Page 240 of The Tempest Blade
“I was defending Aren from Keris. That man is merciless.”
“Didn’t look like defense. Looked more like you and Keris were ganging up on him. Is it because my brother is slightly taller than you?”
“Between you and Oliver, my ego will not survive this trip.”
“It’s good for you.” She pulled him closer, desperately wanting to be alone with him. “Would you like to go for a walk with me?”
“Gladly.”
Ahnna linked her arm through his and led him out of the room, through the palace, and out into the night. All of Eranahl was celebrating, music and laughter pouring from the homes lining the slope of the volcano, but Ahnna passed them all by, taking James up and up.
Until they stood at Eranahl’s summit.
Ahnna set down the lantern she was carrying and turned the flame low so it would not take away from the view. The night was clear as only the calm season could bring, and the sky was an explosion of glittering stars that reflected off the mirror of the sea.
“It’s beautiful,” James said, turning in a circle. “I’ve never seen the sky quite like this.”
“You should see it during a typhoon.”
“I’ll pass on that.” He caught hold of her hand, and then rested his other on her hip. “Dance with me, Princess.”
With only the wind and the waves as music, her husband led her in a waltz across the rough ground of the summit. She’d danced with him a thousand times over the last five years, in palaces and ballrooms and in their bedroom before he’d take her down to the sheets and make her his own, but to dance beneath Eranahl’s stars felt like a different sort of magic.
“I love you,” she whispered, resting her cheek against his shoulder. “Thank you for giving me this life.”
“I wish I’d given it to you, love.” His breath was warm against her hair. “But you fought for it yourself. You still fight for it, even though the battle is won.”
“Is it won?” As soon as she said the words, Ahnna regretted them. “Don’t listen to me. Too much wine has me saying things I don’t mean.”
“You had one glass. And I heard what you said to Lara.”
Ahnna pulled out of his grip and walked a few paces, staring out over the sea. “It was nothing.”
“I hold you every night, Ahnna, through all the nightmares that plague you. Watch how you never go anywhere without an arsenal of weapons. I see how you are always on guard, asleep and in your dreams. That’s not nothing.”
He wasn’t wrong, but no part of her felt willing to relax. To do so felt like inviting disaster to fall down upon them, because happiness felt like something so easily torn from her hands.
James came up behind her, wrapping his arms around her and pulling her against him. “Before we left Verwyrd, a package arrived from Caly.”
He let go with one arm, then held a small velvet bag out in front of her. Curious, Ahnna took it and sat on the ground next to the lantern, turning up the flame. She opened the bag and poured the contents onto her palm. Then promptly dropped them in the dirt. “Good God. James, these are human finger bones. Knuckles.”
“The best bones are those from your enemies, but she didn’t say who they belonged to. Though I wouldn’t put it past Caly to have robbed Alexandra’s grave.” James sat across from her, legs crossed. “In Cardiff, you can see a person’s future in the patterns the bones form when they fall. It’s called casting. If you want, I can read your future in the bones you just threw on the ground in front of you.”
She knew about the things Caly had said about Oliver bringing a golden era of peace, and how she’d foretold Lestara’s fate. It had all felt like cleverly chosen words, but as Ahnna glanced down at the haphazard mess of white bones, then away, her skin prickled with the sense that powers she could not comprehend existed in this world. Powers that had created the bridge. Powers that spoke down from the stars. “I have known you for six years, James. And not once did you mention that you know how to read the future.”
“Caly taught me when I was a boy.” Reaching across the bones, he took her hands. “If it will give you peace, I’ll tell you what your future holds.”
“Have you already looked?” she whispered. “Do you already know?”
James shook his head. “I won’t unless you ask me to.”
Ahnna slowly lowered her gaze to the bones between them, examining how they rested against one another and trying to decipher the patterns they formed. Would knowing what the future held give her peace? If James told her she’d live a long life with him, would that make her happy? If he told her that she’d do right by Harendell, wouldshe relax? Or would the hints and clues only serve to torment her, the lack of specificity magnifying the tension that plagued her days?
“I don’t want to know.” Letting go of one of his hands, she knocked the bones, destroying their pattern. “You swore that you’d be at my side until the end came for us, and I swore that I’d find you in whatever comes next. That is the only certainty I need in my life, even if it means I must live every day as though it may be my last.”
For a heartbeat, she feared that she’d see frustration in his eyes at her unwillingness to let down her guard, but her husband only said, “I thought you might say that.”
James pulled her into his arms before gently lowering Ahnna to the ground—the very earth she had spent her life fighting to protect. “I do not think tonight will be our last night, Ahnna, but let’s make it one to remember.”
