I want to go ask him what they were talking about, but I don’t get the chance.
Hamish nearly bowls me over in his rush past me. He grabs a woman into his arms, and they cling to each other fiercely. I smile as I realize he’s found his wife again.
Similar reunions are happening all around me. The atmosphere sparkles with joy, but not for everyone. There are many saddened to see their loved ones are not here.
Imogen and I talk. She offers to take those who wish to return to the Bastion. I’ll bring all the others to the Treasoner camp out west. I can’t say I’m not relieved when Hannah raises her hand to go with Imogen.
Plans made, we don’t delay. We’ve all spent far too much time in the confines of these fences. The Hunters remain hidden in their quarters. This time, it is their faces I see peering out the windows as we depart.
That evening, we set up camp in the desert underneath a shimmering blanket of stars. I feel like collapsing, and no doubt so does everyone else. But that doesn’t stop them from finding old branches to turn into a bonfire. Instruments appear, and music soon echoes into the clear and warm night. Food is pulled from packs and shared around. We are not too tired to celebrate.
Leif and I steal away, spreading our blankets out in the dark where no one can see. He kicks off his boots, peels his shirt and breeches off. Only his drawers are left on. I do the same. It’s warm, but I curl up in his arms anyway.
“My Raven, my Woman King. I don’t think I’ve ever … mmmm ….” He sighs, unable to continue whatever he was about to say. He kisses the top of my head and works his way down my cheek to my mouth. His fingers catch in my hair, holding my face immobile against his. Not that I’d pull away. The opposing sensations of liquid warmth and shivers fill my entire body, and it is just … exquisite.
I finally lean back so I can see his full face. I touch his cheek, where only slight traces of the cuts and bruises from his captivity remain. “Thank you for today. I couldn’t have done it without you by my side.”
He places his hand over mine, then moves both of them down so he can kiss my palm. “I couldn’t imagine being anywhere else. I’ve been dreaming of this day, Raven. For so long. I knew you were destined to do this. Long before we even met.”
Before I can stop them, Hannah’s words echo in my memory.
I put my head on my elbow, looking at Leif, my face serious. “What did her promise her, Leif?”
“Hmm? Promise who—what?”
“Hannah. What did you promise her?” Even in the dark, he can’t hide his sheepish look.
“Oh, that—I promised to marry her.”
I sit up. Furious. “What?”
But he’s laughing. “I think we were nine at the time. And my offer’s expired.” He looks at his wrist, like he’s checking an imaginary watch. “Yep, it has.”
“Does she know that?”
He smiles and touches my cheek softly. “What does it matter? She can imagine whatever she wants. This is the only thing that’s real.” He kisses me on the mouth again, hard this time. Declaring me his, and his only.
I kiss him back, harder.
We continue on in the morning, eager to reunite with the rest of the Treasoners back at the mountain camp. With food and water supplies low, we make our way southeast, heading directly for the main road. We stop for brief rests and sleep for only a few hours a night.
Nile and Leif walk together for much of the time. They fill each other in on what’s happened since the last time they saw each other, right before Leif departed with me to Nuimana the first time. They both talk with their hands, animating their stories in the same way, throwing their heads back in unison with laughter. I can’t hear what they are saying, but I adore watching them together. Like father, like son.
I think of my own papa, back in Baldachin, and I miss him. I hope he and Mum are safe. Miss Lilith too. I have to believe that what Araroa said isn’t true, that he was just bluffing about Baldachin burning. But I saw them with my own eyes—the plumes of smoke, burning villages—and I can’t help the dark fear that Baldachin could be one of them. I remind myself that I did what I could: I warned them of what Araroa was planning to do. I can only hope that they heeded my warning and got away. These Treasoners—these people—are my responsibility now.
After a day of traveling, we reach the main road that we’ll take across the mountains. It is deserted of Hunters, their posts abandoned.
