Page 114 of War Queen
His jest broke the tension, and she gave a small laugh through the tears that were threatening.
He held the vial for her, and she took it back, but he didn’t release it immediately. A seriousness returned to him. “Say goodbye. Then that will be the end of this.”
He let it go, and with a final nod, left her to the quiet of the room.
Norah watched him leave before looking back at the vial in her hands.Say goodbye. How simple, yet not. How could she say goodbye? But Soren was right. She needed to put an end to this and move forward. For herself, for Mikael, and for Alexander.
She inhaled deeply as she opened the vial and drew a line of blood across her palm. Then she closed her eyes and waited.
All was quiet.
Then he came.
Alexander stood in front of her in the depths of her mind and gave a small smile. Gods, she missed that smile. She had last called him when she had been in Mercia, and to see him now, again… A wave of emotion hit her.
His brows dipped, and he stepped closer.
“I wasn’t sure you’d come, after Mikael…” She paused. “I’m sorry about that. I didn’t know he’d use the blood. I’m sure that was a surprise.”
His face showed no reaction.
“I… I thought about it a lot, him calling you. At first I thought it would have helped him understand if he’d seen you.” She paused again, looking down at her hands. “But now”—she shook her head—“I think it would have made it worse, knowing you really are here. So thank you, for not engaging.” And not doing anything else that this strange power allowed him to do.
She stared at him, chained by the blue eyes staring back at her. Gods, this was hard. “But Soren says it’s time for me to say goodbye.” She pulled her bottom lip between her teeth. “And he’s right.” She gave a sad smile and let out a laughing breath through her tears. “He said you need to start doing your job looking over Mercia and stop haunting me.”
But Alexander’s smile was gone, his face dark. He obviously didn’t appreciate the humor as much as she had.
She cleared her throat and became serious again. “I know you’re not yourself, at least not exactly, but I think it’s what the old you would have wanted—for me to be able to move forward.”
His face grew sharper and more shadowed. He stepped closer, shaking his head. Her words were upsetting him.
“I want you to know that I’m all right. That I’m cared for and looked after.”
He shook his head again as he reached up and clasped her cheek. It broke her. She hadn’t expected him to object. She thought this would bring closure.
“I’m all right, Alexander,” she tried to encourage him again. And then she hugged him. Tightly. She gave herself only a moment.
Then she had to go. With tears in her eyes, she stepped up on her toes and brought her lips to his cheek.
“Goodbye,” she whispered.
Norah opened her eyes to her empty chamber. She drew in a tear-laden breath and wiped off her hand, then looked down at the vial, at the blood still within. She sank to the floor of the fireplace and sat. She just sat.
The hours passed in a blur.
The day faded into evening.
Finally, she picked herself up off the floor and dropped the vial into the letter box on the vanity before leaving the chamber.
The sun had already set as she walked across the courtyard, but its colors still painted the sky. Through a window, she spotted Soren inside speaking to one of the nobles, but when he saw her, he excused himself and stepped outside. Norah picked up her walk along the castle toward the gardens, and he fell in step beside her.
“He didn’t understand,” she said, not looking at him as she spoke. “He didn’t want to say goodbye.”
“You did the right thing.”
She shook her head. “What if he had a purpose, and I just cut him off?”
“It’s not a pure purpose, I assure you.”
