Page 127 of Of Vows and War: Special Edition
What a tragedy that they did not live to see this. That Winona never got to have all of the younglings she once dreamed of. That Pino never got to make Asher’s wedding dress and brag aboutknowing it would all happen. That Luca never got to hear Cyprus confess his unyielding love. Oftentimes, I found myself thinking about how unfair life was. How it seemed to wish nothing but pain and devastation on the masses. But as Noe squeezed my shoulders and I continued to move us, I felt like perhaps life was finally going easy on me. Maybe the horror would end momentarily.
“Thank you, Noe. I truly never thought I would be full of so much joy.” I admitted. Her answering smile was understanding and slightly forlorn. Noe and I knew hopelessness well, despite our knowledge coming from two vastly different upbringings. For us to have made it to where we currently stood was nothing short of a miracle. Together, as we finished our dance, we basked in that truth.
Before walking away at the end of the song, Noe looked up at me and framed my face with her hands. “You sure do look handsome with that crown, King Bellamy.” Hints of sarcasm were in her tone, but it was by far overpowered with love. Smiling, I winked at her and nodded towards Damon. He stood off in a corner, watching us. Always waiting for her. She sighed, saluting me before going to him. She would remind him they were just friends, but it would also make them both happy. They loved one another, even if they did so in different ways.
Seeing that Asher was talking to our guests, I went searching for Lian. Within seconds I found her, face stern as she stared off into the distance. The punch she was pouring leaked out of her cup, her hands unmoving. What had her thinking so hard?
“Plan on saving any for the rest of us?” I asked her. She startled, her brown eyes coming into focus and landing on me. I watched as she realized what I said, her face heating up and her mouth pursing.
“Just considering the future,” she admitted with a shrug. But it was not as careless as she let it seem. The future wasa horrifying beast yet to ever be defeated. We would all die at its hands someday. Some of us sooner than others. If she was considering the future, then she was probably unwell or unsure.
Staring at her, I tried to read her face to gain any information I could without pestering her. I worried about Lian. My captain and swordmaster. My friend. For so long, she remained unattached, alone save for a random female in her bed if she truly had the desire for company.But, after finding Ash, I realized how happy the right being could make someone even after great loss. Ash was happy now. Lian deserved that. She was owed better than she was given. But I guessed that was true about all of us.
“Is this about the pirate?” I asked, thinking of how the demon captain was making some kind of confusing statement by killing en masse. We gave her the license, I was no longer sure why she needed to loot when she could legally trade. Lian’s face paled. Confusion rattled me to the bone when she puffed out her chest, blue hair swaying in the wind.
“Why would you ask that?” Her question was nearly a shout. She looked…embarrassed?
“Because you just went to confront her and ended up in an agreement that will leave you stranded on her ship for a day every fortnight?” My tone left it sounding like more of a question than an answer, but Lian understood. She blew out a breath, nodding before tilting her head back and drinking the entire cup of punch.
“I am just tired. But how are you? How does it feel to be married? I still cannot believe you tricked Ash into walking down that aisle,” she teased, elbowing me. Even her jest felt half-hearted, and I found myself wondering what exactly happened on that ship that had left the normally rock solid Lian so rattled.
“Fooled her into thinking it was a line for free pastries and then bribed her with a crown, obviously.” Lian snorted at mycomment, shoving into my side. We both chuckled, but I caught onto the aloofness hiding beneath her humor. “You are allowed to leave early, you know.”
“I know,” she hummed, looking off into the distance again.
“Okay then,” I mumbled, nodding and walking away.
After that, I found the three little beastlings—mortal children, some might have called them—and danced a few times with them, listening as they schooled me on the proper way for a king to dance. I had seen Asher with them earlier, doing strange things with her arms and making them laugh. I opted to instead nod my head and cheer on each of them before taking my turn to go absolutely berserk. After Octavia and Safre decided they were too tired to keep going, I swept up Gemma and placed her on my toes, the two of us dancing to a full song that way before she too grew tired.
After she skipped off, I felt a finger tap on my shoulder.
“Can I have a turn, Your Majesty?” Whipping around, I came face-to-face with Nicola, her smile grave. Gods, what was it now? Reluctantly, I nodded, offering her a hand. We got into position, and when the music started, we began our dance.
“Okay, Nicola, tell me, what is it that has you looking so morose?” I asked curiously.
“She is so happy,” Nicola said instead, her eyes on Asher as she danced with Sterling. But mine were on the Oracle. Staring at the female who saw too much—who saweverything.Something awful lingered in the air. My tongue tingled with the taste of it. Of death.
“Tell me, Nicola. I can take it.”
With a heavy sigh, Nicola moved closer to me, her chest against my stomach.
“This war will not be long, Bellamy,” she spoke, her tone twin to the chill of loss and pain in the air. “While it has been a long time coming—centuries in the making—the true war that beganlast year will be the shortest in history.” Her tone was still bleak, but there was a hint of hope in it. I could not stop my own heart from racing with the same emotion. Momentarily, I dreamed of surviving this wretched conflict. Nicola stopped those feelings from festering. “I need you to understand that you will die before the war does.”
There it was. An official timeline. A confirmation beyond the vague hints from her and Pino.
“I do not know how, and I fear seeking it out. There are some things that we should not know. Mostly because it can haunt us, but also because we might be tempted to challenge fate. As you have seen, when we fight against the future, it often comes to fruition in the worst way.”
“But the future is always changing, can this not change too?” My tone was more begging than questioning, but I needed to know. I had to figure out what I could do to have more time with Asher.
“I have told you before, there is no future in which you do not die,” she hissed, looking around us as if nervous someone might hear. Normally I would be afraid of that too, but everyone was too caught up in what they were doing to pay us any attention. “Do not tell Asher. I have seen what telling her does. She wastes all of your time together trying to plot ways to keep you alive. Because of that, we also lose the war.”
A growl vibrated my neck and teeth, startling Nicola before she schooled her face back into firm neutrality. We would not lose the war. I would not allow it. I would die a thousand times before I let something so grave happen.
“Fine, so I will die. What is the plan before then?”
Her nose scrunched as she thought, brows knitting together. I waited, leading her through the rest of the song without actually paying attention.
“Love her. Love all of them.” Nicola rose onto her toes, pecking my cheek before tapping my chest with her hand and leaving me alone there. I stood, contemplating what she had said. Loving all of them was the easy part. Looking up, my gaze immediately found Asher and Adbeel, the pair sharing wide smiles. At least she had her grandfather.