We see no one else on the road. I watch the sky for signs of wildegaards, although I know I’ll hear them long before I see them. Araroa promised to leave the bearcats to be free on their own, but I certainly didn’t keep my end of that deal. So far, there are no signs of the wildegaards, or the bearcats.
A week later, we’ve crossed the pass. Nile leads us north into the trees toward the Treasoner camp.
He’s just announced that we’re only an hour away when I hear the sound of horses coming toward us.
We all stop and wait, weapons at the ready.
But I recognize the familiar footsteps. The black and brown horses appear between the trees with Tui and Catriona atop them.
When Tui sees me aboard Pearl, he shakes his head in disbelief. He jumps down from Pango and strolls over to me. I swing myself onto the ground and meet him with a huge hug.
He steps back, his eyes scanning me. They stop on the crown I’m still wearing—I’ve only removed it to sleep. He bows deeply.
When he comes up, he’s grinning widely. “You left a treevillager and returned as a Woman King of Nadir. How did that happen?”
“I’m not a Woman King here, not yet anyway,” I protest. “I just told old Araroa that I will be when he’s gone. I’m not sure he’s taken the news very well.”
Tui’s face grows serious. “Ah. That explains it, then.”
“Explains what?”
“Why the Hunters have disappeared. I guess their job is done.” Anger takes over his face. His jaw moves as he clenches his teeth.
“I saw the smoke,” I explain. “When we were sailing out. I knew I had to come back.”
Tui shakes his head. “I wish I’d never joked about that. Because now it’s true. Araroa has burned any village he suspected of harboring Treasoners.”
We stand there as the seconds tick by. Neither of us wants to say the thing we are both thinking.
“Baldachin?” I finally ask.
Tui grabs me into his arms again. “I haven’t been back yet, but the news is not good. I’ve heard Baldachin has been burned too.”
A take a deep, shuddering breath. I can feel a million tears trying to spill out. But my eyes stay dry. I’ve known this was going to be the consequence I’d have to pay eventually. That everyone I’ve loved—who has loved me—has had to pay dearly for my life.
I let go of Tui and step back. I don’t know what more to say. I look at the other Treasoners scattered around, watching us. Anxious to get back to their own families. Nile and Leif, they’ve put their lives on the line too. But it’s not for me that they’ve done so.
Their hope has driven them to it—for a better kingdom, better lives. A more fair and just society. To put things right, after all these hundreds of years since Sione was killed.
I look back at Tui and take his hand. He squeezes it.
“Then I’ll have to help them rebuild it,” I say.
We arrive at the camp to great fanfare. The forest erupts in jubilee as families are reunited. Parents grab their small children who were left behind and swing them joyfully in the air. Husbands and wives, forcefully separated, cling to each other, as if they’ll never let go again.
I’m searching for the little girl with blond curls. I spot her with a group of other children scanning the crowd anxiously. I walk over and offer my hand to her. “Come with me, Rosie. There are some people here looking for you.”
We return to the group of newly arrived Treasoners, where her parents and older brother are waiting. Rosie pulls her hand from mine, runs, and jumps into her father’s waiti
ng arms. I leave the four of them in their own little world, hugging tearfully. I smile, watching them, proud that I’ve finally kept a promise.
I wipe a few of my own tears from my eyes, then go to find my own family, Leif and Nile. As I walk around, I spot Tui and Catriona unsaddling the horses in a clear area off to the side of the camp. Tui looks around, but he doesn’t see me. He grabs Catriona up in his arms and kisses her deeply. She’s hesitant at first, then melts into him.
There’s a pang in my chest. I try to ignore it, chalking it up to being overprotective. Catriona’s a tracker, and they are flighty; she’s not going to want to settle down, baking pies for Tui. Although, I could hardly call Tui a homebody now.
I move on and soon find Leif and Nile up to their elbows in blood and entrails. They are helping with the carving of a large wild boar, recently caught and killed. “Feast tonight! To celebrate,” Leif says, grinning, then returns to his work.
