Page 283 of Swords of Soul and Shadow
Jon still hadn’t quite grasped that concept, but he nodded enthusiastically before dashing off around the court again.
Jove would fight any enemy, any battle for him to stay so carefree. That was why he agreed to step into the High Guardsman role at the end of the war, and he would stay as long as he was needed.
Samuel stayed a while longer, gazing up at it. “I was there, right?”
Jove knelt, taking his eldest son’s hands in his. His blue eyes were just as bright as the day he’d been born, a light in the darkness. “You were, and you are the reason we’re still here today.”
“Really?” the boy asked, skeptical.
“Really,” Jove said, reaching up and ruffling his tight curls. Samuel nodded and ran off after his brother, the serious slant of his brow gone with a game of their own making.
Jove rose, grimacing at the creak in his knees as he did so. Clara laughed at him, but he rolled his eyes and pulled her to his side. “I can’t help it.”
“At least you’re not cramping all over,” she chuckled, patting his chest as he led her from the court.
He gestured for his sons to follow. “Let’s go get some ice cream, shall we?” She leaned her head against his shoulder as he said, “Unless you’re trying to tell me our new littleboyis on the way. Was that why you suggested we walk?”
She just laughed. “A lady never reveals her secrets.”
His wife molded her body into his as they walked away from the memorial. So much had changed in the ten years since, and all of it for the better. When he felt the pull toward his vices and that deep, dark sadness that waited at the edge of his memory, he remembered all the good there was in the world and all the good that was to come. Many times he wished Zeke, Ana, and even Harlan were there to watch his children grow into adults, to see the families his siblings would have created andthe grandfather Harlan might’ve been, but Jove was the man he was today because of both the light and the dark.
Time healed all wounds, but for the moment, he was thankful for scars.
Kase
KASE SET MERLIN, HIS HOVER, down at the edge of the meadow. He’d move him later. The way Hallie’s eyes would light up when he surprised her coming home early was worth trudging back out to move it to the airfields. That was the only reason Merlin hadn’t shot that blue liquid at him for leaving him in the wheat field. The machine had always liked Hallie more. Understandably. Hallie brought him a treat whenever they went on trips for her work in the form of new oil.
The needy thing still beeped sadly at him as he grabbed a small sack full to bursting with books he’d bought while on assignment in the city and climbed out of the cockpit. “I’ll bring Hals with me when I move you later, deal?”
Merlin beeped at him a little worriedly. In the ten years since their meeting, Kase had learned how to interpret the different tones quite well. “Yes, I promise Jo will behave if she joins. Deal?”
Last time, the four-year-old had drawn stars and moons on the back of his seats. Merlin hadn’t been pleased.
The hover flashed the headlights at him in agreement as Kase closed the windshield with a crisp snap. He patted its side. “Good boy.”
Kase hopped off the wing and readjusted the sack on his back. He’d managed to find a copy ofLe Morte d’Arthurat last. He’d thought they’d all been burned or otherwise destroyedduring the war, but after some digging and his copilot Laurence Hixon’s help, he’d discovered a small bookshop in Lenara had been hoarding the tome for nearly a millennium. If Kase couldn’t fly with Skibs, then Hix was the next best option.
Regardless, Hallie would probably bring the book on their upcoming trip to read to Merlin, which would only make him like her more.
Blast it.
But he guessed it couldn’t be helped. He would also have to make sure his mother didn’t sneak the copy out with her when she came over for tea the next day. He liked having her nearby, but he was beginning to suspect half the reason she’d wanted to move out to the countryside was because he and Hallie had all the books. Shackley Manor had been mostly restored, but she only stayed there when visiting with Clara and Jove for about a week or so every month.
The dying sunlight of the late July evening set the rippling waves of wheat aglow. This little hamlet on the east side of the Nardens, Windwick, hadn’t been ravaged by the war. It was made up of a small smattering of houses and a few necessities such as a dry goods store, inn, and within the last five years or so, a school.
That’d been Hallie’s doing. It’d been her first attempt at starting one outside Kyvena, and next week, she and Kase would be off to Crystalfell to open a third.
She’d also been in talks with King Asa’s council in the Cerl capital of Sol Adrid. Skibs had started to turn the kingdom around, and a school like Hallie’s was a popular idea among Cerl citizens. He and his wife, Queen Lucienne aven d’Fairchild, were planning on sending their children, Princess Lilian and Prince Ezekiel, there as soon as it was up and running the next year.
But while Hallie’s dream grew from year to year, they never planned on moving from their cozy little two-story cottagefilled with books, too many glass figurines, and love. They were only a half-hour Merlin flight to Kyvena and a simple Passage brick trip from Stoneset. Hallie had said unless the world needed saving, time didn’t need any more manipulation, but she made an exception for her parents.
Problem was, once Arthur Jack had learned how to read and write, he’d started sending notes to Granna through it begging her to bring over cookies, cakes, and all sorts of confectionaries, and Zelda always obliged. He was also quite heavily influenced by his younger sisters. They particularly enjoyed Granna’s lemon bars.
Kase didn’t mind the extra sweets, and with Windwick being on a small lake, Stowe preferred fishing on this side of the Nardens. He, Kase, and Arthur Jack would regularly go out and catch a few, but they always had Zelda fry them up—safer that way.
Kase approached the cottage and its cobbled stone fence hugging the front garden. A little boy with bright red curls climbed up on top of the fence, a few wayward pebbles skittering in his wake.
Kase beamed, his chest light.
