As the wall creaked open, Molly spun around from where she sat in Keir’s carriage and sent me a thumbs up.
I was home.
* * *
It was no longerthe clomping of all the hooves that made it impossible to hear any of the others, as the horses were now on the dirt roads of Nerede, but instead it was the crowd cheering. Like Rallis, there were signs. There were also paper streamers being waved within the crowd by little kids.
These... these were the faces I knew. The faces I had passed by on my way to the bakery. The faces I had worked alongside of for so many years. The faces who had erased the words Iron Will from their vocabularies in an effort to protect their own.
I wiped at a tear, unable to help the level of emotion I felt rolling through me. And yes, they were cheering because it was a parade of sorts.
But alsofor me.
Who was I to deserve this level of support?
In that very moment I decided should Krew actually be the rightful heir to the Wylan throne after all and survive long enough to become king, that for these people I would become the best damn queen I could be. I’d not only do it but do so tenaciously.For them.If for no other reason than because they deserved someone who would fight for and protect them just as they had done for each other all these years.
As the king so often liked to remind me, I was Jorahof Nerede.
Maybe Krew being crowned king wouldn’t be such a curse after all. If we could fight together for a better Wylan. If we could stop the deep divisions of this country on the basis of magic and create a better country for all her citizens.
Maybe we could help.
Krew reached over and brushed another tear off my face before giving my hand a squeeze.I love you. Welcome home.
AndI love you.
As soon as I had myself together, willing my tears to stop, I looked around, trying to see what the people had been able to rebuild from the fires, or what was still in ruins. The last time I’d been here, a lot of it had been smoking and charred. It was nice to see people smiling and laughing rather than running in fear.
I couldn’t see much around the crowds, but I knew the damage was still there. Between working long hours for their living, it would take more than a month to rebuild everything that had burned.
As we turned down a road with more damage, Renna put a hand up over her mouth. Blackened posts and remnants of homes stood there like a flashing warning sign to anyone who dared to cross the king. While some houses looked devastated, others were only half gone. Either way, there was no way these people could sleep in those homes. They’d been without homes, likely cramming in to live with another family, for the better part of a month. Though it looked like they had cleaned up the area, it also looked like they were months away from having their homes back. They needed the better weather spring brought to help a little in that endeavor too.
I fought the tears swelling back to my eyes as we finally made it through the cheering crowds toward the market street. I knew what I was going to find. Charred ruins of most of the businesses. I knew from Owen that Mother had been baking from our home with the help of a few of Hattie’s kids while the king had her bakery rebuilt.
But she was one of the lucky ones because the king was rebuilding it for her. None of the other businesses had that luxury.
Isla gasped. “This was all from the night of the ball?”
I gave her a tight smile. “Yes.”
She shook her head. “I had just assumed it was a small fire. Of some sort of important structure.” She paused. “Not this.”
I went to respond but then I saw the bakery. The last time I’d been there, I’d been clutching my mother’s pink scarf and standing in the ashes of the bakery. While the rest of the street was definitely in varying degrees of repair, Mother’s shop had boards up, a shingleless roof, and a huge brand-new picture window at the front, in place of the smaller old one. The bakery wasn’t done by any means, but it was much farther along than the other businesses were.
That progress wasn’t what warmed my heart, it was the people standing before it.
My mother. And Flora. And Hattie. And the orphans. Each of the kids had paper streamers and chains and were waving them in the air and jumping up and down as soon as they saw the horses.
Without a word to Krew, I hoisted myself down from the carriage, beating both carriages to the kids as I ran for them.
“Jorah!”
Gavin caught me first, hugging me hard, as I went down the line to hug the rest of them. I grabbed Alani and carried her with me, making sure to give each and every kid a hug. I didn’t know when I’d see them all next. And I missed them. I missed them so terribly much.
When I got to Warrick, I made sure to lean down to his level. “Hi, Warrick. How are you?”
“Jorah!” He hugged me hard. “I’m so much better now that you’re here. And you brought Prince Krewan too!”
