[Vankara Saga 03.0] War of Atonement

by SJ West

  I curtsied. “Queen Lanai,” I replied.

  Lanai was now dressed in the white robes her reclaimed station called for among the Fae. She no longer looked like the wildling I first met when I came to the Fae side of the island. Now, she looked like royalty—wise and noble.

  “Thank you for everything you have done for me and my people,” she said, taking one of my hands into both her own. “I can’t tell you how much you’ve helped us. I hope that the new treaty we sign will last a long, long time.”

  “If you and I have anything to say about it, it will.”

  Lanai kissed my hand before letting it go.

  “I hope you know that you are welcome to come back here to visit us anytime you want,” the rightful Queen of the Fae told me.

  I looked at Gabriel. “I’m sure I’ll be back often.”

  “Take care of yourself,” Gabriel said, leaning in to kiss me on the cheek before I left.

  “I will.”

  As I was walking up Vincent’s wing, I heard someone call out my name. I turned around and saw Dracen walking over to me. I thought he had already assumed his place on Gregoire’s back for our trip back to Iron City together. Nicole and Thomas were already on top of Runa, awaiting our departure.

  I walked back to the ground and asked him, “Is something wrong?”

  “Would you mind if I just used my talisman to return to the college and met you at the palace?” Dracen asked me sheepishly. “I hate to admit it, but I think I’ve had enough of flying through the air to last me a lifetime.”

  I laughed a little. “That’s saying quite a lot considering you’re immortal.”

  Dracen shrugged. “To be honest, I’ve never cared for heights.”

  “Of course you can meet us at the palace,” I told him. “Just make sure you’re out front when I fly in. I have a feeling it’ll be a sight every citizen in Iron City will remember for a long time to come.”

  Dracen grinned. “Undoubtedly.”

  I turned to make my way up Vincent’s wing again.

  “Sarah. …” Dracen called to me softly so no one else could hear him use my chosen name.

  I turned around and saw a look of worry on Dracen’s face.

  “I just want you to know … that I love you.”

  It was the first time Dracen had said those three words to me in such a blatant manner. I knew he loved me before he said them, but having his emotions laid out between us in such a vulnerable way suddenly made me feel uncomfortable. I cared for Dracen deeply, but did I love him as a daughter usually loves her father? Did I care for him enough to say it back?

  As an awkward silence built up between us, Dracen put on a brave face and continued to grin at me. “I’ll see you later. Have a safe trip.”

  He pulled out his pocket watch from his pant pocket and vanished from my sight.

  “I should have said something back,” I said to Aurora, feeling guilty for having only stood there like a mute after Dracen had declared his love for his daughter.

  “If you had told him you loved him, they would have been hollow words,” Aurora said. “That isn’t what he wanted from you.”

  I turned back around and walked up Vincent’s wing. After I was securely in the saddle, Vincent took flight, and we made our way to Iron City.

  Gregoire and the dragons who helped us win the Fae capital flew behind us. I won’t lie. Riding Vincent into Iron City with the other dragons following made me feel powerful. Knowing I could put together such a formidable force to defend my nation bolstered my confidence that I could lead Vankara into a future Queen Emma would be proud of. But I knew I was only a placeholder for the true leader of Vankara—Dena. She was the future of our nation, and I was only doing my part to make sure Queen Emma’s last wish came true.

  As we reached Iron City, my heart ached over the devastation our city had endured during the Fae occupation. I knew it would take time to rebuild what Nuala had so callously destroyed in her hunger for power, but I also knew that the Vankarans were up to the task. We had always been a strong people and this trying time in our history was simply a temporary setback for us.

  The sun was high in the sky as we approached the palace. Nuala’s mages had transmuted the iron palace into gold to make it safe for all Fae to enter. It glittered in the sunlight like something out of a mythical tale. As Vincent made his descent into the front courtyard of the royal palace, the other dragons perched themselves along the tall outer wall that encircled the grounds. There was a crowd of people filling the streets and palace courtyard, waiting for our arrival. Fallon had had the foresight to cordon off a section of the front courtyard to provide Vincent a place to land. The sound of the crowd cheering me home brought a smile to my face, and I knew my words to Dracen were true. No one in Iron City would forget the day their queen flew back to them on the back of a dragon.

