Illusionary
Page 30
EPILOGUE
THE WEDDING OF KING ANDRÉS AND THE DUQUESA OF TRESOROS WAS SET TO last for eight days and nights in Citadela Crescenti. On the eve of the ceremony, when they were to exchange bridal gifts, King Andrés unveiled his present to his betrothed: a marble statue commemorating the one-year anniversary of the rebellion she led in the citadela streets. She bought him a new hat.
As the new king of Puerto Leones stared at the open box, he wondered if he knew his fiancée at all. Their arrangement had been sudden—a proposal he’d made on his own with the understanding that his people needed stability. No one at court understood the people quite like Lady Nuria. It was true, he hadn’t quite expected to become king, but after talking to Castian, he knew that to save the two people dearest to him, he would lead. And marry. And, apparently, wear a hideous hat.
“Are you disappointed with your groom’s gift, Your Majesty?” asked the future queen of Puerto Leones, biting her bottom lip.
A perfect supper for four was laid out on their balcony. King Andrés looked at his beautiful betrothed and adjusted the hat on his head. It was purple and gold, and the outlandish feather kept falling between his eyes. It was a near replica of the hat King Consort Jávalez of the queendom of Tresoros wore in 89 A.C.
Dez was positive he’d told her how ridiculous he thought the hat, but perhaps she misunderstood “I wouldn’t wipe my own ass with something so hideous” with “Please give it to me as a wedding present.”
Every day with Nuria for the past year had been surprising. He’d admired her beauty and strength from the moment he saw her, and he’d believed that they would at least grow to be very good friends and allies. But he hadn’t expected to fall in love with her so deeply. To want to spend every day getting to know her. How fervently she cared about their people. How she blushed every time he looked at her, and he looked at her often. How she fell asleep reading on her chaise. He thought he understood her, until the moment he opened the hatbox and she looked positively delighted.
“It’s—” He considered lying to her, but how could he lie to her, his future queen? He pulled it off his head and ran a hand through his black hair, the ends curling in the citadela’s humidity. “I hate it, I’m sorry.”
She cupped his face and pressed a kiss to his lips, and then she laughed. She laughed and laughed, even as the balcony doors opened and two strangers walked out. They were well dressed but bore no affiliation to a provincia or household. Dez shot to his feet and reached for his belt. Where was his dagger? What if his enemies had sent assassins? And then the illusion fell, and on the balcony stood Renata Convida and Castian Fajardo. The king looked at his future queen, whose smile was as wicked as her kiss.
“You tricked me.”
“I did,” Nuria said. “Now, my love, are you disappointed with your groom’s gift?”
Castian walked across the balcony and extended his hand to his king and said, “Hello, little brother.”
Dez never imagined that he would be overcome with relief at the sight of the Príncipe Dorado, but the four of them spent the night drinking and eating and trying to catch up on the year’s absence. There was sorrow and joy, but most of all, there was aguadulce. They were alive and they were together.
Nuria made Castian and Renata promise to return at least once a year because she knew Dez would never work up the courage to ask.
They made port at the same time the following year to meet Dez and Nuria’s firstborn daughter.
“She takes after her mother,” Ren said, holding Nuria Illiana in her arms.
“The goddess provides.” Castian winked at his family.
“Very funny,” murmured the king, but his easy smile faltered as he cleared his throat and said, “But she has our mother’s eyes. At least, I believe she does.”
The little princess then reached out and squeezed her uncle’s finger with all the might of her tiny fist. “She does.”
“When are the pair of you coming home for good? Aren’t you seasick yet?” Queen Nuria asked, candid as she was radiant. “I know this little one would love to grow up around family. Perhaps a cousin or two to play with?”
Castian and Ren looked at each other, trading secret smiles. They both answered, “Soon.”
They gave the same answer the following year at the memorial of Riomar, which coincided with the birth of the second princess of Puerto Leones, and the year after during the baptism of the king and queen’s third child.
They said “soon” once more when the twins were born a year after that.
Dez knew he might never truly get Ren or his brother back. He’d never be able to understand what she went through, but he would make sure the next generations of Robári would have the security that was taken from her.
Puerto Leones was entering its greatest age. Moria returned to their homelands, and Provincia Memoria was rebuilding temples and universities. But King Andrés knew peace was a fragile thing. It needed the utmost care and attention, but no matter how much he and his queen tried, the old veins of hatred excavated by his birth father thrived once again. A group calling themselves the Lion’s Heirs took to the streets, breaking out in violence against Moria. They longed for King Fernando’s old ways. They denounced the heretical king. They were only just starting.
Once Dez would have responded in kind. He would have met those who opposed him with the same violence, the same rage that, years later, was easy enough to spark in his heart. But he would never be his father—his birth father—not ever. Dez had learned when he needed to ask for help, and on the eighth year of his brother’s yearly return from self-imposed exile he said, “Prepare yourself, brother. We celebrate now, but there will come a day when I will need you to fight by my side.”
“I will be there,” Castian promised.
The known world was a bigger place than Castian and Renata imagined, and that first year aboard the Madre del Mar, they reached distant shores. Earned the calluses that came with being just another hand on deck. Learned the alchemy of turning strangers into family during long days and nights on foreign seas. From the elders, Castian learned the trade of his people—how to carve runes, how to understand the constellations. Ren schooled her fingers in the art of weaving with the legendary Euria and wrote down every story, every myth, every legend, so that the Moria would never be lost again.
Finding a home for two people who’d never truly had one was a peculiar endeavor, because neither the prince nor the rebel knew what home felt like other than when they were together. They might have been satisfied untethered to land, returning to visit family and loved ones but once a year. It was enough, for a time.
