Page 211 of War Queen
“Brandon.” Caspian looked at him. The man was young, too young to die. “I’m here with you, Brandon.”
The soldier clasped his hand and seemed to calm. “I have a son,” he said.
Caspian smiled sadly. “I do too.”
“I haven’t met him yet. I need to get home.”
It was all Caspian could do to keep his emotion in. “You will.”
Brandon nodded, but his eyes grew heavier, and his breathing became shallow.
“Rest awhile first,” Caspian said softly. “Then you’ll go home.”
He nodded faintly. “All right. Maybe just a little while.”
The soldier let his eyes close but kept hold of Caspian’s hand. Then his grip relaxed, and the rise and fall of his chest slowed to a stop.
Caspian’s lip trembled, and he wiped back the tears from his face. Curse the gods and curse this wretched fate. He released the soldier’s hand and fell onto his back on the ground, looking up at the sky.
Curse this world. Was this all there was to life? Pain and death and heartbreak? And for what? It was all for nothing. Everything had been taken from him. Alexander. Norah. There was only one thing left that he wanted in this world—the one thing he couldn’t have—Tahla and Katakah. He wanted them so badly he could almost see them as he looked up at the clouds. He could almost feel Tahla in his arms. He could almost hear her.
“Caspian,” she seemed to call.
He clutched on to everything in his mind, everything he remembered of her—her touch, her taste, her sound. He closed his eyes. Maybe he’d rest awhile too.
“Caspian!” came her voice, and he opened his eyes. “Caspian!”
He bolted up to sit and looked out across the field of fallen battle.
“Caspian!”
It came from his right, and he jerked toward her sound. And there she was, running toward him.
Tahla.
He staggered to his feet just as she launched herself and threw her arms around him. He clung to her.
“I saw you,” she cried. “I saw you, and…” She couldn’t finish. She’d seen him on the ground.
“I’m all right,” he assured her. “I’m all right.”
She wept into his neck.
“I’m all right,” he said again.
Finally, she pulled back to look at him, but still clutched him tightly. “I was so scared.”
“I’m here,” he assured her. Then he stopped. “You’rehere. Tahla, you saved us. You saved us all.” He was still astonished at the sheer number of Horsemen that had come to their aid. “How did you get them all?”
“I called them with Savantahla. And they followed.”
Norah’s mare.The mare of the Wild.
This woman—this woman had united all the tribes of the Horsemen to turn the tide of war against Rael. He held her in his arms, then pulled her hands up to his lips and kissed them. Then he stopped. On her forefinger was a ring.
His ring.
His eyes locked with hers, and she smiled through her tears. “I put it on the night you gave it to me.”
