Crush the King (Crown of Shards #3)(123)
I still didn’t know why Seraphine had ordered her geldjagers to bring me in alive, or what she truly wanted with me, but I would have to be careful of her.
Seraphine and Driscol headed for the Mint, so I put them out of my mind and looked at Maeven again. She was still staring at me, so I lifted my hand and snapped off a mocking salute to her. The queen’s hands clenched into fists, and purple lightning crackled around her fingertips, but she couldn’t hit me with her magic, not given the distance between us.
Maeven whirled around, stormed off, and vanished from sight. Leonidas followed her, with Lyra hopping along behind him.
I stayed on the rise, admiring the view, until the scent of cold, clean vanilla mixed with a hint of spice filled my nose. A strong arm slipped around my waist and pulled me close.
“What are you thinking about?” Sullivan asked. “Surely you aren’t worrying about Maeven again.”
I shook my head. “No. She’ll be far too busy dodging assassins to send any of her own after me anytime soon. No, I was thinking about what I was doing this time last year.”
“And what was that?”
“I was making gingerbread houses with the children of some senators who were visiting Seven Spire for the yuletide season. Doing my usual duties as the royal standin. Being invisible. Plotting my escape from the palace and my unhappy life.”
“And look at you now,” Sullivan murmured.
“And look at me now,” I echoed.
His gaze searched mine. “Are you happier now than you were back then?”
I looped my arms around his waist. “Strangely enough, I am. Oh, don’t get me wrong. I would be ecstatic if I never had to face down another assassin or deal with a court full of scheming, demanding nobles, but we both know that’s not going to happen.”
Sullivan grinned. “No, probably not.”
“But I am happy,” I continued. “Not necessarily because I’m queen, but because I’m helping people and protecting Bellona. Or at least trying to.”
“What? I don’t even get a mention?” he teased, his blue eyes bright in his handsome face.
“Well, that depends. What have you done for me lately?” I teased him back.
Sullivan arched an eyebrow, but he leaned forward and whispered in my ear. “Well, there are certain activities we engaged in last night that can be repeated anytime you like, highness.”
A delicious shiver ran through me as I thought back to all the things we had done together—and all the exquisite pleasure we had brought each other. “Oh, I think that can be arranged.”
“Excellent,” Sullivan murmured. “But why wait until tonight? Let’s get started right now.”
He lowered his head, and his lips found mine. I opened my mouth, stroking my tongue against his, even as I breathed in, letting his clean vanilla scent sink deep down in my lungs—
“Ugh! Are you two at it again?” a familiar voice sounded. “I thought you would at least wait until we got back to the palace before you started up with that again.”
Sullivan and I broke apart to find Paloma standing a few feet away, rolling her eyes.
The rest of our friends were here as well. Serilda, Cho, Auster, Xenia. All happy and smiling, knowing that we had won this battle.
My friends stepped up beside Sullivan and me, so that we formed a line on the rise. Once again, I looked toward Morta, but the guards had finished burying the strixes, and the servants had finished taking down the tents. The Mortans were gone, and they wouldn’t bother us again for a good long while.
“Let’s go home,” I said.
*
Several days later, we arrived at Svalin and rode in open carriages through the city, slowly but surely heading back to Seven Spire. I was in a carriage with Sullivan next to me and Paloma and Xenia sitting across from us. Serilda, Cho, and Auster were in the carriage behind us.
People filled the streets and plazas, yelling, cheering, screaming, whistling, and waving flags and pennants bearing my crown-of-shards crest. Even though most of them hadn’t been at the Regalia, they still had heard about everything that had happened, and they wanted to celebrate.
Paloma received the majority of the cheers, since she was the winner of the Tournament of Champions, and more than a few little girls and boys were waving flags with fierce ogre faces. Color tinted Paloma’s cheeks, as though she were embarrassed by all the attention, but the ogre on her neck was grinning wide. I was so happy for my friend. My people had embraced both sides of her, just as Paloma herself had done by morphing in the arena in front of everyone.
Xenia leaned over and murmured something in Paloma’s ear, and my friend nodded back. Xenia looked out over the cheering crowd again, but Paloma kept staring at the older woman, as did her inner ogre. On the way back to Svalin, Paloma had finally read the letter I’d given her. She hadn’t talked to me about it yet, and she hadn’t told Xenia my theory, but I could see the longing in her eyes whenever she looked at the other ogre morph.
I wasn’t worried, though. The two of them would find each other when the time was right. But for now we all had this moment to enjoy, so I turned my attention back to the crowd, smiling, waving, and soaking up the adoration.
The cheers were louder and my sense of pride was greater than anything I had ever imagined in any childhood dreams.
Eventually, we crossed the Retribution Bridge and went over to Seven Spire, where the palace servants and guards cheered just as loudly as the people in the streets had. It was a raucous atmosphere, and I decided to throw my own ball to let everyone have one final, glorious celebration before we all got back down to the normal business of running the kingdom again.