Page 100 of Faeling
Hilde beamed. “Excellent! We’ll gossip, and the gown will be done in no time.”
Ravenna highly doubted that, as the work needed to complete the gown was far beyond just the two of them, but she very much liked the thought of contributing. It felt right to sew some of herself into a garment meant for such an important day.
Hilde was gathering her things when Vallek finally returned.
He looked tired, his face creased with worry. Still, he approached Ravenna where she stood on the table, still waiting for Hilde to help her out of the gown without disturbing any pins.
His purr vibrated along his lips as he swooped in for a kiss. They were nearly the same height like that, giving Ravenna a clear view of the dark smudge across his forehead.
“How did it go?” she asked softly.
“I have atoned, and they gave their forgiveness,” he said.
Ravenna lay her hand on his chest. “I hope your heart is a little less heavy.”
“It is. Though, I will carry his weight a while yet.”
“That you carry any at all means you have a heart.”
Her mother sometimes mused that that was the burden of having a heart—it could be filled by so much yet broken by much more. When Ravenna was little, Aine once described heartache by pointing out the moss growing on a boulder.
“The moss grows how it will. It can cover the boulder. But the rock beneath remains strong.”
Ravenna’s heart bore no moss for Ulrich, but it did to see herazaigrieve.
Lifting her hand to his mouth, he kissed the back. “I must bathe. I’ll join you after.”
She watched him go, wishing she could take a little of his burden away.
As Hilde helped gingerly pull off the dress, she was good enough to explain the rituals around atonement. Tied into funerary rites, it involved seeking forgiveness from the closest kin, as well as ritual cleansing after laying the deceased to rest. She described the labyrinthine crypts deep within the mountain, where Ulrich had no doubt been placed with his ancestors.
“It’s good then that they gave their forgiveness,” Ravenna said.
“They wouldn’t deny Vallek.”
“Because he’s king?”
“Yes. But also because of why he did it. They will have known Vallek wouldn’t do such a thing unless faced with no other choice.”
Carefully laying out the gown on one of the sofas in the den, Hilde kissed Ravenna’s cheeks before bidding her farewell. “Rest those fingers! We’ll put them through their paces tomorrow!”
Alone finally, Ravenna cracked her neck and stretched her back. Then, she turned to the narrow stairwell that led down to Vallek’s private baths. She couldn’t help him in his ritual cleansing, but she could at least be of some comfort.
23
Ravenna woke to the sound of trumpets. At first, she couldn’t quite believe the day was here—nor that she’d fallen asleep at all. Such a feat felt impossible last night, no matter how many orgasms herazaiwas determined to give her with his fingers and tongue.
She let out a long exhale, not quite sure if she was ready for it to be the day. Planning was one thing. Sewing a gown was one thing. Standing before hundreds of orc-kin claiming to be their queen was another.
Vallek’s big body stretched behind her, and the arm he had flung over her waist flexed, tucking her neatly to his front.
“Good morning, my queen,” he rumbled sleepily. “Are you ready for today?”
“I don’t know,” she whispered.
“I’m ready enough for the both of us.” Pushing up onto his elbow, he pressed tender kisses to her cheek and temple.
Ravenna tried to let his warmth and affection soak into herskin, but her nerves were strung too tightly.
