Page 105 of An Honored Vow

Gerarda swallowed thickly. “I didn’t. I just wanted to protect El with everything I had.” She lifted her palms; one was covered in shadow and one was encased in pure light.

I huffed a laugh. “The gift of shadow and the power to destroy it.”

“Damien and hiswaateyshirakare not the threat they were yesterday,” Gerarda mused with a proud smirk on her face. I nodded but my throat tightened. Gerarda was right—those were only the first of the beasts she would kill with her gift. But that also meant something else. Damien knew what power she held. She had just become his biggest target in the battle for the capital. Elaran’s eyes filled with worry as she came to the same realization. Her grip on Gerarda’s arm tightened, but she pasted a smile onto her face. Tomorrow’s sorrows were not going to steal this victory from us.

CHAPTERFORTY

NIKOLAI RAN INTO THE INFIRMARY,cheeks puffy and breaths ragged. Rheih tutted her tongue as she inspected Riven’s newly healed stump.

“Fine job, Keera,” she said approvingly as her eagle eyes assessed the thinnest scar along the amputation. Guilt thrashed in my throat at the pride that swelled in my chest at her approval. Riven squeezed my hand with the one he still had. I had expected him to turn sullen as the reality of his changed body washed over him, but he seemed elated. Eerily so.

I didn’t have time to contemplate that because Nikolai threw himself onto Riven’s lap. His chest heaved through his sobs as he cried, “I’m so happy you are alive.”

“As am I.” Riven laughed. There was a sincerity to his words that set my worries at ease.

Nikolai wiped his cheeks with his sleeve. He hadn’t even changed into something that wasn’t stained with ash or blood.

“I just kept thinking that if you had died, you would have died with me angry at you.” He lifted his head, thick tears pooling down his cheeks as his lips trembled.

“But he didn’t die, Nik,” I whispered, trying to calm him.

He swatted my hand away. “But hecould haveand I would have spent centuries wondering if giving him my favor could have prevented it.”

I crossed my arms. “Prevented a sword cutting through his bone and skin?”

“No need to dwell on the details, Keera dear.” His lip curled over his fangs as he sniffled into a handkerchief. He turned his attention back to Riven, who was staring down at the Elf with round, misted eyes. “I shouldn’t have let my anger cause a split between us—”

“Nik, my decisions took everything from you.”

Tears welled along Nikolai’s lashes. “Not everything.” He wiped his eye. “And while I can still be angry at the decisions you made, it would be unfair of me not to be angry at myself. I could have told Keera the truth just as well as you. I did not have to keep your secret. Ichoseto.” He took a deep breath, his brows trembling. “And it is a choice I will have to learn to live with.”

Riven sat up. Rheih threw up her hands in annoyance, walking back to her station of herbs where they could not annoy her. Nikolai’s hand caressed the smooth skin at the end of Riven’s arm.

Nikolai gasped as Riven pulled him into a tight embrace, refusing to let him go even after a long second had passed. “I am the one who is sorry, more deeply than you could ever know.” Riven leaned back, his hand still squeezing Nikolai’s shoulder. “I know that the divide I created between us cannot be stitched back together quickly, but I will spend a year for every lie I told making it up to you if that’s what ittakes. And I will fight with everything I have to ensure we both survive this war so I will have the time to show you the truth of those words.”

Nikolai collapsed. His fingers lingered around the amputated limb and he shook his head. “My mother has told me many things. She left this life for one with the ancestors.”

Riven and I both froze, not daring to move as Nikolai finally spoke of Maerhal.

“She said that after this war there will be a new beginning,” he continued. “Cleansed in smoke and blood, fire and water, a new world will grow from the ashes.” Nikolai met Riven’s gaze with a forlorn look that tore at my soul. “I do not want to build a world that dwells on the pain of the past. Our people deserve better.” He looked up at me and squeezed Riven’s shoulder “Wedeserve better. I want to grow a new world for our people that sprouts from a soil of trust and forgiveness. Where friends live as close as brothers because to the Elverin we are all kin.”

Nikolai held out his hand for Riven to shake. “It would be an honor to fight for that future by your side, miijin.”

My brother.

Riven took a ragged breath and shook Nik’s hand before pulling him in for another embrace.

“I can make you something useful for your arm,” Nikolai mumbled through their limbs.

Gerarda leaned against the door with her arms crossed, so silent I hadn’t realized she was there. She rolled her eyes at the two still wrapped in each other’s arms. “So dramatic.”

“You could tell me.” Gerarda’s voice sounded out from the burl she shared with Elaran. “I can just act surprised when we get there.”

Elaran smiled down at where Gerarda sat in the chair in front of her. She had transformed Gerarda’s stoic room into something warm and soft despite the countless blades scattered across the walls and tables. She reached for a leather strap to tie off Gerarda’s braid, noticing me in the doorway. She smirked as Gerarda crossed her arms, her back to me.

“My lips are sealed, my love.”

Elaran’s amber eyes flashed to mine, but Gerarda didn’t notice. Instead, she grabbed Elaran by the waist of her trousers and pulled her between her knees. “I have a dozen tricks that could part those lips in a minute,loqva.”

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