by S. M. Boyce
Stone had truly outdone himself.
Kara scratched at the new leather cuff on her arm. Its fresh material buckled more securely around her wrist, and the spikes barely caused her any pain. Stone had made it within a day after the last one was destroyed, and she’d remained medicated with his sleeping remedy for most of the time she spent without it. She would still need to master herself—a feat that would likely take a lifetime. The wrist guard served only as a temporary solution, but she was grateful to have her self-control back.
Blood Frine held his stomach, body bent around his hand as he tried to contain himself. Not everyone handled teleportation well, but Kara wanted to save them all time by having Flick teleport them to the cave, rather than staging a week-long expedition. She wished she could have also used this as a means of hiding the cave’s location, but every Blood knew its whereabouts as part of the agreement.
Evelyn stood in front of the group, no spikes around her wrists to keep her in line. Gavin stood in the back, with Aurora and Frine’s son between them. Kara didn’t blame him for wanting to keep as far away from the Ayavelian queen as possible—he was still taking this well, considering the woman he loved had betrayed them all and tried to ransack his home.
Braeden nudged Kara’s side. He smiled, and she smiled back. She took a deep breath—this was it. Flick purred on her shoulder, his tail batting the loose ends of her hair. She crossed her arms and drank in the cool mist, though very little oxygen reached her at this altitude. They couldn’t stay long.
Stone nodded to the open cave. “Go on.”
Kara led the way inside. As expected, candles flickered from small recesses carved into the walls at head height, their light reflecting off the walls and barely illuminating the small space. On the far wall, six vertical sword stands rested on a waist-high ledge. Each frame included only a wooden base that had a small hole drilled into the very end. A twisted rod rose from the back of the frame and ended in a wide piece of wood to support the hilt.
Without prompting, Braeden unbuckled black leather from around his waist and set his Sartori, sheath and all, on the stand. Its dark hilt contrasted with the pale silver stone.
He returned to Kara’s side and nudged her again, crossing his arms in a show of relaxed compliance. She tried to hide her grin.
Aurora placed her silver blade beside Braeden’s, and Gavin settled his beside hers. Only Frine and Evelyn remained.
Frine sighed deeply and removed the blade from around his waist. He lifted it onto the stand slower than everyone else, his hand lingering on the sheath even as he stepped away and returned to the group.
All heads turned toward Evelyn, who lifted her chin in response. She walked forward and hesitated at the final stand. The queen peeked behind her. Kara put her hand on her own sword hilt and tensed, ready to catch the Ayavelian Blood if she tried anything, but Evelyn huffed. She set her blade in its stand and returned to the edge of the group, standing a good five feet from Aurora.
Kara smiled. “Thank you, everyone. Please walk back outside while Stone seals the cave.”
Feet pattered against the rock as everyone filed out. Kara waited, Braeden at her side, to ensure everyone else left first. Only then did she and Braeden join them. Once outside, Stone waved his hands. The stone doors groaned and twitched on their hinges, creaking shut at his command. Their edges fused, sealing until only a smooth wall jutted from the mountain.
He removed something from around his neck—likely the lock he’d used to seal Agneon’s home in the mountains. A twinge of worry wriggled in her gut that, like her grandfather’s home, Stone could unseal the Sartoris at any time. She doubted he would have use for them—they would burn him, after all, if he touched them—but it still sent a wave of unease down her spine. Master or no, he didn’t deserve unconditional trust.
He clapped the lock against the stone and mumbled something Kara couldn’t make out. Blue light scorched the space beneath his hand, shooting out into the air and illuminating the haze with a single, lightning-quick blast.
Stone slipped the lock back around his neck and turned to the group. He nodded, and Kara smiled despite her worry. They’d finally done it—they brought peace to a warring Ourea.
The evening after the Bloods sealed away their Sartoris, Kara sat in the office at her village. She hunched over the desk, hands resting on the Grimoire. She stared at it, guided only by the dull glow of the starlight streaming through the window behind her.
Stone sat in the chair across from her, one foot on his knee. He crossed his arms and stared at her grimoire as well.
They won the war. She killed Deidre. Carden was dead. Niccoli was dead. The kingdoms’ lichgates were open. She would give the Bloods a tour of the village tomorrow. She even managed to get some isen to agree to peace. There was only one matter left to resolve.
“Let’s get this over with, Cedric,” Stone said.
Someone sighed behind Kara.
She spun to see the first Vagabond’s hazy silhouette illuminated by the starlight. His hood covered his face, but his head turned toward her.
She smiled. “You answered to Cedric.”
He nodded. “I think I can accept that name again.”
"About time," Stone said with a huff.
Cedric didn’t respond.
“You need to move on,” Stone said.
“Not yet,” Cedric answered.
“It’s not an option anymore.”