  Once we touched ground, I made my way down Vincent’s wing where Fallon was already waiting for me. His proud smile was the best thing I had seen in a long, long time. I tossed caution to the wind and threw myself into his arms, wrapping my arms around his neck to hug him tightly.

  Our audience cheered, and I knew the people of Vankara wouldn’t protest my marriage to Fallon. He had, after all, led the fight to free them from Nuala’s tyranny. He was a hero in their eyes and mine too.

  “Mummy!”

  I let go of Fallon and saw Dena running towards me from the entrance of the palace. Her Uncle Adam and Aunt Inara were walking behind her, faces beaming with joy and pride. I bent down and hugged Dena to me, treasuring the feel of her in my arms, and marveling at how another human being could instantly fill my heart with so much joy just from one hug.

  Dena told me about making cookies with Uncle Adam and riding an elephant at a zoo. I listened and marveled at how much she had grown since her birthday. Once she was through telling me about her adventures, I stood up and held onto one of her little hands, unwilling to break our contact just yet.

  When I looked around, I noticed one very important person missing from my homecoming.

  “Where’s Dracen?” I asked Fallon. “He said he would be here by the time I arrived.”

  Fallon slowly shook his head, looking confused. “No. He hasn’t returned to Iron City as far as I know.”

  I looked over at Adam and saw him shake his head also. “I haven’t seen him either.”

  “That doesn’t make any sense,” I said, going over my last conversation with Dracen in my mind again.

  The dragon pendant hanging from my neck began to glow. I looked down at it and saw that the trillian in the center was the cause of the illumination. I watched as minute cracks began to spread from bottom to top.

  “Oh no,” I said as my heart sank to the pit of my stomach. I knew what was happening, but I wasn’t sure if I could get there in time to stop it.

  I immediately let go of Dena’s hand and snatched Aurora off my shoulder, handing her to a startled Fallon.

  “I’m sorry,” I said to them all, just as I teleported myself to Trill’s chamber in Ledmarrow.

  I found exactly what I feared I would. Dracen had his hands on Trill’s petrified corpse—the source of the trillian. I noticed Dracen’s pocket watch laying broken on top of Trill’s body, ensuring no escape for Dracen from what he was about to do. Automatons filled the room to capacity. Their numbers were so large a line of them extended as far as I could see out into the long corridor. The stone beneath my feet pulsated like a giant was using an equally large sledge hammer to pound the mountain from the center of the earth. My ears began to ring from the buildup of pressure inside the room, which could only be caused by the power of Dracen’s spell.

  “Dracen!” I yelled, as pieces of rock began to fall from the ceiling, barely missing my head.

  Dracen didn’t flinch. I wasn’t sure if he just couldn’t hear me or if he was so focused on the spell he was casting that his mind didn’t register my voice.

  I ran over to him and grabbed one of his arms. Only then
did his eyes open. He looked over at me in a moment of confusion that quickly switched to horror.

  “You need to leave!” Dracen said. “You’ll die if you don’t!”

  “Then you need to come with me!”

  “I can’t,” he said adamantly with a shake of his head. “I have to stay. Otherwise, the spell might end too soon and trap them all down here before releasing them from the trillian.”

  “There has to be another way to free them!”

  “There isn’t! Go, Sarah! Live your life and remember me as I am. This is the only way I can atone for my sins against them. Go!”

  I tried to keep my balance, even as the mountain swayed back and forth.

  “Leave before it’s too late!” he begged.

  I shook my head at him stubbornly. “No! I won’t leave you. Let me add my magic to yours. That should be enough to ensure the spell completes itself.” I grabbed my dragon pendant with my free hand. “I’ll teleport us out just before it goes off.”

