Page 95 of Raisa's Cursed Ravens
The rest of the guards have fled or are dead. The throne room is a tomb.
For a long moment, we just sit there in the ruins, breathing each other’s air, unwilling to move. My whole body trembles with exhaustion, but I’ve never felt so alive.
Eventually, Onyx lifts me, bridal-style, and the others fall in around us. Shade steps up to the dais, wiping the last of the blood from his chin. The throne is empty, my father’s crown lying at its foot.
He picks it up, turning it in his hands, then looks at me.
He doesn’t put it on his own head.
He kneels before me, holding the crown out, and the others follow suit, a ring of battered, beautiful men bowed at my feet.
My heart nearly stops.
I take the crown, my hands shaking. It’s heavier than it looks, as cold as death and studded with stones I never learned the names of. For a moment, I think about throwing it out the window. About melting it down and scattering the pieces.
But this kingdom has already done its worst to us. It’s caged us, destroyed us, and broken us, turning us into monsters. Maybe, for once, it’s time to let it mend and rebuild us, forging us into something new—not quite human, but not evil, either.
We’re the things that exist in the dark spaces between the two, the people who feast on blood and vengeance, but who still feel pain, who still know love. Who still feel hope beating like a wild thing in our hearts.
And the people like us—the monsters—they need a home, too.
We’re not breaking the world.
We’re building a new one.
I look at the seven faces before me, each one shining with the kind of faith I never thought I’d deserve. And I place the crown on my head.
The weight of it is nothing compared to the warmth that blooms in my chest.
“Rise,” I say, voice barely above a whisper.
They do.
Sable whoops, throwing his arms around me.
Talon lifts me off my feet in a spinning hug.
Rune buries his face in my hair, inhaling as if he can’t believe I’m real.
Bran kisses my fingers, then my lips, then my forehead.
Grim stands at my side, silent and proud, his hand on my shoulder.
Onyx takes my hand and holds it tight.
Shade just grins, finally, the first real smile I’ve ever seen on his face.
The room smells like blood and the hot, animal tang of death. But it smells like freedom, too.
I look down at my men, my monsters, and my saviors, and I know I’d do it all again.
Even if it kills me.
I reach out, stroking Onyx’s cheek, and feel the tears streaming down my own.
For the first time in my life, I feel like I belong.
Because, finally, I do.