I gladly leave them to it and continue my stroll around the camp, talking to people, listening to their stories. Again and again they thank me, but each time I shake my head and protest. It’s Imogen and Nile and the many others who have coordinated all this. I’ve hardly done a thing.
As the evening sets in, the fire is stoked and I settle down on a nearby log. The air is quickly cooling, up here on the mountain, and I relish the heat on my face and body. Music starts up, and the children whirl about, dancing and laughing. The boar is simmering in the underground oven, and the delicious smell permeates the air around us, making my mouth water. I’m trying to remember the last time I had a real meal.
“Some wine, m’lady?” Leif appears before me, bearing a small cup. I accept it gratefully, patting the log beside me. He sits down and stretches his long legs out in front of him, moving closer to me at the same time so his body leans into mine. Leif holds his own glass toward me. “To you and me,” he says.
“To you and me.” I clink my glass against his, take a small sip. The fermented apple wine burns my throat, makes my eyes water. But I know it’s a treat to have all the same, out here in the camp.
“What’s next?” I ask him.
“We eat,” he answers with a smile, rubbing his belly with exaggeration.
I nudge him with my elbow. “You know that’s not what I mean.”
“Let’s talk about it again when Imogen gets here.”
“She’s coming?”
He pauses, just a second. “Yes, that’s what I gathered when I spoke with her briefly the other day—” But he’s interrupted by the sight of Rosie bearing two plates piled high with food.
“For you, m’lady, sir,” she says, bowing her head.
Leif and I each take a plate from her. “Thank you, Rosie,” I tell her with a smile. She runs off, suddenly shy.
Leif and I devour our meals. But by the time I eat the last bite, I can barely keep my eyes open.
“Bed?” he whispers. I nod, yawning again.
He takes my plate from me, sets it on the log beside him, and pulls me up to stand. He leads me to the largest tent, placed at the far end of the clearing.
“What’s this?” I ask.
“Accommodation fit for a Woman King,” he says, holding the door flap aside so I can enter. Dozens of candles burn from the ground along the perimeter, throwing a soft glow around the tent. There’s a large pallet bed at the center piled with pillows and soft blankets. A table and two chairs, set with evening tea. I take the crown off and lay it on the table, then remove my jacket and sword belt, placing them on one of the chairs.
“Did you have something to do with this?”
“I may have. You deserve a good rest after what you’ve done these past few days.” Leif leans over and kisses my forehead, then starts toward the doorway of the tent.
I grab his arm. “Wait! Where are you going?”
He turns back to me, his face bearing a look of disappointment. “It would be improper, wouldn’t it? For me to stay?”
I look over at the bed, so inviting, considering this. “Maybe. But I’m a Woman King. And if I want you in my bed tonight, so shall it be.”
I watch Leif’s face; his mouth twitches, fighting a grin. Eventually, he gives up and snatches me up into his arms. We fall onto the bed, laughing. I’m sure the sound carries far into the night. But I don’t care.
We lie there, our eyes locked. Floating. Music drifts in from the reveling outside, but my ears barely register it. That’s the moment I’m certain I want this boy, here with me, no matter where we are, forever.
Chapter 27
Leif
I’m watching Raven and Imogen spar in a wildflower-filled meadow. Raven’s skin is glistening with sweat. Her sleeves are pulled up, arm muscles taut and hard as she swings Fortissima. Strong. She’s pulled her hair up, but it’s starting to come loose. She pauses to wipe the river of sweat from her eyes, tucks a strand of hair behind her ear. Then the two are at it again. Imogen has always been impressive with a sword, but Raven’s learning fast. She parries nearly every one of Imogen’s thrusts, and I can tell my aunt is starting to tire.
I am the luckiest man alive in this kingdom. In all of them.
Panting and waving goodbye to Imogen, Raven joins me where I’m sitting, back against a tree. She kicks off her boots and stretches her legs out alongside mine, wriggling her toes in the grass.
I sniff the air with exaggeration. “Maybe we should go down to the river today? Take a little swim?”
She laughs. It’s still the most beautiful sound I’ve ever heard. “Are you saying I smell bad?”
