Page 92 of The Crown’s Temptation

"Something that has always belonged to you." He says it simply, like he is stating a fact rather than beginning something. "Something that was kept safe until you were ready to receive it."

I open my mouth, then close it. I know he is likely talking about the Arrolyn.

"Not yet," he says quietly. "There are things I need to tell you and this is not the place and you are not strong enough yet." His eyes hold mine. “But I will do whatever I can to give you your life back.”

Something in me warmed at that.

"Colsar," I say. "Is he⁠—"

"He is holding, I hear,” Eravic says. "He is angry and grieving and holding." A pause. "He is not stopping."

Something in my chest eases. Not because the news is good. Because it sounds exactly like him.

"And my children?"

"Safe. Hidden. Exactly where they should be."

I nod.

We stand in the quiet of the shoreline and the dark water breathes beneath us and I think about how strange it is that of all the places I could have ended up Eravic Vaelor is standing at the edge of it.

"You should not be here," I say. "This place is dangerous."

"There is nowhere a Vaelor cannot sail." He says it without pride. "This is as far as I can reach. But I can reach it."

"That is enough," I say. I begin to cough again and am relieved he is turned away when I spit the black mucus into the sand.

He looks at me.

Fuck. Maybe he did see after all.

"That is enough," I say again. "You being here. That is enough."

He does not say anything. He does not need to. He turns back to the water and I stand beside him and we look at the dark together and for the first time since I woke up in this place I do not feel entirely alone.

He reaches into his pocket and hands me a vial. “From the healers. It will not cure you, but it may slow it.”

I nod and drink it in one gulp. It tastes terrible. Then I reach in my cloak and hand him a parcel. He looks down at it, then takes it.

He does not ask what it is, but I tell him anyway.

“Her memories,” I said. “My mother’s.”

He did not ask me to explain why I only trusted him to keep them.

He simply nodded. “I will keep them safe.”

CHAPTER 21

The Walk Back

Eravic offered to have someone walk me back.

I told him guards were waiting at the path entrance.

He looked at me suspiciously but chose not to press it.

There were no guards.