Chapter 215 As it was Meant to be

Chapter 215 As it was Meant to be

AYLETH

Three days over the Summitran border, they woke to find the city of the Capital, shining on the distant hill. They were still two nights travel away, though Etan was certain they'd arrive before high moon on the second night.

They'd continued to travel at night just in case they were overtaken by the Zenithran army that had to be in pursuit by now. But Borsche had already stopped by two villages and sent messages to the Castle. The Kingdom would be prepared, if they weren't already, for the upcoming conflict, and ready for any orders from the King when he arrived to give them.

When they woke that afternoon, still hours from dark, Etan was smiling in a way she didn't think she'd ever seen. His spirits had lifted with every step deeper into his Kingdom until he was... lighter.

She liked him this way—the easy smile and eyes that sparkled rather than brooded. She hadn't understood how much he'd been affected by the pressures of her parent's rule until they were here and suddenly he could laugh and tease and...

Ayleth smiled as he caught her eye from across the fire he'd just poked to spread the embers so it would burn out before they left. The heat in his gaze threatened to burn her fingers, just like those embers.

She bit her lip to stifle the returning smile.

"I think I will take my wife for a walk and show her some of my Kingdom," Etan declared to the other two, suddenly. "We'll be back well before dark."

"Etan," Borsche began, but Etan shook his head.

"If we are not safe here, Borsche, there is nowhere on earth that I can take her. We won't stray far. There's a clearing to the east with a lake. And the old abandoned barn on its other side. You remember?"

"Yes,"

"That's where we'll be."

"I don't know, Etan, I don't have a good feeling—"

"Let them go," Falek muttered without looking up. Far from becoming lighter as they'd traveled, her Knight Defender seemed to be carrying the weight of the world on his shoulders. She'd tried to talk to him one more time about the woman, but he'd utterly refused to even broach the subject and had found a reason to leave her presence when she pressed. Read latest chapters at novelhall.com Only

So his intervention on her behalf was a surprise. And not just to her. Borsche seemed shocked.

"So beautiful," he breathed. "And so incredibly mine."

She giggled in embarrassment, sat up to pull him in, to take him in, to love him. And when they both broke over that wave of pleasure together, she cried out to whatever God was listening to please, please make certain she never had to live a day without this incredible man.

They were still lying there, bodies humming with pleasure, but minds and eyes drowsy, when a voice rose from the edge of trees a mile away.

Borsche's voice, screaming for Etan.

They both jumped to their feet, scrambling for their clothes, as Etan yelled back that they were coming!

"What do you think—?"

"I don't know!"

But as they finished dressing, Etan swept up his cloak from the ground and took Ayleth's hand, pulling her out into the open where they found Borsche and Falek both sweaty, yelling instructions that were tossed and cut through by the wind, as they galloped towards them.

And the closer they drew, the more Ayleth could understand their words.

"...Fortress City denied them entrance... pinned between forces... train was attacked."

"What are they saying—?" She feared what she was hearing, but she didn't want to know.

"I don't know," Etan said, his voice strangled as they started to run toward their men.

Falek's cloak rippled out behind him as he galloped towards them, bellowing for Ayleth. But it was Borsche on the lighter mount who reached them first, leaping from his still running horse to throw himself at Etan's feet in a kneel of fealty, gripping his arms. The older man's eyes were wide and pained, urgency on every line of his face as Falek drew rein behind him, his face a mask of uncertainty.

"Etan! Etan!" Borsche cried. "I'm so sorry—the King is Dead! Etan, you are King! Long live the King!"

Falek swung his leg over his mount and dropped to the ground, then to one knee, hand clasped over his chest in a salute to the King.

Etan's face paled and an ice cube slid down Ayleth's spine.