Page 146 of Crown of Wrath

I look at the Throne that was always my father’s. She presses a kiss to my lips. “Go claim the Throne, King of Flames.”

I take a deep breath and do the thing that I’ve both dreaded and waited for my entire life. I climb the stairs to the chair made of crystallized dragon flames. Reds and oranges and golds. I put one hand on the garnet armrest and feel the power flowing through it. I swallow hard, but then I sit down.

And everything disappears.

Chapter 75

We live in a world where mountains can be moved. We live in a world where dragons rain fire on our enemies, but there is a universal truth that no one wants to accept. There is always an ending. An entire race of Immortals has been around for almost ten thousand years, and the oldest ones are only a thousand. Death comes for us all, and that is for the best. Goodbye, Mother. Thank you for everything you gave me. I would not be the woman I am without your touch.

~Echo Vael, mother, wife, and Queen of Shadows, personal journal

Maeve

My mother, Brenna Morvyn, stands in a linen dress that would be completely normal to see in a village like Blackgrove. It’s not a dress made of spellstones or even silk. Not a dress made of shadows made solid. No, those are things that nobles and Immortals wear. My mother is just a normal human with no powers.

But she’s smiling wider than I’ve ever seen. Da’s arm wraps around her waist, his fingers gripping her hip, and he’s just as happy as she is. My eyes are dry as I give them a wide smile. A month has passed since they left Draenyth together and took a wagon back to Blackgrove, along with all the other people who left Valinar together.

I’d offered to shadow walk both of them rather than make them spend a month on the roads, but my mother had turned me down. She told me she would enjoy a simple stroll through the countryside with no need to hurry. As long as my Da was at her side, of course.

Echo stands beside us, and unlike Cole and me, her eyes are filled with tears. Brenna may have given birth to me, but she raised Echo. And that was after my mother had learned of love. Of the two of us, she’s the one who knows my mother’s love, even though Brenna Morvyn was known to be heartless by the rest of the Immortals of Draenyth.

“You can come visit us,” she says to Echo. “It’s not like I can keep you from it!” she finishes with a laugh that feels so unlike her.

“But what am I supposed to do without you, Brenna? You’ve always been there at my side. You’ve always had answers for me. You’re going to grow old now. You’re going to… you’re going to die.”

My mother chuckles as if it’s the silliest thing she’s ever heard. “I was always going to die, Echo. This isn’t changing anything. At some point, every night ends so that the next night can come.Mine has passed, and yours is coming. But,” she moves to the fourteen-year-old girl who is anything but ready for the person she’s depended on her whole life to leave her, “you are cleverer than I ever was. Just as the rest of your generation of Conduits is better than their predecessors, so are you. You can learn from my mistakes. You have the book to learn our history. I believe in you, Echo. I trust you to be the pillar of our House.”

She smiles at the girl, and she wraps her arms around her in an embrace that truly feels motherly. “I will miss you, Echo. I will miss our time in Valinar. You… you let me be a mother when I shouldn’t have been allowed that right. You’ve made me so proud.”

Cole squeezes my hand, and I’m sure he thinks that this is like when his father had given himself to the void. It’s not. The woman before me was never my mother. And I’ve mourned my Da’s passing twice already. They’re not even dying. They’re just finally enjoying their lives, something that humans rarely get to do.

“I’m going to miss you, too,” Echo says through sobs. “And if I can’t figure something out…”

“You’re more than welcome to come visit. I’ll even make us some tea like I used to, though I doubt we have mistwood bark here.”

Echo chuckles, breaking the sobs up. “We’ll have to get creative, I guess.”

Brenna nods, a smile on her face. Then she kisses Echo’s forehead and says, “Trust the other Conduits, but don’t forget that you were my choice to take my Throne. You are clever. You are powerful. More than anything, you embody what it is to be House of Shadows, Echo. Vyran didn’t make a mistake when he made our House. Be strong. Be clever. But also, be you.”

Echo nods and sniffles, wiping her tears away with the back of her hand. “Okay. I’ll try. But Brenna, I’m going to come visit you.I’m going to spend a lot of time here because I’m only fourteen, and I have not had nearly enough training. And… and, I’m going to miss you.”

My mother smiles at her and wipes the tears from her cheeks, one hand on each side. “That sounds wonderful. Maybe Vesta will even come spend time with us. It’ll be just like it used to be.”

Echo nods again, much quicker than before, and it’s like she’s trying to keep from crying. Then she turns around and walks away. Brenna watches her go for a few moments, but then she moves to me. “Little Star,” she says with a smile. “No tears?”

“I only just met you,” I say, “and you’re not dying. You’re just becoming human, which isn’t a terrible thing in my mind. I’ll come visit, and we can actually get to know each other when the world isn’t depending on us to work together. I think it’s wonderful that you and Da get to live in Blackgrove again.”

She grins at me. “Somehow, that response doesn’t surprise me at all. You have a lot of your Da in you, you know? He’s always been so capable of accepting things. When my father decided it was time to pass the Throne of Shadows to me, I fought him. I tried to imprison him, thinking that he’d lost his mind. He was smarter than me, and he escaped just like he’d said he would. You… you just let it all happen.”

“It’s the right thing to do, Mother. We both know that you couldn’t be the Conduit any longer. Calyr needed the power to protect Nyth, and you didn’t want it. This is good. For you and for the world. It’s the only answer that made sense. And now I get to try some of your tea.”

She grins. “That’s very true. But it feels like the proper time to tell you I’m proud of you, too, Maeve. I was not the mother you deserved. I wasn’t even really a mother, but I’m glad you’re the woman that will carry my bloodline into the future. I believe in you. I believe in your power and your decisions and your dedication to this world.”

She doesn’t try to hug me as she did Echo. No, instead, she just gives me a smile and says, “I cannot wait to hear all of your stories when you come to visit us. Goodbye for now, Little Star. Thank you for being everything I dreamed you could be.”

I smile back at her, and she walks away. But my Da takes her place. He doesn’t say anything at first, but he gives me a big hug, and I squeeze just as hard. “You’ve made me so proud, Little Star,” he whispers. “But more than that, I love you, and I will miss you, so please don’t wait too long to visit. It’s not only your mother who wants to hear your stories or feels like she’s missed out on your life. I never expected to live for thousands of years, so I know just how valuable the years are.”

I nod to him, and a bit of sadness wells up inside me. “I won’t forget, Da. I love you, and I hope you and mother enjoy your days of peace. I’ll be around. It’s not like it’s a long walk for me.” I say it with a grin, but I know how busy I’m going to be.

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