Chapter 78

Ifound Torin hunched over a table in the War Room, surrounded by a mountain of paperwork, looking like she wanted to shuck everything out the window.

"You should watch your posture. That has to be hard on those old, brittle bones."

The seer tried to hide her smile, but wasn't quite fast enough. "Glad to see you're done lounging around like a slug. Nice work on restoring the magic. Coz and Zeph haven't stopped yapping about your magnificence."

"That's because I am magnificent." I lowered my voice. "But thank you for holding things together here. These past weeks couldn't have been easy."

"The city's been quiet these past days, but no telling how long this will last. Even Southwell is under control, though no one has emerged to replace Trubahn—which is both a blessing and a curse, according to Coz. I think he might take on the role himself, and if he does, gods help us all." She rolled her shoulders with a distinct crack.

I swallowed around the hard lump in my throat. Rebuilding this kingdom would be fraught with challenges, but I had something I didn't before. People who believed in me.

A family who would stand by me, no matter what.

"Wipe that dreamy look off your face," Torin muttered, hands on her hips. "It's time for you to sit on that throne. Blackcastle needs a powerful ruler, so these people know the city is in expert hands and they are safe. And beyond that, this realm needs their queen."

New Valarian, we'd decided to name our kingdom.

A nod to the past and a look toward the future.

I raised my eyebrows. "I save the entire world and can't even take a few days off? If I'd known you were putting me straight to work, I would have stayed in bed another day. Or ten."

But Torin wasn't smiling. "Anaria, you can't avoid this. There are those who want you to fail. Even now, some royals are conspiring against you. We have to move fast, prove how strong you are before the dissenters gain traction."

"Well, maybe I should let them have the throne if they want it so damn much."

"You don't mean that."

"I do, actually." I walked to the window, so she didn't see me shaking. "No, I don't really mean that. But I'm not queen material, Torin. In fact, there is no one less prepared to rule a kingdom than me."

"You are the only one who is prepared to rule, Anaria." Torin's voice was quiet. "The only one. And I know we've already put too much on you, but this…with you as queen, for the first time in three hundred years, I have some hope for the future."

Fucking gods, everyone had so much hope for the godsdamned future.

"Fine. Then you're my High Seer. And Coz is my astrologer and Zeph is my…head dragon, I guess."

"Astronomer, not astrologer." She slanted me a look. "I don't have visions anymore."

"Well, I don't know shite about being queen, so we'll be the perfect pair. And if I'm stuck with a job I despise, then so are you. We can suffer together."

"Suffering won't be a half of it. Wait until you endure one of Coz's lectures on…"

"Did I hear my name, love?" Cosimo swept in, resplendent in a silver and white robe. "Something about me being an insufferable windbag?" Torin made a hmffing noise when he pulled her against him and kissed her cheek.

Cosimo ran his assessing gaze over me. "Lucius and Dane will be happy to see you up and about. They've been moping around here like a couple of old dogs who don't know what to do with themselves."

I couldn't stop my squeal of excitement. "They're here?"

"Came in a few days ago, Zephryn flew them down from Stormfall and trust me, I don't think Tor will ever finish getting grief about that. Tell Torin I'm not a fucking transport service." Cosimo pantomimed and she blushed, shoving him away.

"I thought we could use a couple more hands on deck."

"Tell our queen the rest, Tor." Coz elbowed her and Torin rolled her eyes.

"Bella is here as well, probably in the library." She added, her face softening. "I thought…I thought you could use a friend right about now, Anaria."

"I was toldyou might be here."

Bella's face popped up from behind the enormous book, her eyes brightening before she rounded the table and threw her arms around me. I didn't think I'd ever felt so seen as when she stared up at me, a furrow between her brows.

"Goddess, you did everything you said you would, Anaria. You killed them both and restored the magic. I never thought I'd see the day when we were free of them."

"I can't take credit, Bella, since everything that happened was mostly luck." And Sylvi's sacrifice. Just the thought made my eyes burn.

"Nonsense. You got everyone to that cave, you figured out how to use both kinds of magic. You found the keystones, Anaria. We all played our parts, but we wouldn't be here now, if not for you."

"So not bad for a slave girl from Varitus."

"Not bad for the future queen of the greatest kingdom ever in the history of this world."

"You're getting way ahead of yourself, Bella." I was still scared of what lay ahead, but maybe—not that I wanted to admit it—I might have felt a shred of that same hope everyone else was babbling on about.

"We have a long way to go before that's true." I held up my hand and began ticking off my fingers. "We have to rebuild Tempeste and send a delegation to Varitus to form a new government, since King Vandran abandoned his realm. There will be food shortages in the winter and housing problems unless we find some way to repair all the towns and villages that were damaged."

"See?" Bella said brightly. "You already have a plan."

"Gods, Bella, I don't have a plan, I have a disaster to manage."

"And you have help. Vesper and me, Torin, Zeph and Coz, plus everyone else. You aren't doing this alone. You've never had to do any of this alone."

"Sylvi's dead." I blurted. "She's buried under that mountain, all by herself."

"That was always her plan." Bella gripped my arms, her red hair a halo around her freckled face. "All she ever wanted was the chance to finish what she'd started. You gave her that, Anaria. Now we look to the future. She would have wanted that, too."

Some of the weight slid off, enough I could ask the question I'd been dreading, though not without wincing. "And what about my mother?"

"Adele is under Vesper's watchful eyes, and maybe…I think she's starting to find her way, Anaria. We put her in charge of organizing the library and the job suits her. I think…" she grasped my hands. "I think Adele will be alright."

"Thank you for giving her a chance."

"She's proud of you. She tries to hide it behind that prickly exterior, but she is."

"Witch's tits, there's my girl." Dane burst into the library like a summer squall, sweeping me off my feet and swinging me around, knocking almost every book off the table while Bella screamed for him to stop.

"Oh, calm down, Bell. They're only books. It's not every day I get to hug our future queen."

"My name is not Bell." She muttered through grit teeth. "And these are not only books, you overgrown, mangy…" From the fury on Bella's face, I didn't envy Dane one bit, but then Lucius folded me into his arms. It was a full minute before the white-haired shifter stepped back and laid his hand over his heart.

"Thank you for keeping my son safe. You did everything I always knew you were capable of, and so much more, Anaria."

His voice was thick. "Nightcairn...has been restored. Dane and I are heading back in a few days to take stock, but if you ever…"

He cleared his throat. "I mean, I know the Keep is your home now, but I hope you and Tavion know my door is always open, should you ever wish to get away from this dismal place."

Get away. Gods, that sounded good.

Of course, since I was queen now, then I could—technically—do anything I wanted.

Right?

I blinked and the room swam back into view. "We will take you up on that, Lucius. Especially since Nightcairn is my favorite place in the entire world." He beamed and I squeezed his hand before turning back to Dane.

"First of all, they are not only books, Dane Montgomery. Now pick them up and stop needling Bella, since technically, she outranks you."

"How do you figure that, princess?" That arrogant grin didn't falter.

"Because she's my new chief advisor and as long as you are here in the Keep, she's your superior. And you have to do everything she says." I winked at Bella as Lucius chuckled.

"Do try to go easy on him, will you, Bella?" I winked at the now-glowering shifter. "Dane's old as dirt, and it's hard for old dogs to learn new tricks."