Page 153 of Children of Virtue and Vengeance

When it mattered the most I let you down—

All this time I thought I was choosing my kingdom over my heart. I was too blind to realize that you were both—

“Inan!” I shout when he sprints down another flight of stone steps. He stops in his tracks, tripping up the soldiers that run behind him.

“Your Majesty—”

“Go,” Inan orders his guards.

The soldiers look back and forth between us. But despite the way they hesitate, Inan urges them on.

“This is between us,” he tells them as he turns to face me. “Get out while you still can.”

With no other choice, the soldiers run off, disappearing into the shadows. Their retreating footsteps quiet as they leave us alone.

“Go ahead.” Inan’s chest falls. He raises his hands in surrender. “I’m not going to fight you. Not anymore.”

The vow in his letters hits me as I descend from the last step:

Should our paths collide again, I will not raise my sword.

I am ready to end my life at your hand.

He was telling the truth…

The thought makes my fingers numb. Tzain was right.

Even when we crash, we intertwine.

The bronze piece he left in my ahéréburns at my neck as I force myself to walk toward him.

“The treasuries are located in the catacombs beneath the royal gardens,” he begins. “When the madness ends, take Tzain and someone you trust. Be mindful of how you distribute the wealth. And the military—” Inan stops himself, closing his eyes. “You already know you have to start over. But don’t forget to clean out each fortress. Our majacite is stockpiled there. Lone soldiers will try to use it against you.”

“What are you doing?” I stop him. “Why are you telling me this?”

“By tonight’s end, everyone who knows those secrets will be dead. The only chance Orïsha has is with you at the helm.”

His words hang in our silence. He’s so calm.

As if he doesn’t speak of his own death.

I swallow as I approach him, pushing past the pain in my chest. He almost gives me a smile when we come face-to-face.

“I’m glad—” his voice cracks. “I’m glad to see you again.”

“Don’t speak.” My fingers tremble as I raise my hand, placing it over his heart. His lifeforce crackles like a fire, prickling against my fingertips. He tenses as I start to pull, ripping it away from him. Everything that’s passed between us hits me as his life fades.

I see the moment our paths first crossed in the marketplace. Feel the shock it sent through my veins.

The vibration of his blade against my staff. The roar of the waterfalls.

The knife that carved through my back.

The rush of his lips on my neck.

I feel everything I don’t want to let in. All the ways he entered my heart.

“I’m sorry,” he chokes.

---