Page 74 of Realm of Crows (Wings of Ink #5)
My own ability to listen in hasn’t manifested since those initial days. Perhaps it’s connected to becoming a Crow, or the ability was never mine to begin with, just Kaira’s, and I was lucky enough to be the one person to get into her head when she still couldn’t shield well.
They embrace for a moment, while Royad and Silas are already waving at us from the helm of the ship.
“Good luck.” Tori bows to Myron and me before we walk up the gangplank, joining our people.
Kaira is last to board the vessel ready to take us to an unknown future, hesitating as she steps onto the plank.
“I know you don’t think Herinor will ever return from wherever he ended up, but if he does and it is in your lands, please tell him I’m waiting for him. I’ll always be waiting for him.”
Head held high despite the tears in her eyes, Kaira marches onto the ship, standing next to me as Royad gives the order to haul in the ropes and row.
Thirty Crows man the benches below deck, steering the ship out into the open sea while, above deck, Myron and I stand hand in hand, watching the moon creep into the darkening sky and the stars flicker to life.
Kaira, Silas, and Royad are sitting by the mast, the ancient Crow quietly telling the young one and the Flame about the lands we’re traveling toward.
Then we open the sails, and the wind catches, and the brine rushes across my face as the ship picks up speed.
This is what I’ve been missing. The sense of freedom, the ability to go anywhere. And now, I’m not going alone. I have my family with me and a court to build a future.
“A future where the Crows will grow into the best versions of themselves,” Shaelak’s voice drifts into my mind.
I haven’t heard the God of Darkness in a while, and I must admit, I didn’t miss it.
“I fought and won this war. I bled and suffered and almost died doing so. What else do you want from me?”
“You proved that your vision of peace is stronger than Ephegos’s belief in war,” Shaelak says with that velvet darkness in his tone that makes me wonder if someone could drown in it. “You forged the future of the Crows and gave them a future.”
“Why? Why put us through all of this?”
Shaelak is quiet for so long I believe he might not respond at all, but then the skies open, and darkness pours down upon me.
“I didn’t put you through anything, Ayna.
You made your choices in life as did the rest of the Crows.
Your path has merely been a bit more twisted with my blood running in your veins. I’m the Brother Guardian after all.”
As if I need a reminder that he’s the one who favors chaos over order .
“And now? What will happen to us? Will you have your people continue living without females, forcing them to find someone who won’t despise them for what they are?”
“That is for them to find out, Ayna. You are the first Crow female in millennia and my progeny. Together with the king who deserves you, you will write the future of this people.”
Deserves me—Myron deserves me while Ephegos didn’t.
“I told you, killing Myron would have made him the strongest Crow alive and worthy of standing by our side.”
“But Herinor crossed your plans.” It’s the first time I’m truly thinking about how Herinor’s disappearance ties into all of this—how Shaelak might have something to do with what happened.
“Herinor knew your king was carrying a kernel of my power in his veins,” Shaelak purrs.
“Call it a gift to appease the bond between the two of you. A bond not even I as a god can do anything about as long as you’re both alive.
So I gave him a fair chance at standing against Ephegos, who had the favor of my bargain.
” He pauses, his darkness brushing my cheek in a consoling caress.
“Herinor knew he’d face Eroth before the end—or call him Hel, now that you’re sailing for Neredyn where they call my father Hel.
” His chuckle dances through the inky cloud enveloping me.
“Where Herinor ended up, they call him Zotarr, but you need not worry about names, my child. What you need to worry about is the future.”
“So he is alive?” I don’t care what anyone calls the God of Death as long as he stays well away from Herinor.
“Haven’t you been wondering why the magic of bargains hasn’t destroyed you all? Why thirty Crows are on this ship, intact and healthy and ready to find a new home?”
I have indeed, but there is no logical explanation—as there isn’t for Herinor’s disappearance.
“He killed Ephegos, which freed them all of their bargains.”
“He did. And he did it in a realm where the bargain is void.”
I’m not sure I’m still on the ship or if I’ve drifted into a realm of anger and hope myself.
“Where is he? How do we get him back?” I’m asking for Kaira as much as for myself.
This is the male who saved us all we’re talking about, and I want him back at my court.
I want to thank him for the many times he got within an inch of breaking his deal with Ephegos and for the one time he actually did it—without shoving us all into an apocalypse.
“There’s only one thing that can bring him back now.”
A part of me can guess what force is strong enough to bridge worlds?—
Worlds—there are other worlds out there.
“What does she need to do?”
At my demand for answers, Shaelak chuckles an onyx melody.
“Give it time, Ayna. Herinor must finish his task in the other world before he may return to his Flame. My father doesn’t take people to places without reason.
Ending Ephegos without reprimands by the magic of bargains was his payment for what he expects of your friend to accomplish in the other world. ”
“What does he need to do?”
My question echoes into emptiness as Shaelak withdraws from my head. “Goodbye, Ayna.”
As I stare out at the open seas, I reach into my pocket, fingering the final piece left of Erina. The bone pendant with the Jelnedyn shield crest dangles on the silver chain like a map of everything the Jelnedyn kings have done to my own bloodline.
Slowly, I stretch my arm over the railing and open my hand, watching the pendant fall and hit the waves cresting against the bow of the ship and sink below the surface into the deep-blue unknown, swallowing it like a mouth eager to devour its bloody history.
“Goodbye.”