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Mina’s shoulders drooped as she hung her head and crumpled around the empty urn. Hector was the first to reach her, kneeling beside Mina and taking her hand. That tenderness coming from him, of all people, made my tears fall heavier. He’d been the most wary of humans, but I knew in that moment he didn’t think of anything but his fallen friend. We weren’t the same people we’d been weeks ago on that first day in the wagon together. Little had we known we were the beginnings of the Golden Court.

Briar shuffled to my side and wrapped her arm around me. I dropped my head onto her shoulder, crushing the flowers in my hand against her back. Watching someone mourn their twin... it was a fate I had narrowly avoided myself.

Days had passed and still the sight of her dropping to the stairs of the dais jolted me awake at night. Grae would hold me through the nightmares with his calm, steady presence. I didn’t know how long it would be before the panic would ease, but I had faith it would. There was so much to do now, but so many more reasons to do it.

I gave my sister one last squeeze and turned to the sheer drop. Grae followed a step beside me as I reached the edge and knelt. He dropped to his knees beside me as, one by one, the rest of the group did the same. Dozens of mourners lined the ledge, many former Galen den’ Mora musicians staying to pay their respects.

As Ora came to kneel, the group began to sing. The human prayer carried on the wind, the chorus of voices eddying along the briny breeze. I didn’t know the words, but I hummed along,as did Grae. The need to mourn Malou with music felt the only way. A hot tear slipped down my cheek. I knew I’d feel the responsibility for her passing for the rest of my life. It lit a fire in my veins to protect the humans of my kingdom, to not have to carry the deaths of any more of them on my shoulders than I already did. I’d live to fulfill my own dying wish:May the humans of Olmdere thrive. Every day, I pledged to make good on that promise, and Mina was planning on sticking around to make sure I did.

The final notes of the song died on the wind, and Mina’s fingers tightened around Malou’s flame badge. Hector pulled her into his shoulder, dropping his lips to the crown of her head.

I sniffed and dropped my bouquet over the edge, whispering my goodbye to Malou before rising. Most of the mourners drifted back through the forest toward the capital, but our little group remained. Oxen lowed as Galen den’ Mora sat proudly on the hillside, the golden forest lit by the setting sun behind it. Ora dallied at the back of the wagon, hugging Sadie.

“Are you sure you don’t want to stay?” I asked Ora one last time.

Ora smiled, shaking their head. “I’ll always be a part of your court, love, no matter how far I roam. But this music must be shared, you know? And there are so many who need us,” they said, pointing to the wagon.

Sorrow pierced through me, though I knew this day would come. Galen den’ Mora wasn’t meant to stay in one place. It would continue to travel as it had always done, but I still didn’t want to say goodbye.

The group clustered together, exchanging hugs and farewells, apart from Mina and Hector, who still knelt on the cliff’s edge.

I spotted Navin at the edge of the clearing, wringing his hands together as he watched us. His eyes scanning the group for Sadie as he ambled over. Lifting his hand, he took a step toward her and she turned away, following the rest of the mourners into the forest. Navin’s hand hovered in the air as if he could reachthrough time and space to pull her back to him, but he didn’t follow.

I understood why he saved his brother’s life and I also understood why Sadie hated him for it. Navin’s brother had been attacking her, trying to kill her just as much as she was trying to kill him, and it was not his brother’s scythe that Navin had stopped. He hadn’t intervened to protect her, probably because he knew she was far more likely to win.

Navin looked at me with pained eyes and mouthed, “I’m sorry.” He turned back toward the forest before I could reply. As I watched him disappear into the shadows of the golden trees, I wondered if he’d stay in Olmdere and reconnect with his family. Ora would be rolling Galen den’ Mora out of town alone.

Ora watched Mina and Hector, clutching a hand to their chest as if feeling the sorrow blooming there.

“We’ll give her your love,” I promised Ora, glancing from Mina to them.

“She knows she already has it,” they said with a sad half-smile. “I couldn’t be leaving her in better hands. I know I’ll see you again soon.” Ora wrapped me in a warm hug. “Until then, be well. Be you.”

I nodded, swallowing back more tears.

Ora took a fabric-wrapped parcel out of their pocket and handed it to Grae. “That thing you asked me for.”

I quirked my brow at Grae, but he didn’t reply, simply nodding and pocketing the fabric.

The wind whipped our hair and cupped our ears as we waved to Ora. The wagon slowly disappeared into the golden forest, and I knew my fox badge would be swinging above the dining table along with the rest of them. It had been the first place that truly felt like home.

Grae slung his arm over my shoulders and I leaned into his warm side. I’d let that feeling guide me as I rebuilt Olmdere—a place where my people felt that same belonging.

Forty-Two

The crisp air swirled around us, promising the coming autumn. Dappled sunlight streamed through the swaying branches of the golden oak tree. I leaned into Grae, listening to his steady heartbeat beneath my cheek.

Water rushed from the river below, spilling into the turquoise lake. The color had brightened from its murky black since the ostekke’s death. Humans were swimming in it again, delighting in the warm waters, baked for months by the hot summer sun.

I plucked a leaf off the branch and twirled it by the stem.

Grae kissed my temple. “What are you thinking about?”

I let the leaf fall, floating through the air down into the river. My eyes followed the golden speck as the river carried it away.

“This may be my new favorite tree,” I whispered.

“Mine too,” he murmured, sweeping my hair behind my ear.