On the eighth anniversary of the day they left Puerto Leones, they pulled on a new illusion and wandered into the provincial town of Acesteña. Doña Sagrada’s inn had never before hosted such esteemed guests. In attendance were the Lady Leyre Las Rosas and her wife, Ambassador Leonardo Almarada, and several generals and admirals. Even the king and queen were present. Everyone, local and guest, witnessed their marriage.
Long after sunrise, the newlyweds fell into the same bed they’d shared years ago under the names Wilmer and Marcela Otsoa. They were different people, but in some ways the same. He still couldn’t sleep without her at his side, and she reached for the ghost of memories long gone. Their scars ached, and they dreamed of the people they couldn’t save, and worse, the people who hurt them. But they’d also learned to laugh often and freely. They made friends of strangers and danced until their feet ached. They were so close, but so far.
That same year Argiñe San Piedras finally retired as captain of the Madre del Mar. Her crew followed her, making the long landlocked pilgrimage to the border town she’d once called home. All but Castian and Renata. The ship was now theirs, and there was a new crew to break in.
And on the ninth year, Castian and Renata did not make port in the kingdom. They weathered a hurricane in the Castinian Sea. And when the thunder stopped and the rain fled to the horizon, they held their twin
s in their arms.
Leonardo and Penelope were born in the eye of a hurricane. That, along with their family’s history, would be the thing that always defined them. They lived on the Isla Sombras for a year before a letter arrived with King Andrés’s seal.
As Castian had promised, they were going home.
The Madre del Mar still sailed under a new generation of pirates San Piedras, but that’s another story. Ten years after Castian Fajardo and Renata Convida left Puerto Leones, they were welcomed with great fanfare in the new capital of the kingdom—Citadela Crescenti. They brought several crates of gifts from Empirio Luzou and the southern icelands, and each carried a child in their arms.
Castian and Renata inhaled the sprawling citadela from the balcony of their palace apartment overlooking the sea.
“I hardly recognize it,” he confessed.
“Some might say the same about us.”
The truth was, Ren could have spent another decade on their ship or in a foreign empire or even in a glacier cavern as long as she had Castian and their children at her side. And yet, Puerto Leones finally called to her again.
Renata Convida, the girl who’d once lived a thousand lives and more, took her prince’s hand in hers.
And she would never let go.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
As always, I owe everything to my family. To my brother Danny Córdova and our parents. Caco and Tío Robert #Robcos4eva. To Mami Aleja. All my cousins, aunts, and uncles—I love you all.
To everyone who worked on this book, especially Kat Cho for her guidance. You got your seafaring brigands, girl! To the fantastic Little, Brown Books for Young Readers team, especially my editor Alex Hightower, Marisa Russell, Savannah Kennelly, Victoria Stapleton, Sherri Schmidt, Jen Graham, and my publisher, Megan Tingley. To the phenomenal Hodder & Stoughton crew: Kate Keehan, Niamh Anderson, Maddy Marshall, Molly Powell. Thank you to Juliet Mushens at Caskie Mushens. To Glasstown Entertainment, especially Diana Sousa, Maha Hussain, and Olivia Liu for your enthusiasm and hard work promoting Incendiary.
To Billelis for bringing Ren and Cas to life with your breathtaking art.
I am eternally grateful to my writing babes. This particular road was incredibly difficult, and I couldn’t have emerged from this endeavor whole without you: Dhonielle Clayton, Victoria Schwab, Natalie C. Parker, Tessa Gratton, Gretchen McNeil, Katie Locke, Patrice Caldwell, Adam Silvera, Ryan La Sala, and Victoria Lee. Thank you, Mark Oshiro, for being the first person to say, “How dare you?” after Incendiary’s cliffhanger. To my loves: Natalie Horbachevsky and Sarah E. Younger, with a special shout-out to Beth and Chuck Younger and their lovely home, Water Winds, where a majority of this book was edited. Thank you for sharing a bit of your paradise with us.
A special thanks to the teams at Fairy Loot, OwlCrate, the Latinx Squad, and United by Pop for supporting this series. Every book lives as long as it finds its readers, and you have helped me reach so many.
Finally, to every single librarian, bookseller, reviewer, blogger, bookstagrammer, booktuber, and book lover who has given the Hollow Crown duology a chance—thank you.
The world is yours to change.
Love,
Zoraida
Discover Your Next Great Read
Get sneak peeks, book recommendations, and news about your favorite authors.
Tap here to learn more.
Bring the YA (book) party to your inbox with NOVL:
theNOVL.com/enewsletter
Booked all week.
theNOVL.com
Instagram.com/TheNovl
Twitter.com/TheNovl
Facebook.com/TheNovl
© Sarah Elizabeth Younger
ZORAIDA CÓRDOVA is the author of many fantasy novels, including the award-winning Brooklyn Brujas series, the Hollow Crown duology, Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge: A Crash of Fate, and The Way to Rio Luna. Her short fiction has appeared in the New York Times bestselling anthology Star Wars: From a Certain Point of View, A Universe of Wishes, and Come On In. She is the coeditor of Vampires Never Get Old and the cohost of the writing podcast Deadline City. Zoraida was born in Guayaquil, Ecuador, and raised in Queens, New York. She writes romance novels as Zoey Castile. When she’s not working on her next novel, she’s finding a new adventure. She invites you to visit her at zoraidacordova.com.
BY ZORAIDA CÓRDOVA
HOLLOW CROWN
Incendiary
Illusionary
BROOKLYN BRUJAS
Labyrinth Lost
Bruja Born
Wayward Witch
THE VICIOUS DEEP
The Vicious Deep
The Savage Blue
The Vast and Brutal Sea
Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge: A Crash of Fate
The Way to Rio Luna