“You did well,” Signe said. “In the end, you saved us all.”
Kate bit her lip, uncertain how to reply. She knew better than to deny it, not to Signe, but she didn’t want to accept the praise either.
“How about you? Are you going to be okay?”
Signe nodded, meeting her gaze with no hesitation. She raised a hand to the scar on her face. “Does it make me look a fierce warrior?”
Kate smiled. “The fiercest of fierce.”
“Good. It’s nice that my outsides finally match my insides. Now whenever I tell people about how I am a slayer of giants and a tormentor of hobgoblins, they will know it’s true.”
“We already knew, Sig. No one could ever doubt.” Kate slid an arm around her shoulder and hugged her tight for a moment.
“Careful now,” Dal said, walking up to them and sitting on Signe’s other side. “Or you’ll make me jealous.”
Grinning, he reached up and removed the magestone in his ear. The left side of his face went blurry for a moment as the spell dissipated. Once it was clear, Kate saw the scars, a mountain ridge of divots running from his brow to his chin. He tossed the magestone into the stream without comment.
Bonner joined them next, sitting beside Kate. He sat close, his shoulder pressing against hers. She leaned into him, drawing comfort by his nearness, his quiet acceptance.
Soon others joined them, making a large circle around the fire. To Kate’s surprise, several of the wilders thanked her for what she’d done by putting Edwin and the soldiers to sleep. She accepted the thanks with a single nod, her lips pressed together.
Kate searched the gorge for Corwin, finally spying him across the way talking privately with Raith and Francis. In moments they stopped speaking and the three of them walked over to the fire. All eyes turned to them. It was as if the entire camp held its breath.
Raith raised his hands in an unneeded call for silence. Then he cleared his throat and said, “Tomorrow we journey to Carden to join the wilder forces there. Before we left Norgard, I sent out missives to our contacts in each of the twelve cities. The time for the Rising to move is finally here.”
Applause broke out at this, and Kate cut her eyes to Corwin, shocked that he would condone this course of action. His gaze was fixed on the ground before him, his arms crossed over his chest.
“But the fight ahead isn’t one we ever planned,” Raith continued once the applause died down. “While the Inquisition and its supporters remain our enemy, the biggest threat is Seva. The Godking Magnar Fane, with the help of Rendborne—the Nameless One—has imprisoned our friends and loved ones. We must see them free. Prince Corwin has volunteered to lead the search party into Seva to find where the wilders are being kept. He will leave as soon as he is able.”
Kate stared at him, wondering at his motivations. The Godking in possession of wilders was an undeniable threat, but Dal had told her everything that had happened while she was imprisoned in the Hellgate. Corwin knew about Kiran. He knows everything about me now.
Corwin stepped up next to Raith. Then he ran his eyes over the crowd, meeting each face. Even Kate’s. His eyes lingered on her longer than the others, and when he moved on, she became aware of the ragged beat of her heart beneath her breastbone.
“I swear on my title, on my blood, and on my honor that I will do whatever I can to free the wilders and to defeat the Nameless One. But even more than that, I swear that we will reclaim Rime as a land for both wilder and magist and everyone in between. All of us together are what make Rime great. When we are done, all will live in peace and live as they are without hiding or fear.”
Tears pricked Kate’s eyes as she listened, and when the others applauded she joined in, mouth closed to keep her emotions from spilling out from her.
Raith raised his hands for silence again, and this time it was necessary. “Prince Corwin will need help. The trip to Seva will be perilous at every turn. He will need the best of us to aid him.”
“I will go,” Dal said at once. He shot Corwin a glare, one made fiercer by the scars on his face. “I can’t believe you didn’t tell me already.”
Corwin shrugged, a smile teasing his lips. “I know better than to speak for you, my friend.”
“I’m going, too,” Bonner said, rising to his feet.
Kate glanced up at him, feeling a wave of fear for him. He wasn’t made for war. He was meant to create, not destroy. But there was a hardness to him now that had never been there before. Perhaps it would be enough to see him safely through.
Kate stood up beside him and said, “Me as well. I will go.” There was no question about it. It was already her plan, to find Kiran and Vianne.
She turned her gaze on Corwin, their eyes locking. As always, something moved between them, a force like lightning and thunder.
When the meeting ended, Corwin approached Kate. Wordlessly, he took her by the hand and led her to where a small band of trees grew on the side of the gorge. It offered the only privacy there was to find in the camp.
Corwin stopped and faced her. “I’m sorry for all the things I didn’t do, Kate,” he began. She opened her mouth in protest, but he placed a gentle finger against her mouth. “Please, let me finish. Then you can scream at me all you want. I will stand here and savor every minute of the abuse.”
With a blush heating her face, Kate pressed her lips together and waited.
“You were right. I should’ve done everything I could to let your father go into exile. I should’ve believed you when you said he was innocent. I was blinded by the idea that to be king was to obey. That the laws were some fixed, holy thing, unchangeable, irrefutable in their wisdom. But they aren’t. The world changes, the wheel spins, and so we must change as well. That is what it means to lead—finding the wisdom to bring change when it’s needed and to hold fast when it’s not. Thank you for helping me learn this truth.”
The world is black and white and all the shades of gray in between, Kate thought. She held her breath, his confession sliding over her like stepping into a warm pool of water, soothing and welcome. She remembered that moment when he begged her not to use her power to kill Edwin and the others, how close she’d come. But he pulled her back despite his doubt and fear. He lifted her up. Or maybe we lifted each other.
“You never answered my question, though,” Corwin said, pulling her out of her thoughts.
“What question?” she asked, breathless.
“Whether or not you’ll have me.” He stepped closer, their bodies nearly touching. “I love you, Kate Brighton. I always have. I’m yours however you want. As prince or pauper, husband or paramour. That power belongs to you and only you.”
Kate stared up at him, her mouth falling open. She could see he meant every word. And there was a deeper meaning behind his words, one she sensed as clearly as if he’d spoken them aloud: that he accepted her in the same way—as she was, without question. Traitor, wilder, woman.
Kate. Just Kate.
With no words to offer him in return, she answered him the only way she knew how.
With a kiss.
The first of many, as long as their perilous future would allow.
Acknowledgments
THIS IS THE HARDEST BOOK I’ve written to date, and I owe so many thanks for it that mere words won’t be enough. Still, I’ll give it a try. First, to my editor, Jordan Brown, for taking a chance on this book even though it was only halfway done. Your faith in the story, and in me, made all the difference. As did your brilliant insight.