Page 62 of Ashes of Honor

“Anything,” he said, his thumb brushing tenderly against my cheek.

“Live,” I murmured. “No matter what,live.”

He nodded, solemn, the smallest hint of a morbid smile. “Cross my heart.”

He slipped it onto my finger, the cool metal warming against my skin. My hand trembled as I stared down at it, the reality of it all settling in.

“It’s perfect,” I whispered. The words a reflection of both the ring and the man standing before me.

“You’re perfect,” he replied without hesitation. “This is forever, Amaia. Even if the rest of the world falls apart, even if everything burns—I’m with you.”

My gaze lifted to meet his, a playful grin slipping past the seriousness of the moment. “That’s a lot of confidence. Sure you can keep up with me?”

“I’ve already been running after you this long. I’m not about to stop now.”

The sharp crunch of footsteps in the sand behind us shattered the fragile silence. Instincts took over. We exchangedno words, simply moved in sync as we turned, hands raised, magic crackling to life. My fire burned in my palms. Golden-orange glow illuminated on the dimming beach—a mirror image of the sunset. Water thundered to life behind us, twisting and leaping with the restless energy of a storm bound by threadbare reins.

“Woah, calm down. It’s just me.” Reina paused a few feet away, her own water bubbling around her in defense. “Crazies,” she muttered.

Relief hit me, but it was temporary. The last time she’d come to find me on an afternoon off, my fiancé was assassinated. “What are you doing out here?”

Reina was armed with her bow and arrow, pistol at her hip, knife at her thigh. Slowly but surely, she’d increased her artillery. I’d never so much as seen her shoot a gun five months ago. Now, it was a staple in her everyday apparel. For a moment, she was taking scissors to it every week. But she’d finally stopped, and silly me to think it meant she’d recovered from the misery of betrayal. It bristled over her shoulders and touched the thick army green straps of her crop top.

“Looking for you,obviously,” she said, hands on her hip as she animatedly spoke. “Hunter’s heading to The Kitchens for dinner. It’s been a few days of him being out and about. No one’s looked at him twice, so it’s probably safe to meet. Plus, last night, when Adelaide came for bedtime stories, I was braiding her hair … Jessa made us hot chocolate, which like, where’d she even get the chocolate from? We don’t have any ready to harvest, since it’s not a priority. Yet another hidden thing about?—”

“Fucking Christ, Reina. Focus.” Alexiares pinched the bridge of his nose.

Reina gave him a once-over, then shook her head slowly, her smile bright and honest. “Hunter mentioned when he picked her up that he figured out some plan to save the world. God,you know, you and him have a lot in common, Maia. Always scheming. Anyway, I’m headed there now and Riley said I could find you here. So, yeah. Let’s go.”

She dropped down to greet the dogs. Their tails wagged violently, slobbering her with kisses, reveling in the purity of her joy when she rubbed them. Alexiares shifted, his expression carefully neutral as he met my glance. He shook his head once. I tucked my hands behind my back, walking ahead of him and allowing him to fall in line. One night. We only wanted one night to enjoy what this meant, just us, no one else. Lately, the only time we were alone was at bedtime—too tired to talk, we settled into silence. It wasn’t the same.

I barely made it a few paces before realization smacked me. “Damn it,” I muttered, spinning on my heel. “The guns.”

“You’re welcome.” Reina waved my weapon belt over her head. I reached out to grab them, remembering all too late of what I’d wanted to hide. “Why are y’all being so?—”

Her eyes squinted, focused on the sparkle that even a barely lit sky could not hide. She rushed over, grabbing onto my hand with unexpected strength. “Oh my God. What’s that? Did you propose?”

“No,” Alexiares’s voice was laced with sarcasm. “I just wanted her to feel pretty.”

Reina lifted my hand up near her face, stretching my finger in angles and lengths I hadn’t thought possible. “That is a terribly gaudy piece of hardware. You couldn’t rob a jewelry store or something? Let me guess, you can excuse murder and torture, but robbery is where you draw the line?”

“It’s what I wanted, Reina.” I snatched my hand back and flexed the fingers in a deliberate twirl. A faint smile played on my lips.

“Oh. I love that … that ring. It’s very … you.” Reina grimaced, the forced grin truly comical. “I’m really happy for you, Maia. This is good. Good things are happening. Aw man, I love love.”

She tugged us into a group hug. Alexiares grumbled but didn’t resist. It had taken time for him to get here, to become accustomed to Reina’s inability to respect others’ space or any sort of affection, to be frank. I’d loved the Alexiares who stood tall with me through the raw beauty and pain of life, the one willing to let his beast take control—but the softness and peace of this version of him … happy looked good on him. Reina sniffled, happy tears falling down her pink tinted cheeks.

“Thanks,” I said with the roll of my eyes. “Let’s not make it a thing?”

“A thing?” Reina stared at me like I’d told her I saw a pig flying in a pink tutu. “I’m going to make this the biggest event Monterey’s ever seen. Ugh, young love. It’s so beautiful. Don’t make this a thing. Honestly, Maia, I’d ask you if you were drunk, but that would be considered insensitive.”

Reina walked ahead of us mumbling to herself as she worked out a to-do list of everything she needed. The dogs ran ahead, scouting out the way and making sure we had a clear path home. Alexiares laced his fingers through mine, tugging for my attention, horror filling his eyes.

“We aren’t doing that,” he said.

“No.” I laughed, covering it with a cough, before Reina turned around. “No, we are not. I have an idea.”

“You have a lot of ideas.” That slip of his accent with a musical cadence of the vowels made my heart thunder. “Most of which I hate.”

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