Page 94 of A Crown of Darkness

‘Grandmaster?’

‘I don’t have time for this. Where is she?’

‘The queen, you mean? Queen Aeryn of Asteroth? That queen?’ She grinned wickedly. ‘Thequeenis tending the injured. Her knights are with her. Well, Anselm. I’m not sure what Olivier is classed as now. He’s almost as gifted a healer as she is, you know? A remarkable talent. His instincts are exceptional. And to think, he was almost squandered on knighthood.’ She rolled her eyes at his glare and stepped aside. ‘Are you expecting me to stop you?’ she teased. ‘Dear me, when Elodie told me to bring you right to her when you stopped politicking and wanted to talk. Whatever will I do?’ Her laughter followed him as he went inside and he thought that this new light-hearted Maryn was potentially even more of a nightmare than before.

Elodie was sitting beside Ylena, who lay on a low cot-like bed, looking haggard, older than she ever had before. They were speaking softly to each other and Roland thought he heard apologies pass between them.

Not that Elodie was the only person Ylena owed apologies to. His own would be a long way down the list. But even so, he knew that the regent had only wanted to protect her niece andher kingdom. It had all gone horrifically wrong, but that was not entirely her fault. And she didn’t seem quite so proud anymore.

‘Elodie?’

She looked up at the sound of her name and smiled at him. It was as if the years fell away in that instant. She said a farewell to her aunt and joined him in the garden outside.

‘Where’s Wren?’ she asked. ‘Is she with Finn?’

‘I’m leaving the two of them to come to terms with…well, whatever they have to do to come to terms with their situation in their own time. It doesn’t seem fair.’

‘Duty isn’t fair,’ she murmured.

‘Yes, my queen.’

‘Don’t.’ The word was harsh. ‘Please,’ she tried again, gentler now. ‘Don’t call me that. Don’t make it all about that again. Please, Roland, love. I can’t bear it.’

‘Do you want to run away to the forest again? Because I think there will be a lot of people looking for you wherever you go. We need you, Elodie.’

‘I don’t care about them.’

‘That’s not true.’ He knew her too well. Elodie cared about everyone. She always had done. To the detriment of her own hopes and dreams.

‘I care aboutyou.’

The words were a shock, but this time one that made his heart soar. A dizziness made him blink at her, surprised to hear it stated so boldly. ‘And…and I you. Always.’

‘I don’t want to leave you again.’

‘Do you have a reason to?’

She gave him a stern look. ‘I am your queen, Grandmaster.’

Roland smiled. He couldn’t help himself. It was not an expression that sat particularly comfortably on his stony face, but it felt right there, after so many years. ‘That you are, Elodie.And my love. And the other part of my soul. Is that a reason to go away?’

‘No,’ she replied in a small voice.

‘Is it a reason to stay instead?’ He reached out to cup her face in his palm and she leaned in against him, closing her eyes for a moment, luxuriating in the caress. Her skin was so soft, and warm against the calluses of his fingers, fragile against his strength. And yet he also knew that was an illusion. There was no one stronger than Elodie. She was real and here, and his.

She moved quite suddenly and Roland was unprepared.

This time she kissed him, winding her arms around his neck so she could pull him close and hold him there as if she would never again let him go. Which was exactly where he wanted to be.

‘Then stay with me, El,’ he whispered, his lips still on hers as if he couldn’t bear to be any further away from her. ‘Now and forever.’

‘Roland,’ she told him, her voice gentler than he had ever heard it. ‘We have so much lost time to make up for.’

CHAPTER 56

WREN

Wren was hiding. She couldn’t face anyone right now.

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