Page 167 of A Warrior's Fate

Kai raised a brow. “How far back?”

“As far back as it goes.”

His expression flattened, and they seemed to share their own unspoken communication. But before Isla could ask, she heard from behind her, “Let’s go, Luna.”

It felt odd responding to the call but she did, spinning to find Ameera and Rhydian—large but somehow deceptively quick and quiet—standing by the door.

Isla gave Kai one last kiss before walking to meet them. She threw back through the bond, “You better tell me everything later.”

She heard a chuckle in her head. “I’ll see you at home.”

CHAPTER 36

From her seat on the trolley moving down into the lower city, Isla peered through the sheen of fog on the car’s window and gazed up at the hall. The eye of the beast stared back down at her, with its wondrous patchwork of blues and near-black purples. Kissed by the Goddess’s aura. Absorbing it.

She forced herself to think beyond the giant window, to envision what it protected. The enormous building of dark-wash stone at the back of a courtyard full of blooms akin to the colors of the stained glass. The House.

Her new home, her new life, with Kai.

I’ll see you at home.

Such simple words but they ravaged her.

She wasn’t sure if he’d realized what he’d said. If he’d meant for it to spin her mind into a tizzy. It was all she could think about during the torturously slow journey that the crowded cable car offered. Not having Kai at her side—a constant, comforting presence, even in those moments she’d wanted to rip his head off at the start—everything crashed into her, and somehow became more…real.

The most mundane and stupid things were driving her mad. Like how she’d come to Deimos with nothing but a trunk and a bag that held as much as her shoulder could bear. Nearly everything she owned here—besides Kai’s jacket which she now claimed as her own—was warrior-given attire.

But that didn’t matter, because there was surely an abundance of clothes for her to choose from. The queen. The luna.

But they weren’t hers.

Not her favorite pair of slippers or her favorite sweater for those nights when she’d curl up next to her window and look upon the Imperial City. She didn’t have her favorite blanket or her favorite books or that drink—warm and rich and chocolatey—that she’d always get from the vendor a few blocks from Io’s training grounds on the way home. She didn’t have the photos of her family that she kept around. Her and the boys. Her, Sebastian, and their parents. Her and her mother, happy as could be, during the Summer Solstice festivities in the ash lily fields. Even the several photos she kept hidden now, of her and Cora growing up through the years.

Some would call her foolish for thinking such things—and she felt it—but without Kai here, it was easier to see beyond the fairytale of the handsome, powerful man who loved her endlessly. Of the joy she’d feel every morning waking up at his side.

But she’d weather it, and she’d get over it.

Because this was what she wanted.

Callan had five points circled on the map, negating the giant one that encompassed the Wall. Two in Mavec. One in Ifera. One in Abalys. And one in Surles.

Though it had been closest by distance, Ifera would’ve been a nightmare to get to, entailing either a wait for the train or an eerie, arduous trek down through the route the warriors had come in. Deep into those dimly lit tunnels hidden within the mountains. So Mavec was their best and easiest starting point.

The parchment Callan had wasn’t the most detailed. It was simply the drawings of roads with shapes every so often to represent buildings. Not even all the businesses that comprised the square were shown. So, they began from an obvious point—the bridge that crossed over the river into Abalys.

It was behind them as they walked along its bank, hidden by a low stone wall that many sat along, either facing the water or away from it. Isla hadn’t noticed the way the river came from underneath the structure, built against the face of one of Mavec’s rocky hills. It flowed out of a wide-mouthed cavern cut into the stone, its opening illuminated brighter with lights alongside the landscape’s natural crystal. From it spawned a hollow melody.

That was where most of the music was coming from.

“What is that?” Isla asked Rhydian, who stood at her side. They flanked Ameera, who she knew better than to bother. The general’s eyes roved the map and the terrain before them with predatory intent. All the ferocity of a leader.

Rhydian turned his head, following the boats traveling beneath the bridge, heading inside. “A few things. A theater, an arena for sporting events, a club for dancing, gambling.” At her surprise, he laughed. “It’s deceptively large once you get in.”

Isla hummed, squinting to see if she could get a better glimpse at what was inside, but it was near impossible from that angle. Mysterious and forbidding, as everything else here seemed to be.

So, she’d discovered, the city at night was as marvelous up close as it seemed from afar, and Isla walked amongst the heavens. She was sure she stuck out as she moved amongst the crowd, not for the fact she was the alpha’s mate and the future queen, but because she was so taken by it all. Their everyday and commonplace were like a dream.

Filling in the melodies lost as they drew further from the cavern, singers serenaded the mingling masses on corners, strumming and rhythmically playing their instruments in tunes Isla wasn’t familiar with but found herself entranced by. Wreaths of flowers were scattered along the ground, and every so often, there would be a small pillar of stone holding a flame, burning bright, and surrounded by those paying respects with whispered prayers blending into the music.

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