“Of course it is. It’s peaceful now, sure, but what if it doesn’t last? Kara will need me.”
“She’ll do fine.”
“Really, I will,” Kara echoed.
Cedric shook his head. “I need to know this is certain. I’m staying.”
“What makes you think peace is ever certain?” Kara asked.
Stone groaned. “It doesn’t matter. You’re a thousand years overdue for the next life. You need to move on. If you won’t let me extract your soul from the Grimoire, I will burn that damn book if I have to.”
Kara snatched her grimoire and held it to her chest. “Like hell you will.”
Stone waved the thought away. “You know what I meant.”
Sure she did—she believed he’d burn the original Grimoire, and that wasn’t going to happen.
Cedric pulled back his hood. The scar across his cheek glowed white on his wispy face. His eyes settled on the book in her hands. “I didn’t work this hard and wait this long to see everything unravel. I have to be sure.”
“Technically, you wouldn’t see it unravel. You’ll be in the next life,” Stone pointed out.
Cedric’s eyebrows twisted in what Kara assumed to be annoyance. She didn’t blame him, but Stone had a point.
“Even if you leave, I’m not going to be alone,” she pointed out.
“Right, she’s got me,” Stone added.
“And Braeden, Twin, Aurora, Richard, Remy—the list goes on forever. This is a movement, Cedric. It’s not just you and me anymore.”
“I know, but—”
“When, then?” Stone asked.
Cedric crossed his arms. “What?”
“When will she be ready? When will Ourea be forever at peace? Done is better than perfect. If you want happiness, you can’t wait around here anymore.”
Cedric didn’t answer. Kara leaned back in her chair until both men came into view—the ghost and the soul stealer.
Finally, Cedric’s eyes fell to the floor. “I’ve put so much into this. I can’t let it fail.”
“It won’t,” Stone replied.
Cedric sighed and turned to Kara. “You can handle things from here?”
She nodded, but a question popped into her mind. “Will I still have the gifts you gave me when I opened the Grimoire? Will I still be able to see memories?”
“I believe so.”
“You will,” Stone confirmed.
Cedric straightened his back. “Very well, then. I suppose you both are right.”
He set an icy hand on Kara’s shou
lder. A chill swept through her arm. She suppressed the impulse to shiver and, instead, smiled up at him. “Thank you for this adventure.”
He smiled. “It’s been an honor.”
“I feel like I should say something more, but you’ve been living in my head. You already know how grateful I am for you, belligerent yelling and all.”
He laughed. “Belligerent yelling might be a little harsh.”
“Maybe.” She grinned.
“So you know what to do? You know what comes next?”
“Whatever comes, I have the team to help me through it. You’re fine. Go to the next life, Cedric.”
Stone stood and cleared his throat. “All right, enough of that.”
“Goodbye, Kara,” Cedric said.
“Goodbye.”
This was the final goodbye—she doubted she would see him in the next life, whatever that would be. His body dissolved, and once more the stars twinkled in the night sky beyond the window, unhindered by his hazy presence. Stone reached a hand forward and nodded to the Grimoire, which she still held.
“You’re not going to destroy it, are you?” she asked.
He shook his head. “Cedric is cooperating, so I’ll stab it instead.”
She frowned but handed him the book.
He set it on the desk, cover facing the ceiling. His barb slid from his wrist, a purple sword that curved a little at the end. He set the tip on the cover, right in the center of the Grimoire symbol drawn on the leather in chipping gold paint.
The tip slid into the book. Stone cringed and paused. His eyebrows twisted. His grimace deepened, elongating the wrinkles around his mouth and along his brow. Kara leaned forward in her chair, shoulders pinched around her neck. She didn’t speak for fear of breaking his focus, so she swallowed hard to suppress her nerves.
Stone pressed on, driving the barb deeper into the book. He grunted. His mouth became a thin line. He held his breath. Kara held hers, too, out of reflex.
A beam of blue light shot from the space around Stone’s barb. It passed through the ceiling, where a white pool of wisps congealed and writhed along the white paint. Slivers of gold twisted through the mess of white and blue. A hum buzzed through Kara’s ears. Stone retracted his barb and stepped backward, staring at the beam.
As quickly as it appeared, the light began to thin. Within seconds, it disappeared completely.
The hum faded. A weight lifted from Kara’s neck, one she had grown so used to she’d forgotten it was a part of her life—the Vagabond’s influence on her mind. She sat up straighter.
Cedric was gone. No more fights. No more advice. No more answers.
Stone nodded to the book and rubbed his neck. “You can have that now. It should still work.”
She stood and crossed to it, running her fingers along the cover. A hole remained where Stone had stabbed it, but at least she still had her grimoire. She had Braeden. Her vagabonds.