  Dracen shook his head fervently, and I knew he was going to urge me to leave again. Before he could, I let go of his arm and placed my hand over his on Trill’s glowing body. I could hear the voices of the dead who were trapped inside Trill. I knew at least two of them had to belong to the Harkers, and I hoped what we did next would finally bring them peace in death. I blocked the voices from my mind and concentrated on bringing up every ounce of magic I possessed. I thought of all the lives of loved ones people had lost over the years due to the plagues. I knew Dracen blamed himself for causing so much pain and death to others, even though it wasn’t his fault. He had given his love and trust to a young Karis, not knowing the diabolical plans his apprentice had in mind.

  Just as I felt my magic bubble to the surface, I squeezed Dracen’s hand tightly with one hand and my pendant with the other. Like a geyser bursting forth from the earth’s crust, I felt my magic mingle with Dracen’s, setting off a chain reaction that neither of us ended up experiencing as I visualized Vincent.

  A cool breeze caressed my burning cheeks, and I knew I was back home. When I opened my eyes, I found Dracen standing beside me, grimacing.

  “You have quite a grip there,” he said, looking down at our joined hands. “You must have inherited that from your mother.”

  “Well, it certainly wasn’t from you,” I heard the ghostly form of Trill say.

  I looked beside us stunned to see him standing there.

  “How?” I asked, not needing to clarify what I was actually asking him.

  “Ledmarrow is no more,” Trill said. “I guess destroying my body and the mountain broke the tether that was keeping me there. Now, my only connection to this world is Dracen. Where he goes, I will follow.”

  “It’s good to see and hear you again, old friend,” Dracen said, his voice choked with emotion as he stared at his dragon companion for the first time since Trill’s death.

  “You can see him?” I asked in surprise.

  Dracen nodded as his eyes brimmed with tears. “Yes. I can see and hear him now. I never thought I would be able to again.”

  I laughed with joy and threw my arms around Dracen’s neck.

  “Why did you think you had to do that alone?” I asked him, unable to let him go.

  “I thought it was the only way to make reparations for my part in the plagues. I couldn’t allow all those souls to linger there when I knew I had the power to free them.”

  “I wish you had said something instead of letting me find out like that. I don’t want to lose you,” I said, hugging him even tighter. “I just found you.”

  Dracen wrapped his arms around my waist. “You won’t lose me. I’m here.”

  Before I even knew what I was about to say, I told Dracen, “I love you, Dad.”

  It was the first time I had spoken the words, even though I knew I had felt love for Dracen ever since Vincent awakened my memories as Kira. It was only now that I could face those feelings. How could I not love a man who had sacrificed so much for me? If there was a part of Kira still left inside me, I felt sure she would be smiling at me now, pleased that I had found our father.

  “I love you, too,” Dracen replied tearfully.

  As we stood there beside Vincent, I was aware of Fallon, Dena, Inara, and Adam surrounding us. In that moment, I realized that my life was my own to live, and that my journey through it would never be a lonely one. The people who surrounded me would keep my life grounded with their love in whatever trials might await us all in the future. This time, I wouldn’t run away from what might happen. I would embrace each experience, good and bad, and know that each moment was meant to teach me something new because in the end, that’s all life is: a series of lessons. It’s up to us to decide whether we’ll learn from those lessons and grow, or shy away from them and wither.

  I, for one, intended to grow and pass on whatever I was able to learn to help future generations flourish.

  I knew in that instant that this was my life, my story—no one else’s. I was my own person, not an amalgam of all those I had been before. Everything I did, from this moment on, would personify the person I wanted to be.

  All I had to do now was live. …

  EPILOGUE

  “There were times I seriously doubted this day would ever come,” Inara said in exasperation as she straightened the crown with an attached veil on my head. “Who knew it would take a month to put together the perfect wedding for a queen? Nevertheless, I did it. I made it happen!”

  I giggled at Inara’s self-congratulatory monologue. You would have thought it was her wedding day and not my own that we were about to have.

