Page 87 of Lies That Blemish
I wanted to say yes. I wanted to be a badass who wasn’t affected by what I had just gone through, but instead of answering, I just burst into sobs.
Kohen crushed me to his chest, fully engulfing me in his strong arms.
“Onyx, avoid the sky. We’re going on foot through the Wilds,” he told her.
I broke down in the safety of the arms of the man I loved. Being controlled by a madman for two days, being forced against my will to marry him, kiss him, and almost…
“It’s okay,” Kohen whispered in my ear as Onyx walked through the forest as fast as he could. “Whatever happened with him is over now, and it doesn’t change how I feel about you. Aisling, I love you, and I’m only sorry I didn’t get there sooner.”
His words were like a balm to my wounds, and I realized at that moment that no man had ever really loved me until now. Not my father, not Jace, not even Alek. Kohen was showing me what true love was, and instead of pushing it away or thinking I didn’t deserve it, I was going to lean into it. I was going to hold tightly to it and cherish it forever.
“I married him. I signed over Amersea,” I told him shakily.
Kohen smiled then. “I had a vision not five minutes before I reached you. Luksa signs a peace treaty now that Maxim is dead and your marriage wasn’t valid.”
Hope burst to life in my chest. “They do?”
He nodded. “No one wants war anymore, my love. We all want to raise our children in peace.”
I let him hold me as Onyx walked us all the way to the area where the Wall had been torn down to let Talanagi in. The place where it all began with Kohen and me.
As we crossed into Amersea, I looked into his eyes.
“Did you ever once just think, ‘Wow, that girl is not worth what I’m going to have to go through to get her?’” I joked.
He stroked his finger over my bottom lip, sending shivers down my spine. “Not even once, my love.”
I prayed then that every woman had a love like Kohen Badshah.
Chapter 32
Aisling
Kohen was right.The very next day we proposed a peace treaty between all of our nations and showed that Kohen and I had been legitimately married before Maxim forced me and that they had no claim to my lands. The Luskin leadership signed the peace treaty without hesitation, and the day officially marked the end of the war. Peace Day.
My people made their way back home to Amersea, grateful to find it still standing, and Kohen and I began to talk about plans to spend the summers in Amersea and the winters in Imbria.
We decided to build a new house in each place that would fit our five siblings and future children. Arjun and Tej got along well with my sisters. We were one big, happy family. A little too happy, maybe, as I caught Arjun kissing Valor, and then we had to have a talk about rules and living under the same roof during puberty.
Two weeks after the peace treaty was signed, I was in the kitchen of Kohen’s home in Imbria when I felt Liana pull at my attention.
‘It’s time,’she said, and a full-body chill broke out on my skin. I’d told Kohen about Liana’s past, her daughters, the fire sky, and my fear that when I was settled, she might leave.
‘No,’I told her. I dropped the knife I’d been holding and went outside.
Kohen just watched me but said nothing, which meant Onyx had already told him what was happening.
I went outside, and Liana was waiting.
‘Time for what?’I asked, hoping I was just being paranoid.
‘Come, let’s take a flight. Our last flight.’
‘No…’I sank to the ground, my heart shattering into a thousand pieces. She walked over to me, nuzzling my neck, and I clung to her like a small child would.‘Please don’t do this. I need you. I still need you.’
‘You don’t. Not as much as my other girls do. It’s time.’
This wasn’t happening. But I knew that if I didn’t go with her, she’d just leave without me, and I didn’t want that. I slipped onto her back and leaned forward, hugging her neck.‘What if they aren’t alive anymore, or their life is fine and they don’t need you, or you don’t even make it?’
