Page 113 of An Honored Vow

She crossed her arms, already bored. “Of course I will.” She swirled her arms along the inside of the tent and a portal opened. “Now hurry before the night comes and goes,” she said with a grin as she tossed a bag through the portal.

Riven pulled me toward it but I let go of his hand and pulled Dynara in for an embrace. Her body stiffened and then relaxed into mine. “Be safe,” I told her.

She pressed a kiss to my cheek. “After tomorrow we won’t have to be.”

She didn’t say the haunting part aloud.

If we survived.

Riven tugged on my hand, only his forearm still in the tent with us. I laughed and waved goodbye as Dynara closed the portal behind me.

Riven stooped to pick up the bag with his hook as I realizedwhere we were. The ghost city was silent. Not even the wind dared to breathe as Riven led us to a large tree on the western edge of Vellinth.

The large orb of water hung above us, glowing silver in the full moonlight, casting long stripes along the dwellings in the trunks of the trees. All of them sat empty, except for the one directly ahead. A small faelight hovered around us as we walked up the steps. I gasped as I took in the dwelling. It was small, but lived in. A well-worn carpet covered the floor in a circle to match the shape of the room. On one edge sat a large bed with soft green coverlets and on the other two alcoves. One filled with Riven’s clothes and one with mine. I turned to him.

“I had it stocked at the same time as your burl in Myrelinth.” Riven looked down at his boots.

“But you didn’t show this to me the last time we were here.”

His brow went as straight as his mouth. His jade eyes settled on me, heavy and protective. “I didn’t want your ghosts to haunt this place too. Not when I planned …” He took in a deep breath as his words trailed off.

I tilted my head. “When you planned what,rovaa?”

Riven’s body melted around mine at the sound of my pet name for him. I gave into his warmth. We were two wicks of the same candle, burning together.

“This is the only place that I ever truly felt at home.” Riven swallowed against my ear before pulling back. He pushed a stray hair behind the point of my ear and cupped my cheek. The callouses along his palm scratched at my skin, but I loved their roughness. “This is the only place where I never had to hide. Everyone who came here, everyone who has ever stood by my side in this city knew my secret.”

“It’s home.” My lips quivered as I looked around the room again. The embroidered tapestry over the bed was stitched crooked, a gift from Vrail or Nikolai most likely. The swords and daggers that hungalong the wall were well worn, some dented. They were bookended by two curved blades that almost made a circle of steel, identical to Syrra’s. The same thin layer of dust that covered them covered the piles of books and the two full shelves that sat on either side of the bed. The room was a true representation of Riven—where the warrior Fae and the studious prince rested wearing whatever face he had liked.

“I hoped it would be ours.” Riven’s thumb ran along my jaw, calling my attention back to him. “I dreamed of days when my focus could be rebuilding this city, creating a safe haven for Halflings. I had lived through so many fantasies of it when I trained here, I could picture the full houses and the laughter, and Darythir happily teaching signed Elvish to all the newcomers. But from that day in Cereliath, those dreams changed. I just wanted to bring you here, to watch you turn it into something beautiful.”

I scoffed. “I don’t think I’ve made anything beautiful in my entire life.” I looked down at my hands.

Riven’s brows creased as he stared down at me. He pressed a kiss over one of my eyes and then the other. “Elverath herself saw the beauty you had inside you, the beauty you’ve always had inside you. Why else do you think you were given such gifts?”

I shook my head. “To bring magic and the Fae back.”

Now Riven shook his head. “You have focused too long on destroying the Crown. You forget your goal was always to build something better in its place. To build something just and fair and free.” Riven put his hand over mine like they were the most precious jewels in the continent. “Ensuring the Shades wore color as soon as they could.” Riven’s breath caught in his throat. “Designing spectacles for Maerhal so she didn’t spend any more days in darkness. Forgiving me for deceiving you because you saw strength and hope in forgiveness where I saw none.” Riven kissed the back of my palm.“You focus only on what your blade has cut and ended, but you forget how much you have fostered and grown, Keera Waateyith’thir.”

Riven stared at me with nothing but awe in his eyes. It was palpable, addictive even, as I breathed that hope into my lungs. But each breath was tinged with fear too. “And what if I can’t build anything after tomorrow?”

Riven’s hand tightened on mine. “Don’t say something like that,diizra.” He could only manage a whisper.

I shook my head. It wasn’t dying for my people that scared me. “What if we survive the battle, but after everything we’ve done, after everyone we’velost—” My breath hitched. “What if it all scars me too much, leaves me sullen and useless forever?”

Riven caressed my cheek. “Then you will be sullen and useless. For as long as you need. But then when you have fretted long enough, we can step out of the shadows. Together.”

My lip quivered against his thumb. “Together,” I repeated. The promise we had made each other wrapped around me like a lifeline, one I knew Riven would never stop tossing down to me if I fell back into that pit of darkness.

I pulled him into a kiss. This time he was not the hungry and desperate one. I tore at his tunic until it lay on the floor in two ragged pieces without letting my mouth leave his. Pressing my body against his chest wasn’t enough. I needed to be closer.

Riven met my hunger with his own. He pulled my shirt over my head—sharp and swift. We didn’t have a moment to spare. We breathed each other in instead of air, Riven’s hand tangled in my hair, mine scratching his back, his chest, his arm.

I stopped. Riven was still wearing his sleeve. His jaw pulsed as I pressed a kiss to his shoulder, trailing my lips down what was left of his arm as I undid the fasteners.

Riven grunted. “I can do it,diizra.” But I shook my head. Riven had always been so gentle with my scars, from the very first moment he had seen them he never made me feel ashamed or embarrassed by the difference of my body. I wanted to do the same for him. I slipped off his sleeve and caressed the healed end where his arm had been.

Riven’s neck flexed as I pressed my lips to it and then pulled it to my chest. His eyes shifted away from me, but I grabbed his cheek and pulled him into a kiss. Riven groaned into my mouth, wrapping his arm around my back as he pulled me into him. His lips curved around mine like strokes of ink, decisive and well-practiced. His mouth moved to my throat and I claimed his shoulder.

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