  “Thank you so much for planning everything,” I told her for about the hundredth time. Strangely enough, she didn’t seem to mind hearing it over and over and over again.

  Yet, she waved a hand in the air like all of her hard work was nothing for me to brag about.

  “You had a city to rebuild,” Inara said. “And all I had was a good-for-nothing traitor of a father to visit once a week. I had plenty of spare time.”

  Thaddeus Irondale’s treachery had embarrassed and enraged Inara. She blamed herself for placing her father on a pedestal so high that she had never considered the possibility that he would betray his country for his own personal gain. I had a long talk with Inara after I returned home and convinced her that he had fooled us all. She was far from the only one who had been duped by Thaddeus. Not wanting to keep any secrets between us anymore, I also told her that Gabriel was her half-brother. She wasn’t as surprised as I thought she would be. Apparently, not only was Thaddeus a traitor to his country, but he was also a well-known philanderer. Inara said she had a few half-siblings running around Iron City with whom she had no dealings. She still loved her father though, and I couldn’t fault her for her loyalty to him.

  Thaddeus’ punishment ended up being twofold. He was sentenced by parliament to imprisonment for life, but that wasn’t all. He was also forced to spend his days in a cell that was directly across from Nuala’s. When Lanai and I signed the new peace treaty between our two countries last week, a provision had been added that Nuala would live out the rest of her days in a Vankaran prison. She was less than pleased with the arrangement and, from what I heard, she made sure Thaddeus knew of her displeasure every morning when he woke up and every evening before he went to sleep. I thought it was a just way for both of them to spend the rest of their days.

  Parliament and I decided that for the sake of our alliance with Chromis, we would overlook Aleksander’s role in Thaddeus’ scheme. Nothing came of his part in Thaddeus’ planned coup, and keeping Chromis as an ally was more important. When I told Aleksander about my intention to marry Fallon, he didn’t seem in the least bit surprised by the news. I think Aleksander knew I could never truly love him, and after I told him about the child I carried, he looked relieved that he hadn’t been trapped in a marriage that would have made him a cuckold before we even exchanged vows.

  Dracen took up residence in the palace,
at least for a time. He said he was looking for the perfect place to call his own, and he didn’t seem to be in any rush to find it. That was more than fine with me. I still needed him to teach me how to control my magic, and having him close by brought me a great deal of comfort.

  I was able to convince Adam to fill the void Gabriel had left behind as my political advisor. There were a few members of parliament who didn’t agree with his appointment, but very few voiced opposition. After orchestrating major alliances with both Kamora and the dragons to ensure our victory against the Fae, I had been given carte blanche where parliament was concerned. They barely even put up a fight when I informed them that I would be marrying Fallon. I think they all knew that if they tried to stop me, they would lose political ground with their constituents. Fallon and I were viewed by the people of Vankara as heroes who saved them from the oppression Nuala was trying to force upon them. As long as we had the backing of our citizens, there wasn’t anything Fallon and I couldn’t do.

  “Oh, Sarah,” Aurora said from her perch on Inara’s shoulder. “You look beautiful as a bride.”

  “Thank you, my little dragonling,” I said as I reached out a hand to run along her smooth neck. “Are you sure you’re all right with spending the night with Inara and Dena?”

  “Of course, I am, Sarah,” Aurora replied as if I had just asked a silly question. “I know how important your privacy is to you while you and Fallon are mating.”

  I choked a little after hearing Aurora’s words.

  “Are you all right?” Inara asked in worry, not having the ability to hear Aurora’s comment. “You’re not getting cold feet are you? I’ve worked far too hard on this wedding for you to turn tail and run now.”

  “No, I’m fine,” I assured Inara, twisting to look at myself in the full-length mirror so Inara couldn’t see how flushed my face had suddenly become after hearing Aurora’s words.

  The dress I wore was made of a pale pink satin. Since this was Queen Emma’s second marriage and considering the fact that I was with child, it didn’t seem appropriate to wear white to the wedding. Pearls and diamonds had been stitched along the edges of the top coat, which also served as the dress’ train in the back.