Chapter 31

I only remembered fragments of our walk after that, and as we came to the entrance, I heard someone scream. A blurry stream of images passed by me: a soldier, the priestess, and a sudden warmth that washed over me before everything went black.

I sat in a meadow, and I felt the cat’s presence long before I turned to her. She was sitting next to me, and I threw my arms around her and buried my face in her soft fur.

“Rina...”

Her voice echoed in my mind, and to my surprise, I could feel tears rolling down my cheeks.

“Do you regret coming here?”

I let go, suddenly remembering what had happened. The image of Nashka floated before me, and I looked at the cat as she sat silently, waiting for my answer.

“No, I don't…”

She smiled.

“I am happy that you’ve found peace with your choice.”

I hid my face in her fur again.

“What troubles you…?”

I sighed and she said,

“I can grant you another wish. You’ve earned it after everything you’ve done.”

She stepped back and looked at me, waiting for me to speak.

“Aki and Nashka... They are so young... Make them happy if you can”, I said.

I slowly opened my eyes. Selene was lying next to me in bed, her face next to mine, and her arm wrapped around me.

“Rina…?”

I turned to her and our eyes met.

“Selene…”

I huddled up against her.

“How do you feel?”

The image of Nashka drifted before me, and I blinked and sat up. The bedroom. Selene. How had we ended up like this? I glanced at her. It felt strange being this close to her, but… also good. She pushed herself to the edge of the bed and got up.

“I… was worried about you…”

She glanced at me, and I sighed. What should I answer? I didn’t know what she wanted me to do with her comment.

“I’m… hungry…”

It wasn’t a lie, and it was easier to focus on than what I felt. She turned her gaze away, and I sighed and put a hand on her.

“Thank you”, I tried.

She turned back to me.

“Rina..”

I didn’t know what to do. A part of me wanted to stay, but I didn’t want to mess it up with her more than I already had.

“Are you okay?”, she asked.

She peered at me, concerned.

“Yeah, just hungry”, I tried.

“You would expect that after a healing. Do you want me to bring you food?”

I remembered seeing Aki when she woke up and how hungry she had been. I shook my head.

“I’ll get up.”

I pushed myself up and almost collapsed on the bed again. My arm was almost healed, I saw, with only a faint scar covering it. I guess I had been lucky, but even so, I was weaker than I thought.

“Let me help you.”

She took my clothes from the chair, and I tried to protest, but it was in vain. Having her dress me was embarrassing at best and totally awkward. Sleeping next to each other felt weird enough, but being treated like a child by her was even worse.

I glanced at her. To my horror, she seemed pleased about what she’d done, and I shook my head. It wouldn’t happen again, I promised myself.

When she was done, she stepped back and smiled.

“You look good”

She offered me a hand, and I took it with a sigh. She helped me stand, and I leaned on her as we hobbled out to the living room.

“Rina!”

The moment we stepped out, Aki leapt from her seat and ran over to me. She threw her arms around me and sobbed into my shoulder.

“Rina…”

I ruffled her hair.

“It’s okay, I am fine”, I whispered.

Uruk and Karim smiled as Selene helped me to the sofa by the fireplace.

“You must be hungry.”

Uruk offered me a plate of food, and only then did I realise that my words had been true earlier. I gulped it down and then put the plate away.

“So, what happened…?”

I turned to them, and they went silent, glancing at each other.

“Everything’s okay”, Selene reassured me, putting a hand on my shoulder.

“With Zaria gone, Nashka will become Queen. After all that happened, the Lords will support her without question.”, Karim ventured, but I could see it wasn’t the happy news I thought it was.

“But…?”, I frowned.

“What he did doesn’t make sense.”, Uruk said.

“Why? We won, didn’t we?”

“We did, but...”

Karim sighed.

“Zaria didn’t need to destroy her. He had already won. If he had just waited a couple of more days, he would have gotten what he wanted.”

I shivered at the mention of his name, and the image of his battered face flashed before my eyes.

“Are you okay?”, Selene asked.

“Yeah…”

I pushed away the memories, and Uruk continued,

“Even if he had succeeded, he would have plunged Marbug into the chaos of civil war. Not many would serve a kinslayer, no matter what he promised them.”

I nodded. They were right, it didn’t make sense… Í turned to Selene.

“How’s Nashka?”

“As good as someone can be in her place. Manelia will stay with her so she will have someone she can trust.”

Good, I thought. She didn’t deserve any of this, but at least she had someone. I couldn’t bring myself to leave her alone to deal with all of this herself.

“Grandma also spoke about the darkness, but I never understood what she meant”, Aki said.

“Darkness?”

I looked at her, and Selene nodded.

“You remember what we spoke about, what we felt? Manelia found its source.”

I blinked.

“It was in Zaria’s room, an orb made from black glass that didn’t reflect any light…”

“Manelia said he felt something looking at him through it”, Uruk said quietly. “It lasted for just a moment before he broke it with his sword, but his hands were shaking as he told us what he’d found”

“And all those who served the Imperium were found dead when his soldiers tried to capture them”, Selene added.

I stared at them.

“So, what was it…?”

“I… don’t know…”, she sighed.