Total pages in book: 161
Estimated words: 162269 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 811(@200wpm)___ 649(@250wpm)___ 541(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 162269 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 811(@200wpm)___ 649(@250wpm)___ 541(@300wpm)
She was crying.
She had not cried in…
Goddess, even as a little girl, she did not cry.
With a hand cupping the back of her head, keeping her face against his skin, his other arm curled around her and he slid to the side, holding her tight to him as she wept.
And wept.
And wept.
Through her tears, she heard the tent flap open and she tensed.
But she needn’t have worried.
Chu adjusted, hiding her with his big body, even as she felt his neck twist to look to the opening.
“She mourns,” he murmured.
“I’ll come back,” Serena heard Elena say softly. “Erm, thank you for, um, seeing to her,” she finished awkwardly.
Chu made no reply.
Serena only knew Elena had retreated when he settled at her side and started stroking her back.
When she had a handle on her tears—not a firm one, but a handle—Chu said tenderly, “Your mother was proud of you.”
“I gave her no reason.”
“I am of the understanding there was many a battle she sent you to win to keep your people safe, and you rarely failed her, or your people.”
Well, there was that.
“Do you lament not being named queen?” he asked.
She tipped her head back to look up at him. “I have no patience for foolishness, stupidity or weakness. I also do not like my time wasted. I’d make a terrible queen.”
His lips quirked.
“I lament she died disappointed in me.”
“You simply lament, Serena, that she died.”
She pressed her lips tightly together, for he was correct.
The air did not feel right, knowing her mother was not somewhere, breathing it.
He took his arm from around her to run his fingers along her jaw.
And doing thus, he murmured, “I have missed you.”
She tucked her face back in his throat.
“Pride,” he said over her head, his fingers gliding down her neck, over her shoulder, down her back, and he was holding her again. “It was torture, knowing you worked the Shanty without me at your side. I worried for you, day to day, hour to hour, minute to minute, held back from returning to you by my pride.” She felt his lips at her hair. “We must be aware of this, my maiden warrior. We both have much of it so we must guard against giving in to our pride.”
“As you know, I am no maiden.”
“Thank all the gods.”
She found to her surprise she was grinning at his throat.
“I quite like hellcat,” she muttered.
His humor was not audible, but his body shook with it.
Serena closed her eyes tight and took a chance telling him something that made her vulnerable, but that he should know.
“She would have liked you. She would have found you most interesting. She would have enjoyed listening to the fables you carried to this land from your own. She would have admired your beauty and your skills. She would have…she would have been pleased for me with you.”
“She was a great ruler and a good mother so I would have liked her too.”
At his reaction, Serena took another chance with something that made her even more vulnerable, but he definitely should know.
“I would have liked to give you a good mother.”
Chu’s reaction to that was to squeeze the breath out of her with his arms.
She allowed this and it lasted long, almost to the point her need for air meant she could no longer allow it, before he relaxed and replied, “I will take her through your sharing of memories.”
Serena turned her head to press her cheek to the base of his throat.
“Serena?” he called.
“Yes,” she whispered.
“Thank you for forgiving me.”
And she closed her eyes yet again.
Her reply, “And thank you, Chu, for forgiving me.”
He shifted in order for his lips to find her forehead, where he pressed a kiss.
He then settled them, front to front, in each other’s arms, on her pallet, and he fell silent.
Thus, Serena meditated in preparation for a rite in a way altogether new to her.
And in doing it, regardless of all the uncertainty, hostility and mayhem that swirled about four realms, she experienced the most beautiful time of her life.
Suspended in quiet mourning.
With Chu at her side.
Queen Elena
Beside the Double Pyres, Northeast Border
THE ENCHANTMENTS
It made it a might bit easier this time, for Cassius now knew the ritual, and his part in it, so he took the decision to stand behind me, his arms around me at my chest, his chin resting on my shoulder, as we watched.
And the support he offered, both emotional and physical, was heartening.
Though what was not easier, witnessing Mac, with Hera standing at his side, her hand clasping his tight, as he stood beside Jasmine’s body, gazing down at her, sorrow and regret for times that would never be shared, words that would never be uttered, love lost that ended too soon suffusing his handsome features.
Having already had our moments with her, along with myself, Jasmine’s mother and two blood sisters watched him as did hundreds of Nadirii.