed his lips to my hair. I closed my eyes and leaned against him, inhaling him as well. Woods. Lemon. Morning.

Hope .

Then I opened one eye and barked out an order. "Yalina! Keep your arms up! You nearly stabbed yourself with your own scimitar!"

"I love it when you screech commands in my ear while I'm kissing you," he murmured into my hair.

I snorted. "Don't you have council meetings in Basral to be in?"

"Anam's there. She always said she wasn't a fighter, but she's been waging more war in those council meetings than we have on the battlefield."

"I always knew she was a warrior." A smile curved my lips as I imagined her facing off with the leaders of the other kingdoms, creating an empire all on her own.

We stood there for a moment, watching the students run through another training drill, each holding a sword made by my father, each putting it to the use he intended. Our village smith was alive again, with a new purpose, just like me.

"You've got a visitor."

I looked over to where Maz gestured and saw Noor leaning against the fence, a saddled stallion beside her, a travel pack over her shoulder. My chest constricted at seeing her, and I straightened, pulling away from Maz slowly, despite his sound of protest.

"Finish the drills for me?"

Mazin gave a nod, concern crossing his features as he watched me. He stepped into the yard and shouted out instructions.

I walked over to Noor, meeting her at the gate and hopping over the fence.

"Your school has come a long way," she commented, nodding at the training yard. "It's impressive."

I followed the direction of her gaze, watching my students with pride.

"I always knew you'd do something amazing." She said the words so softly, they were almost carried away by the wind.

"I'm not sure about amazing. I'm not building an empire or anything. But I love it."

"You are building an empire. Just because it isn't made of kingdoms and djinn doesn't mean it isn't powerful. And it doesn't mean that you aren't an empress ruling over it all."

"I rather like the sound of being an empress."

My grin faded as I eyed her travel pack and stallion. "And you?" I dared to ask. "What will you do?"

She released a heavy breath and tilted her head back in the sun, her wild, short curls blowing in the wind. "That's the question I've been asking myself. After helping Anam and Mazin destroy the last remnants of zoraat, there isn't really a big need for an herbalist in Basral."

"You are always needed here," I said quietly.

She shot me a grateful smile. "And I would happily stay here and cultivate mountain plants for the rest of my life, curing all the ailments of your would-be assassins."

"Sword masters. Not assassins," I corrected.

She quirked a brow. "Whatever you say. I refuse to believe this isn't a secret assassin school." Then she blew a curl of hair out of her face and gave me a serious look. "I would be happy here, Dania."

I sighed. "But it's not enough."

She shook her head. "I want to track down my mother's people. I have unanswered questions, and before I settle down and become an old village aunty, I want to find where I come from. I want to know my family."

"Well, you always have family here. Whenever you choose to come back."

"I know. And I will be back." We stood in companionable silence until Noor leaned back against the fence and gave me a once-over before letting out a chuckle.

"What?" I punched her in the arm.

"I'm just thinking of how different you look from when I first saw you—dirty, bloodied, and scrambling on the floor of your cell, accusing me of being a ghoul."

"Trust me, a bath did wonders for your appearance too." I gave her a small smile, remembering the moment we met, and all the rage and fear inside me.

But there was yearning too. A dream that there was something beyond the walls of our cell, more than what we were condemned to. Noor helped me see that.

"Digging the wrong way and ending up in your cell was the best thing that ever happened to me, you know?"

"Me too."

My eyes burned with the things we didn't say to each other, but our parting embrace spoke all the words we needed.

Maz walked over to me, long after Noor rode away, and leaned against the fence.

"Noor left?"

I exhaled, looking up at him, the shadows haunting his eyes not quite gone, but less. I knew mine were the same. Anger and grief had taken so much from me, but they had given as well. Mazin standing beside me, wearing a blue tunic in the afternoon sun, was one gift I never thought I'd have. Noor's friendship was another, and though my heart didn't want to see her go, I knew she needed to find her purpose, like I'd found mine.

"Yes, to find her mother's people."

"She'll be back." His voice was so sure I ached to believe it.

"I hope so."

"Dani, I don't think anyone can keep away from you for long."

I arched a brow. "You're just talking about yourself now."

"That's probably true. I can't last in Basral for more than a day before I'm urging Rakhna back here."

"Or maybe you just like Afra Aunty's cooking."

He laughed, long and rich, and my heart leapt at the sound, as it did whenever I heard it. We were broken and mending and lost but slowly we were finding our way back to who we once were with each other, with every laugh, every whispered word and soft kiss.

He leaned in, his eyes darkening under my gaze. "Why are you looking at me like that?"

"How am I looking at you?"

A slow curve of his lips had my heart racing faster. "Either like you want to kiss me or stab me. I can't always tell with you, but for some reason they are both equally as exciting."

I laughed, unsheathing my talwar at the same time as he drew his scimitar. "Shall we put on a show?" I nodded to my students. "Then you can decide if it was the stabbing or the kissing I wanted."

He grinned but kept his eyes on me. "Or both? If I'm going to have the stabbing, there better be kissing after."

"Follow me, then." I advanced on him, but stopped when his eyes grew serious.

"Dani, you know I'll follow you anywhere."

I clutched the hilt of my sword tight, terrified to lose this moment, but never more sure of how I felt about him. "I know."

Our blades flashed in the afternoon sun, meeting in the air like old friends.

And when it was done and the students had gone home, it was just him and me, healing the scars we couldn't see, being for each other what we most needed in the dark.