Page 141 of Children of Virtue and Vengeance

“Zïtsol…” He pulls away, touching the tear on his face. I look down and wipe my eyes. I don’t even know when I started crying.

He rubs the spot behind my ear and I lean my forehead against his. One hand drops from his neck, stopping where his shoulder meets his metal limb.

“Does it hurt?” I ask.

“Only when I breathe.”

“Always with the jokes.” I shake my head.

“If you wanted the jokes to end, you should’ve let me drown.”

I smile at him again, kissing his pink lips. “Next time I’ll think twice before saving your life.”

“As long as you’re taking feedback, you should know I have my limits. If it’s ever a choice between life and a certain appendage, I am requesting now that you let me die.”

“My gods!” I push him back.

“What’s that saying you have in your lands?” Roën tilts his head. “‘Don’t chop it till you try it’?”

“Next time I’ll let you drown.”

He laughs as he pulls me in, resting his hand on the small of my back. The smile falls away as the end of this war looms between us.

“I heard about your plan to save the world,” he says. “When do you leave?”

“In a few hours.”

“Okay.” He nods. “I’ll be ready.”

“No.” I pull away. “You need to heal!”

Roën clenches his teeth, grabbing his shoulder as he rises to his feet.

“Roën—”

“I’m going.” His metal fingers twitch, still out of line with his intent. “Zïtsol, you are my home. You don’t get to leave me behind.”

CHAPTER EIGHTY-THREE

AMARI

IWILL BEa better queen.

My last words to Father return. A vow for the person I once was. A mockery of everything I’ve become.

I don’t know if Father would be horrified by the actions I’ve taken, or if the depths of my descent would make him proud. I am no better than him.

If anything, we are one and the same.

Strike, Amari.

I pull at my hair, wishing I could pull his claws out of me as well. His whispers are like the bars Kâmarucrafted from stone, a prison I can’t escape. For so long he was the scar on my back. The tyrant I had to vanquish.

How in the skies did I allow his ghost to become my guiding force?

I grit my teeth against the sting of bile that shoots up my throat. Though nothing sits in my stomach, it all comes up at once. I feel every ounce of pain. Every shriveled-up corpse. Despite everything I want, I’m just another monarch terrorizing this kingdom.

I’m the very monster I hunt.

---