“Did you catch Fionn Silver?” Stella asked.
Isla’s face contorted with confusion. “The mercenary from the tournament?”
“He was leading them,” Teddy said.
Isla shook her head, looking confused. “If he’s their actual leader, that’s news to us. I didn’t realize he was involved. We chased the remaining rebels to the pier, but a group of them escaped on some well-hidden boat on an older, less-used dock. But it was only one boat’s worth, and if whatever is left of this revolution exists on that boat, Queen Karina will take care of them the moment that they land in Novum.”
“Assuming they’re going to Novum,” Teddy said quietly.
It made Stella uneasy. Fionn had seemed important and she would have felt more settled if he’d been captured with everyone else.
“Don’t look so nervous. We have been planning this for months and we knew it was our greatest chance to find all of them at once. We are taking this very seriously and we estimate we have captured or killed ninety percent of their known network,” Isla said. “Rest assured that we will find them wherever they land. My battalion is clearing the area around the castle now. It’s finally over. For good this time.” She looked at Stella. “You should go see your parents in the sitting room down the hall. Your mother has run out of people to heal and she’s making everyone crazy.”
Stella didn’t wait for her siblings. She turned and sprinted down the hall to the sitting room. She had believed it when Isla said her parents were safe, but it wasn’t until Stella laid eyes on them herself that she really trusted it.
Her father’s shirt was torn and bloody, but he smiled when he saw her. Her mother’s dress was smudged with soot and her eyes were rimmed in red, but she ran to Stella.
“Mama.” Stella hugged her mother and, finally, all the feelings that she’d shoved down for the past few hours hit her at once and she started to sob.
“You’re safe, Little Star. I’ve got you,” Cecilia whispered. “You did so well. Everything is okay now.”
“How are you all okay? I saw the royal booth,” Stella rasped.
“It looked worse than it was,” her father said, hugging both of them.
Cecilia huffed an exasperated sigh. “Your father means that he threw all of us down and covered us and took the brunt of the wood shards.”
Rainer kissed her cheek. “And I’d do it again.”
“Once a guardian, always a guardian,” her mother grumbled.
Stella’s relief brought on a wave of exhaustion. “I know there is probably a lot to do, but I need to sleep.”
Her mother smiled. “Of course, but it looks like someone is waiting to talk to you before we head home.” She nodded to Teddy, who was standing in the sitting room doorway.
Stella wiped away her tears and smoothed her shirt. “I’ll just be a few minutes.”
Cecilia smiled. “Take your time.”
Her parents crossed the room and fell into an animated conversation with King Xander and Isla. Teddy caught her eye and nodded toward the hallway.
Stella hesitated a moment before following him out of the room.
In the dim torchlight of the hall, he looked exhausted but handsome. There was a bruise on his temple and blood on the neck of his shirt, but she didn’t care. She still wanted to shove him back against the wall and kiss him.
The only thing stopping her was the look on his face when they’d said goodbye to each other in the seaside cottage.
The final challenge didn’t change anything. She’d been willing todie for the greater good, but she wasn’t ready to live for him when doing so would mean making him the center of her world. She’d barely had a chance to become her own person and she couldn’t give that up and disappear into the role of queen. Many women would have seen that as a boon, but she knew the perils of royalty firsthand.
Teddy reached up and brushed his thumb against her neck. “Are you well?”
She must have looked a mess—dried blood crusted on her temple and neck, her clothes charred and filthy, and her hair hanging in a ratty braid down her back. But the way Teddy looked at her made her feel beautiful.
“As well as can be expected,” she said. “And you?”
“As well as can be expected.”
She smiled. “I’m glad you won.”
