Page 14 of For Her, He Falls

"Tristan..." she whispers, those violet eyes staring straight into my core. There's uncertainty and shock there, but not fear. No shame.

'The Alpha of the Banes has been defeated,' I say gently. This time I do not have to shout. At long last, the world is quiet, and the truth is loud. 'The King of the five armies is dead. Long live the Queen.'

Chapter Nine

"Long live the Princess of Nightwalkers. Long live the Queen of Wolves."

The words echoed across the battlefield even after the fighting was well and truly over, but they still don't seem real.

Tristan had suggested I go back to my room in the nightwalker's castle to get cleaned up or at least to put some clothes on. I'd obeyed him numbly, not really knowing what else to do in the wake of what had just happened.

It felt wrong to walk amongst the carnage like this was a victory. Even if it was a sort of success, it certainly wasn't mine.

Yes, the war was won, but I was not the one who won it. It was a group effort that put an end to the massacre. Our plan had worked, and while we'd made every effort possible to minimize the number of lives lost, blood still ran through the streets of my father's kingdom.

Five Alphas were killed.

But the living outnumber the dead.

There were losses on both sides, but the nightwalkers, Rovers, and the five packs that had followed Viktor into battle will live on. Now it's up to us to make sure those deaths were not in vain and nothing like this ever happened again.

There would be a new age dawning in Silvertooth Peaks, one where nightwalkers did not live in secrecy, and rival packs were united as one.

In spite of the people bowing to me in the corridors of the keep as I made my way to my room, I'm honestly still not sure what my place will be in this new world.

I grab a blanket off the bed and wrap myself in it, leaving the door to my room slightly ajar and moving to sit on the nook by my window in a sort of dazed trance. I think I might be in shock. That sort of thing is probably normal after everything we just went through, right?

Who am I kidding? I don't think anything will ever be normal again.

Gods, what am I doing?

I should go downstairs and look for the others. I should get dressed and search for Tristan to make sure his injuries are treated. I have to find Nico, Lucy, Mark, and Amara, assuming they're all still alive. I need to find my parents.

But now that the fighting is through, my body seems unwilling to move anymore. Without fear and adrenaline, exhaustion crashes on me like a physical weight, making my thoughts slow and my limbs leaden. I can barely keep my eyes open, let alone focus enough to reach down the mindlink. I rest my head against the cold glass, too drained to think straight.

I don't know how much time passed. I don't remember falling asleep. I don't think I really meant to; I just succumbed to my fatigue without even realizing it. But the sound of the door creaking open is enough to jolt me awake, and I turn to face Tristan as he enters the room.

Without thinking, I slip off the ledge and close the distance between us, wrapping my arms around him and burying my face in his fur. He's still filthy and limping, so I can't have dozed off for long.

"What happened? Where are the others? What happened to my parents? Did anyone... Are they..." I trail off, unable to finish the question.

'Your parents are alive and safe. Your mother is still unconscious, but she'll live. Your father is already recovering from his injuries. There's a superstition that the blood of your fallen enemies can give a warrior strength and vitality. It seems that's quite literally the case with the Night King. A little bit of blood and he'll be just fine,' Tristan replies as I pull away.

"And the others?"

'They're all okay. Relatively. Lucy is tending to Amara. Mark and Nico and with them. Helena and Sophie are helping the others that are wounded. The nightwalkers have agreed to let all the wolves stay in their kingdom while they tend to the injured and gather the dead, but it's going to be a long night. You should get some rest, little flower.'

I shake my head. "I should go down and help. I want to see Amara. I want to be there when my mother wakes up."

'And you will, my love, but there will be time for that later. Today you unlocked powers you did not even know you possessed. You fought in a war and defeated an Alpha. If you don't want to rest, then let's just take a moment to wash up and get dressed. Neither one of us will be of any use to anyone in our current state.'

He's right. We're both covered in mud and blood. Tristan is still hurt, and I'm still... wearing nothing but a blanket. I pull it tighter around myself and turn away from him, glancing back at the window as if I could look outside to see the kingdom picking itself up from the rubble.

I go completely still at the sound of Tristan shifting behind me, all too aware of what happens to our clothes when we transform back into our human form.

With a start, I realize that while Tristan saw me naked that night in the bath after he found me by the lake, I cannot say the same about him.

It seems silly. We've been through so much together and shared plenty of intimate moments. We just fought in a war side by side. But this is different.

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