Page 138 of A Crown of Deceit & Ruin

“It’s alright,” Kestrel said, a touch of wonder to her tone for even she couldn’t believe her eyes. “You can’t hurt me.”

Peeling one eye open, Elora peered down at their entwined fingers. Her magenta eyes had never blazed brighter. She looked up at Kestrel then, a heady concoction of fear and hope and longing reflected in those glimmering eyes.

“That’s…impossible,” Elora breathed, but her fingers tightened around Kestrel’s, testing their hold. “How are you still alive?”

A smirk inched up one side of Kestrel’s face. “I promise I’ll tell you all about it, once we’re somewhere a little safer.”

With the ring now in her possession, Kestrel looped the necklace back around her neck as the gravemoors and rootless jerked away, begrudgingly retreating back into the crevices of the earth and trees from whence they came.

With their snarling gone, Kestrel could better hear the guards shouting, somewhere farther in the distance than she had previously feared. Leighton was still barking orders, commanding his guards to locate and bring back the two runaway princesses, dead or alive. Distantly, she thought she heard Micah trying to plead with him to have mercy, but she was certain she’d misheard him. A trick of the mind trying to ease the heartache of guilt that was already threatening to consume her.

“Come on, we’ve got to find the exit.”

As they sped off into the forest, Kestrel kept her gaze fixed forward, toward an uncertain future, one without any promise of safety and refuge. They had lost everything—Irongate, their friends, Kestrel’s family—and now they were being spat back out into the Wilds like rabid animals. Like fugitives.

She supposed that’s what they were now, and she couldn’t pretend to know the full weight of what that meant yet.

Eventually, the two princesses emerged near the south end of the Hollows from what Kestrel could tell, judging by the familiar drier lands of Vallonde.

“Cursed sky!” Elora exclaimed, glancing across the expanse and likely noting the sparse foliage. “We’re too out in the open here. There’s nowhere to take cover and lay low so you can rest.”

She was right. Vallonde always had been a desolate place. It was jarring coming face to face with it again, even though Kestrel had only been in the lush kingdom of Irongate for a short while.

But a thought struck her.

“When the princes and I came up this way, we had sand-gliders. They were too big or maybe just not well-equipped for the terrain of Irongate, so we left them just outside the mountain pass. Maybe they’re still there?”

“If they’re Irongate property, I’m sure they’re well-guarded.”

Elora was probably right. Not to mention, they’d still have to travel around the Hollows to reach them. Kestrel cursed, knowing they were running out of options and time.

“Then I guess we just start walking and hope no one else makes it through the Hollows until we’re too far away to see.”

Tightening her arm around Kestrel’s waist, Elora nodded and tugged her along.

A lot had gone wrong in the Hollows. Things had happened that Kestrel knew hadn’t fully sank in yet, and when they did, they would make her ache in ways she had likely never imagined. There was still a lot left for her to figure out. But at least for now, leaving with the Princess of Eynallore at her side, Kestrel felt likethey would be alright. Like as long as they had each other, it wasn’t a mistake that she had left her tower. It couldn’t be. Because if Kestrel had stayed in her tower, Elora would still be a prisoner. And Kestrel would likely still be in her tower, waiting for Thom’s arrival, and it would never come. She wouldn’t know anything about her mother. About her own lineage and power.

Even with everything that had gone wrong, Kestrel knew—believed beyond a doubt—that she and Elora were somehow exactly where they were meant to be.

As the Hollows began to fade behind them, the uncertainty grew in Elora’s expression until she could bear it no longer.

“What are we going to do now?”

Kestrel laughed, a bitterness to it as she considered everything storming through her mind. There were so many answers to that question, and Kestrel was still parsing through them all. She still wanted to save Darius—only, that would be near-impossible now. And her mother? She didn’t even know where to begin to look, but Darius had suspected she was alive and Kestrel now knew he was right. She had seen it. That power had not destroyed Aenwyn, just like Kestrel’s power had not destroyed her. The only question was: where had she gone then?

And none of that took into account the likely numerous things Elora wanted to do now that she was free.

But they could do none of it until they were rested, and Kestrel healed.

“For now? We find somewhere to rest. For a day, maybe two. But I think we’re going to need it for everything that lies ahead of us.”

“Us?” Elora tried guarding the edge of hope in her voice, but it was to no avail.

And honestly, Kestrel was glad. They deserved hope between the two of them, after everything they had endured.They deserved to forge a life for themselves, to make their own choices, and to have each other by their sides. They still had much to discuss. Much to discover about each other. But Kestrel was looking forward to the freedom they both had now, and what it might do for their budding relationship.

Kestrel stopped walking. She turned toward Elora, taking her hands into her own.

Elora flinched, but hopefully in time, she would learn that her touch could not harm Kestrel. That they were meant for each other.

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