Page 292 of The Nightmare Bride
I wondered why he hadn’t spent this much time talking to Amryssa when she’d been here under his roof, but I couldn’t judge him too harshly. Olivian was broken. Beaten down by the brutality of loss in ways I couldn’t comprehend and hoped I’d never have to.
But I dared to hope he’d come out of it, someday. That maybe he’d recover, and rebuild Oceansgate. Maybe even sire a new heir, instead of letting his line end in disgrace and ignominy.
On the night of Lunk’s wedding, at the nuptial feast, I pulled the big man aside. Someone had hired a musical quartet, and fiddles dueled with one another while the stewards and housemaids danced. This song sounded familiar, and then I realized—it was the one Kai and I had danced to that night in town.
No wonder he’d seemed to know it—he actuallyhad. At that point, he’d been here nearly a year.
Behind Lunk, streamers of orange leaves ran along the ceiling. Miss Quist hovered just out of earshot—she couldn’t gofar, considering the cypress vine that tethered her to her new husband.
Lunk grinned his beautiful, broken-toothed smile at me. “Keymistress.”
“Lunk.” I smiled back. “Or...Henry, is it? Your real name?”
He bobbed his head. “That’s the one my mother gave me, yes. Lunk was the liberators’ name for me. All of us had nicknames, there.”
“Right. Well, Henry.” I rolled the name around in my mouth, testing out the friendly letters. Lunk had never suited him, anyway. He was so much more than that. “I couldn’t be happier for you. Can I hug you?”
His eyes crinkled. “Of course.”
I squeezed him hard. It was mildly awkward, considering he had one arm leashed to his wife’s, but we managed.
“I’m sorry I gave the dagger to Olivian,” I said. “Before you could decide about changing anything, I mean.”
He shrugged good-naturedly. “Oh, it’s all right. I don’t think I would’ve done it, anyway.”
“If you ever change your mind, you could always ask him.”
He chuckled. “I think he’s just as liable to stab me as grant wishes.”
“Good point.” I grinned. “Probably better not to chance it. At any rate, I wish you two all the happiness in the world.”
“And you as well.”
We hugged again, and I turned away, intending to go find my husband and spend some time enjoying his gift for rhythm down here before I got to enjoy it again later, in a different way, upstairs. But then a thought struck me and I turned back.
“Henry?”
He paused. “Yes?”
“What was Kai’s nickname? When he was with the liberators?”
“The prince,” he said easily. “We always called him the prince.”
I snickered. “Right. Of course you did.”
Because really, what else?
35.
Kai and I left the day after the equinox.
The air carried a crisp edge as we hugged everyone goodbye in the drive. Even the marsh seemed to be seeing us off, the trees undulating in a russet-and-amber farewell.
Henry wept. So did Miss Quist. But I hugged them and promised we’d see them again. That I’d be back to speak with Amryssa from time to time, assuming anyone could pry the dagger from Olivian’s hand.
The seneschal didn’t attend our send-off. But I caught sight of his bulk filling a second-floor window. When I raised a hand, he only melted backward, into the shadows.
Merron accompanied me and Kai, at least along the Oceansgate road, which my husband insisted we travel on at night, in order to avoid the liberators, who were apparently alive and well under Vick’s leadership.
