A Rip of Realms (A Shade of Vampire #39)(31)

Ash raised his arms, signifying silence.

“Tejus is not to blame for any of this. Today we will forgive the rulers who came before us.” He glanced toward Tejus, who had come to stand at Hazel’s side. “Forgive them their mistakes, so that we can save Nevertide from the entity—so we can build ourselves a better future. One that isn’t shrouded in lies and deceit, divided by rulers and their subjects; one where each sentry can choose their future. It will come at a price, but it will be the price of freedom. I urge you to join me, to join us.”

“I will pay that price—I will fight for my freedom.” A voice, distinctly female, came from the back of the lawn. I couldn’t see who it belonged to, until the crowds parted and a familiar face appeared. It was Queen Memenion. She walked toward us, as radiantly beautiful as I remembered, flanked by her ministers, a soft smile on her face.

“Well said, Emperor Ashbik.” She bowed low as she reached the palace. “The kingdom of Memenion pledges our allegiance to you—as my husband would have wanted it, so it shall be.”

I glanced up at Ash. He swallowed, speechless, and then returned the bow.

“I see many of you are in need of medical assistance,” she commented, looking around the groups of sentries from Hellswan and then those from the other kingdoms. “If you agree, your imperial highness, I can take those who are critically sick or injured back to my palace—we haven’t incurred too much damage from the earthquake. Miraculously, we avoided the largest fissure through the earth — my home and our grounds still stand.”

“Thank you,” Ash replied, “that would be a great help, your highness.”

“Ruby.” Queen Memenion turned to me. “It’s a pleasure to see you again. I was very saddened to hear of Commander Varga.” She lowered her eyes, and a look of physical pain flashed across her expression.

“And I am sorry to hear about your husband,” I replied quietly. At this, the queen merely nodded, thanking me. I wondered why the news of Varga’s death seemed to cause her more pain than that of King Memenion. Was it because she knew of her son’s likely role in it? Or was it something more personal than that?

I wanted to ask Ash if he thought it was safe for the sentries to go to a palace where the queen’s son was a known member of the Acolytes, but I couldn’t ask with the queen present. She probably had no idea.

“I will take my leave, then. Please don’t hesitate to contact me should you require further assistance.”

“Your highness.” Ash stopped her before she turned to leave. “Queen Trina—”

“We are on our guard,” Queen Memenion replied before he said anything further. “I know what she is. Don’t concern yourself with that. We will be ready for her.”

I heaved a sigh of relief. If Queen Memenion knew about Queen Trina, then she would also know about the Acolytes—the sentries in her care would be protected. I realized we were putting a lot of faith in the woman being more like her husband than her son…but it was a leap of faith that we would have to take. We couldn’t look after everyone here; we just didn’t have the space or the facilities.

Slowly the crowd started to disperse. I even saw the Hellswan guards helping those who were less able to walk, and the ministers offering their assistance to others from different kingdoms. It looked like Ash’s plan was coming into effect already.

“I am so unbelievably impressed with you,” I muttered as we turned to walk indoors. “The stuff you said in that speech…you were born for this, Ash. You were born to lead people.”

“Thanks, Shortie.” He grinned, a more genuine smile this time. “I’m going to speak to the guards about leaving for Hellswan. I’ll come and find you when I’m finished?”

I nodded, remaining in the doorway.

It was only as I watched his retreating figure that I realized that perhaps I needed to start getting used to the idea that the dream Ash and I had once shared—about him coming back to Earth with me when the time came—was probably over. It hurt.

It hurt a lot.

“Ruby?” Hazel came to stand next to me, glancing first at me and then at Ash as he went off into one of the rooms, followed by an assortment of guards.

“Are you all right?”

“No,” I whispered, “I don’t think so.”

“It will work out. Somehow.”

She held my hand tightly, knowing, without me having to explain a thing.





Hazel





By the time the commotion had died down, it was too late to head out to the castle. We would be leaving first thing tomorrow morning, and until then we just had to wait. Ruby and I had tried to keep ourselves busy by making sure everyone got fed. For the first hour or so, I tried to keep Ruby occupied with inane prattle, but it was difficult…it wasn’t exactly a skill of mine, and too much had happened since we’d arrived in Nevertide to keep conversation light.

“I’m impressed with how the herbs are working,” Ruby commented as we sorted through more damp sheets. “How is it feeling? Have you been hungry?”

“No—it’s been amazing, actually. I didn’t expect it to work so well…I mean, my powers are next to useless, and I feel a bit like I’m floating around in a medicated bubble—but other than that, it’s great!”