Page 100 of Between Smoke and Shadow
“Well?” I ask. I lean against the metal railing and cross my arms. I’ve been up here, watching the skyline and counting the seconds as they pass. I think I’m more nervous aboutthisthan I am about the meeting. “How’s it going?”
“Rune isfine,” Tora says. She rolls her eyes, stopping a few paces from me. Her eyes drift to the mountains, to the water surging between its peaks. The rain is heavy today, cloaking Savoa in a hazy gray. It thunders against the glass ceiling, rolling over the edge in thick sheets of water.
“I know,” I say, even though I’m not sure I do.
So much has happened over the last season that it seems impossibleanyof us are fine. We’ve all been physically healed, but I doubt I’ll ever fully recover from that day. There will alwaysbe a part of me remembering the hot, leaden panic of realizing my wife was going to die—and not being able to stop it.
“Joran is back,” Tora says, stealing my attention. “He found Vale and that other escaped rebel. They were alive and fine, though they werenotinterested in coming back. I don’t think Rune was surprised. She seemed relieved, honestly, just knowing he was okay.”
“Good,” I say. I never met Vale, but Rune risked her life to save him, and that must mean he’s a decent man. “Maybe he will one day, once he realizes it’s safe, once he knows things are actually different.”
Tora doesn’t reply. She’s still scared to hope for a future like that, I think, but I no longer am.
“How about Mother?” I ask, deciding not to push her. “Any update there?”
“Not really,” Tora says. She shakes her head. “She’s furious, obviously, but I don’t think she’ll be a problem for us, Harrick. Truly.”
“Has she changed her mind about today?”
“No. She’s not coming,” Tora says. “But she’s not fighting us either. She’s agreeing to a peaceful transfer. I think it’s the most we can hope for at this point.”
I nod. The wind sends a smatter of rain against us, and I tuck my hands into my pockets. It’s getting colder, a stark reminder that Blizzard Season will be here in a matter of days. This time, Savoa will be ready. That’s what we’re doing at today’s meeting: deciding how to distribute the excess magic and on what timeline. We have proxies from all sectors attending, with me and Rune at the lead.
“She looks beautiful, by the way,” Tora says, and I know she’s no longer talking about Mother.
“Of course she does,” I say. “She’s the most beautiful woman in the world.”
“Other than me, right?” my sister says. She lets out a laugh at the face I make. “Look at you, Harrick. Don’t you knowI’msupposed to be the romantic?”
“Speaking of,” I say, letting the unasked question hang between us.
“I ended the betrothal. Nordan wasn’t too upset.”
“I was asking about Dae, actually,” I say. I smirk at the way Tora blushes, as if she thought I hadn’t noticed. As far as I’m concerned,everyonehas. “You could have told me, you know. That you cared for him.”
“I knew it didn’t matter,” she says. And then, pointedly, “Itdoesn’tmatter.”
It does, I want to argue. I don’t though—it’s something she’ll have to decide for herself.
Tora blows out a heavy breath. “Wyhel. Maybe I’ll leave like those rebels. Change my name, start a new life?—”
“You could, you know. No one will stop you,” I say, pausing. “But I think you should stay. We wouldn’t be positioned as we are now without you. I’d likely be dead, Rune imprisoned or worse, the Tower in complete chaos…The kingdom needs you, Tora.”
“Just say you’d miss me too much,” she says. She’s trying to tease me, even as her eyes fill with tears.
“I would miss you too much,” I say. “So if you’re asking my opinion?—”
“I’m not.”
“I think we should reactivate the emissary position,” I continue, ignoring her. I smile when her eyebrows shoot up, something lighting in her eyes. “And I think you should take it. You’d be perfect for it. You could go see the world, learn what Savoa needs and how the sectors are doing. You can think about it, take your time?—”
“I’ll do it,” she interrupts. She’s already grinning, and it’s one of her rare smiles. She looks like a kid again, launching herself into my arms. “Thank you, Harrick.”
“I preferyour majesty,” I say, barely dodging her elbow.
“You ruined it,” she says, half-whining, half-laughing.
I smile down at her, feeling so much happier than I knew I could. Of all the ways I thought my life would go, I never dared to dream of this. To be king in a landwithoutthe Architect or Malek, to be able to offer freedom and happiness to my sister, to be husband to the most wonderful woman I’ve ever met…