I raise an eyebrow. “Not necessarily. More as in, I like watching you swim in your skivvies.”
She jabs me with her elbow. But she’s laughing again.
I was sure relieved when Imogen appeared at the Treasoner camp two mornings after I promised Raven she would. The truth is, I hadn’t known Imogen was going to join us at all. But I didn’t want anything tempting Raven back to the Bastion. Not yet.
“Have you changed your mind? Are you going to do it?” I ask, offering a bladder of water to her.
She takes a big gulp, shaking her head at the same time. “No, and yes,” she says, wiping the water droplets from her chin. “I’m going to announce our plan tonight at the bonfire.”
“Good. I can’t wait.”
“Neither can I, to be honest.”
I can’t wait to get her in the river. I jump up and grab her hand, dragging her down to the water with me.
As evening falls and the bonfire grows, I wait outside the tent while Raven gets dressed for dinner. I’m pacing back and forth, anxious. My stomach churns, which I can’t figure out. I finger the cloth in my hand, hoping she likes it.
And then she emerges. Her hair is down, draped around her shoulders, clean from the time we spent in the river. Her face glows, her beautiful sapphire crown resting on her forehead.
I hold out the cloth to her. She touches the soft wool, woven strands of blue and green. “It’s a gift from the women in the camp. They made it for you.”
“It’s beautiful,” she says. I drape the cloth around her shoulders, securing it with a small knot. I can’t imagine colors that would suit her more. Her eyes sparkle, a deep ocean blue tonight.
“Ready?” I ask, offering my hand. She takes it.
When we appear at the center of the camp, the Treasoners erupt in cheers. Imogen is already standing before them. I let go of Raven’s hand so she can join my aunt, and hang back next to Tui and Catriona.
Imogen whispers something in Raven’s ear. But Raven shakes her head no, and Imogen steps aside so Raven can speak.
“Thank you, everyone, for hosting me and my friends so graciously. I know that this is not your home, but you have made me feel at home. I also know that many of your homes are gone. Many of your families are still missing. I want you to know that I will help you find them, all of them. Mine is gone too—” Her voice cracks. I watch her taking deep breaths, composing herself. “But I will find them, and I wil
l build another home. I will help all of those in our kingdom who are now homeless due to the cruelty of King Araroa.”
She looks right at me, and I grin back. Our eyes are locked as she pauses, gathering strength. She looks away, scanning the crowd. They’re listening to her with rapt attention. “Imogen asked me, months ago, if I would lead this revolution. She asked me if I’d nurture this dream, our dream, of a kingdom free from the tyranny of King Araroa. But I never answered her. Tonight, before all of you, I will.”
Raven pulls Fortissima from the sheath. She holds the silver sword vertically before her, then strikes the blade down, burying the point deep into the earth. She lowers to one knee. “I swear to all of you before me: I am your servant. I was born to be your Woman King, and I will be, to the best of my ability.”
The crowd remains silent, reverent. There’s only the sound of the crackling fire behind us. But the relief, the gladness, emanates into the night. Imogen is standing a few feet away from Raven. She bows her head and then kneels. Then, one by one, the Treasoners each kneel before our Woman King. Including me.
But I can’t take my eyes off her. It’s the bravest thing I’ve ever seen her do.
Slowly, Raven returns to standing and slides Fortissima back into the leather sheath. She motions with her hands, and we all rise up. She clears her throat nervously. “I have something to ask of someone, as well. Leif?” She’s waving at me. For a second I’m not sure what she wants. Then I understand she’s asking me to join her in front of everyone.
I take a step toward her. My heart hammers in my chest. Tui pushes me gently forward, which I’m thankful for, as my legs have forgotten how to work. Somehow, I find myself standing before her, her hair and face radiant in the fire and moonlight.
She take my hands, holds them tightly. Her face is beaming up at me, and I melt into her smile. I forget we’re standing in front of a hundred people, all watching us intently. And I can tell she does too.
Bravura Page 24