Cedric was gone, but she would never be alone. Whatever she faced in the coming years as Ourea’s Vagabond, she would be prepared.
Epilogue
Surprises
One Year Later
Kara lounged in the branches of her sanguini tree, its trunk now almost three feet wide. It had grown even faster than expected—a foot taller each month—and she found herself drawn to sitting in its heights on warm days.
A breeze drifted through the leaves, shaking them. Thin shafts of sunlight broke through, casting dappled shadows as the leaves swayed. The tree’s two blossoms—one for her and one for Braeden—bent now and again as the wind brushed by. Their red petals burned in contrast to the emerald greens of the tree leaves and hung on with every gust. In the ten months since they’d bloomed, the flowers never once wilted.
Kara hummed with pleasure and closed her eyes.
A year ago, everything in Ourea clicked into place. Even though the official anniversary for Ourea’s liberation wasn’t for another three weeks—the day of the second gala to celebrate the united yakona kingdoms—Kara preferred to call today the real anniversary in honor of the day Stone sealed away the Bloods’ Sartori blades as an act of peace.
Her vagabonds had a place of honor at the feast, and she smiled again at the memory of Rieve in that gorgeous silver gown. Her smile faltered, though. The young woman had changed. She rarely laughed anymore. And though she seemed to realize killing Evelyn would kill her entire race—including Rieve herself—she hadn’t forgiven the queen. Truthfully, neither had Kara. Maybe that wound would heal in time.
“Sometimes those who don’t deserve forgiveness are the ones who need it most,” she’d said. Rieve hadn’t quite agreed.
Thus far, everyone else seemed to enjoy this new era. The second gala went off without a single murder, which Kara counted as a personal win considering how the first one went. Evelyn hadn’t tried to kill anyone. The Ayavelian Blood would go free at the third-annual Gala a few weeks from now, welcomed as a guest of honor by the world she tried to destroy. Kara fiddled with her hem, simultaneously afraid and hopeful. Perhaps the drenowith had removed the poison from the ruler’s veins—either way, the kingdoms would find out soon enough. Besides, the world seemed to enjoy their new freedom. Yakona of all nations visited each other, and though she still heard of the occasional racial brawl, trade and tourism between the kingdoms seemed overall pleasant and steady.
Adele and Garrett even managed to visit a month ago, though thankfully, Evelyn was spending time with another muse and hadn’t joined them. Adele could barely walk, as her injuries from Aislynn’s betrayal still caused much pain, but at least she’d survived. Kara spent every available second with her drenowith friend in the few days she visited. Garrett hadn’t revealed much of what happened after Adele slipped into her coma, so Kara hadn’t felt it right to tell her wounded friend everything that had happened since her fight with the dead Ayavelian queen. They would wait until Adele had her strength back.
A bird sang nearby, its sweet melody cutting through Kara’s wandering mind. She peeked through one eye at the blossoms and smiled. Of all the trees she could sit in, this one gave her a connection to Braeden. Their bond hadn’t quite worked, so this would do. As long as the flower representing him glowed in the sun, she could simply look up and know he was well.
Her eyes shifted out of focus. Braeden left for his kingdom a week ago, after they’d finally had their honeymoon, and she would connect with him in a few weeks at the Stele before heading to the Gala. She grinned and blushed as the memories of their week away flooded through her mind—tropical sand, empty beaches, and plenty of time alone with the man she loved.
The wind picked up, and her eyes snapped back into focus on reflex. The two blossoms danced, shaking on their stems. A dash of pink appeared for a second as they bent in the wind.
Kara narrowed her eyes and leaned forward. She gently moved her blossom aside. Behind it was a little pink bud, so small it barely looked like much more than a blushing leaf. Its petals clamped together, not yet ready to bloom.
She laughed and stared at her little pink blossom. “No way.”
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
S. M. Boyce is a lifelong writer with a knack for finding adventure and magic.
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BOYCE’S NOVELS
The Grimoire Saga
Lichgates (#1)
Treason (#2)
Heritage (#3)
Illusion (#4)
The Ourean Chronicles
The Misanthrope: Stone’s Story (#1) Fall 2015
The First Vagabond: Cedric’s Story (#2) Fall 2015
The Demon: Deidre’s Story (#3) Fall 2015
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Boyce posts updates, teasers, and other fun things on her blog. She can also be found on Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest.
smboyce.com
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
This novel would be wordier if not for my charming and talented editor, Chase Nottingham.
My amazing beta readers helped shape this novel, so special thanks to: Nikki, Christie, Sylvalyn, Karen, and Dad.
Big shout out to Janet Wallace for introducing me to the phrase, “done is better than perfect.” (Which Stone uses in the final chapter.) I have those words taped to my wall, by the way.
And of course, my content editor/husband is an epic badass who helped make this story even better than I ever imagined. Thank you, Geoff.