Brandt knew then the queen understood him in a way his imperial friends and family did not. This was a woman who knew the sacrifices sometimes required for the protection of others.
“Stop compelling him!” Ana shouted.
Brandt didn’t feel compelled, though. These thoughts were completely his own. It didn’t feel at all like it did before, when Kye had used the technique.
Alena confirmed his guess. “She’s not.”
The queen finished her offer. “All I ask is for one year. I shall protect you from all harm and teach you all you desire. In exchange, so long as Alena doesn’t interfere with my control of the Falari gate, I promise not to attack the continent.”
“And then?” Brandt asked.
“Then we all have choices to make. I will need the gates to defend this world. If you so choose, I will send you back here after one year, even if that means you’ll oppose me. Alena, too, will need to decide what course to take. I can spare one year, but no more.”
Ana came up behind Brandt, her hands around his upper arm. “She’s scared, Brandt. I can hear it in her voice. All of us together, we can defeat her. She knows it.”
The queen said nothing in response.
Perhaps there was some truth to Ana’s suggestion. They’d already cut the queen, and behind them, Ren had finally woken up, and Jace was on his feet and looking ready to attack again. If they fought again, she’d have to avoid four swords.
But he wasn’t sure. Whatever her motivations, he believed the queen spoke the truth. And if they fought, he was far from sure that they would win. The queen now had two gates. That type of power couldn’t be underestimated.
He turned to look into Ana’s eyes. If he left for a year he would miss the birth of his child. He would miss a year of being with Ana.
Brandt didn’t know how to answer the demands of both duty and love.
He thought of the empire, filled with over a million lives, all helpless before this unnamed threat that even the queen feared.
He remembered quiet nights with Ana in the mountains above Highkeep. The perfect contentment he’d felt in those moments.
Perhaps he didn’t need to save the world.
Perhaps he only needed to save his family.
Brandt pulled gently away from Ana. He turned to her. “I love you,” he said.
Her eyes were filled with doubt. But she nodded. “I love you, too.”
Brandt stepped forward, his sword held in front of him. He sensed, rather than saw, Ana prepare for a fight. He could imagine her settling into her favorite stance. But he didn’t dare risk a backward glance.
He took another step.
It was time to end this war inside of him.
Brandt kneeled before the queen.
“I accept.”
The queen smiled. There was a flash of light and a force that lifted him through the gate.
And he was gone.
Epilogue
Alena and Jace sat together on an overlook across the valley from Faldun. In the valley below, several camps had appeared as if grown from the fertile ground.
The queen might be gone, but she had left their world a mess.
Between the camps and Faldun, a large tent had been pitched. Within that tent, the future of the Falari was being determined. After their assault on Faldun, and particularly in the moments after Hanns and Brandt had dropped into the square, hundreds of mountain warriors had died or been injured. As a result, those who wished for endless war against the empire now numbered significantly fewer than those who wished for peace.
But those who wished for war still controlled Faldun, a city that would be nearly impossible to besiege. Any attempt would be long and bloody.
So the two divisions searched for some agreement. Their gate was no longer theirs, and the queen had made them aware of a threat greater than the empire.
The warleaders and elders had plenty to discuss.
Weylen was optimistic. When he’d last spoken to Alena, he’d asked if he could use the threat of her strength if necessary. Alena had agreed, but wasn’t sure if she would even be able to follow through if needed.
Hopefully, it wouldn’t come to that.
Jace passed over the flask he’d been sipping from. She nodded her appreciation and took a pull. The Falari liquor burned stronger than anything she’d ever tasted, but she admitted it had grown on her. Probably more than was healthy.
“Has Ana spoken to you today?” Jace asked.
Alena shook her head.
“She will, in time. She doesn’t blame you, not really.”
“I know,” Alena said. The knowledge didn’t stop Ana’s silence from hurting, though. “I might have been able to do something, though.”
“Brandt made his choice.” Jace spit out the words.
Alena wanted to defend Brandt. Some part of her understood. But she still couldn’t believe he’d left them. His desertion was an enormous open wound over her heart, and she didn’t carry Brandt’s child.
She understood Ana’s anger, too.
Alena took another drink, welcoming the relaxation it brought to her tight shoulder muscles.
“Sometimes I think I should have taken her offer,” Alena said. “Then Brandt never would have had a chance to make that choice.”
“Why didn’t you?” Jace gestured for the flask and Alena handed it back to him. “It wasn’t because you wanted to see more of my charming good looks.”
Her brother took another long sip. Jace had considered Brandt a hero.
Alena wondered if Brandt knew how many people his decision had hurt.
She suspected he did. He was no fool.
But she still felt like punching him in the kidneys.
Repeatedly.
“I’m still not sure,” Alena admitted, “but the queen is wrong. The threat is coming—that much is true. But it’s not just about surviving.” She paused. “How we fight matters.”
Alena snatched the flask from Jace and took the last pull.
“What next?” Jace asked.
Alena sighed. That was the question, wasn’t it? The one she’d been thinking about for days, ever since the queen had so suddenly disappeared from their lives.
