Page 94 of The Curse of Gods (The Curse of Saints #3)

It was over a week before Aya was ready to leave the infirmary. Will stayed by her side, watching as she regained her strength. With it came her impatience, and by the tenth day of forced bed rest, Will wondered if she might snap.

“You’re grumpy,” Josie remarked from where she was sitting in the corner of the room, her feet propped on Aya’s bed. And though her voice was light, Will could see the grief still lining her features. It dulled the rich brown of her eyes and dampened the usual brightness of her smile.

She hadn’t wanted to talk about Cole. At least, not with him. But Will wondered in those times that she’d forced him from the room, grumbling about his need for a bath and fresh air, if it wasn’t just his needs she was attending to.

He hoped Josie was finding solace in Aya. If anyone knew what it felt like to lose their best friend, it was her.

“I’m bored ,” Aya corrected, but there was a hint of petulance to her tone that nearly made Will laugh. He’d seen Aya in many shades: angry, bitter, cutting. But pouting was new.

He supposed he shouldn’t be surprised. Aya didn’t do well with being idle, especially when there was so much to be done.

“I should be helping rebuild the city,” she continued, her arms crossing over her chest. “Or…tending to the wounded. Or burying the dead.”

She tensed as the last word left her mouth, her own grief shifting to make room for Josie’s.

Josie’s gaze darted to her lap, the corner of her full lips pulling down.

Liam had found Callias’s body and preserved it so Aya could attend his burning ceremony. They would not cremate him until Aya was out of the infirmary.

Cole, on the other hand, would be transported back to Rinnia when Aidon and Josie left, so that he could be buried in accordance with the customs of Trahir.

Aleissande had made sure of it. She hadn’t allowed Josie to be the one to retrieve his body, and Will was glad for it. Josie did not need to remember him in such a way.

He was happy Josie had found the general. He’d seen them together more this week, their heads bent close and voices low. And though her happiness was blunted by her grief, it was still there all the same in Aleissande’s company.

Love was complex. It soothed the sting of sadness, and yet it could not remove it completely.

Will should know. Aya hadn’t spoken much of her father this week, but he could see the agony curling around her heart, taking up more space now that the vicious relief of their survival had begun to wash away.

He liked to think his presence helped. No—he knew it did. But this was a hurt he could not heal.

“I just meant…I could be helping,” Aya said quietly worrying her bottom lip as she watched Josie carefully.

But Josie had tucked her grief back away, and her eyes were clear when she met Aya’s gaze. “I know,” she assured her.

Will traced a finger over the vein on the inside of Aya’s wrist, his affinity sweeping behind it in a tender caress. “I think you’ve earned a bit of a break,” he murmured. “Besides, you heard Suja. No affinity use for the next two weeks.”

Josie smirked. “I bet she doesn’t last two days.”

“No bet,” Will replied without looking away from Aya’s face. “I’ve learned not to gamble with you and Aidon.”

“Speaking of Aidon,” Josie sighed, her boots thudding to the ground as she sat up. “Do we think he’s going to ask Dauphine to give up her mercenary ways and join him in Trahir?”

“I think Aidon has other pressing matters on his mind,” Will replied.

The king had been by to visit Aya every day, sometimes while she slept. He and Will used those times to talk. He knew how nervous Aidon was to return home, despite all he had done here for his people.

It’s different when we’re united behind a cause, Aidon had said just last night. But what if, when we get home, they’ve changed their minds?

Will couldn’t imagine they would. But he had a feeling only time would reassure his friend.

“I think he should,” Aya said, the corners of her pout twitching as she reluctantly joined in on the gossip Josie had enticed her with. “They’re good together.”

Josie shot Will a quick wink.

“A mercenary and a king,” Josie drawled. “ That will go over well.”

“Maybe Aleissande can convince her to join the army,” Will smirked. Though he severely doubted it. Dauphine may cross oceans for Aidon, but she likely drew the line at serving a kingdom loyally.

“Leave the love of my life out of this,” Josie sniffed.

Will’s brows flicked toward his hairline. “Love of my life? That was fast.”

“Don’t tell her I said that,” she ordered, pointing a threatening finger at him. “We may live across the realm, but I will gladly get on a ship and come back to kick your ass.”

“Is that a promise?” Aya asked, her own smug grin peeking through. The remark was teasing, but Will could sense the vulnerability beneath it. He knew Aya was dreading saying her goodbyes.

Josie’s face softened. “Of course it is.”

A knock sounded at the door. Galda strolled in dressed in her fighting leathers, as if it were an ordinary day of training the Dyminara.

Will supposed in some ways, it was. A new sort of ordinary, at least.

“Still in bed, I see,” Galda muttered, but there was a twinkle in her eyes that spoke to the mirth underlining her words.

“Not anymore,” Suja corrected as she swept in behind the trainer.

It might be the first day the healer looked somewhat rested, Will realized. It certainly was the first day her tunic had been clear of blood.

“You’re free to go, Aya,” she said as she set a handful of tonic bottles on the bed. She pointed at them while fixing Aya with a stern look. “Remember, once in the morning, once at night. No affinity use for the next two weeks.”

Two days , Josie mouthed to Will behind Suja’s back. He bit back a laugh.

Galda waited for Suja to finish and clear the room before she fixed Aya and Will with a serious stare.

“I’ve delayed all I can,” the trainer said gravely.

Fucking hells. Will should have known this was coming.

Josie cleared her throat. She glanced between them all before she stood. “I’m going to go see if Aleissande needs help in the dining hall.” She flashed a quick grin as she bolted from the room, silence stretching in the wake of her exit.

“The people are calling for a new leader,” Galda continued. “And to no one’s surprise, they’re calling for you,” she said to Aya.

To no one’s surprise —as if those same people hadn’t wanted her dead less than three weeks ago.

“Can’t this wait?” Will asked, irritation sharpening his tone. But he already knew the answer. Galda and their friends had kept them apprised of what was transpiring after the battle. He’d known, eventually, the trainer would not be able to delay further.

But gods, Aya had given enough . She needed time to heal. Time to mourn.

“I’m afraid it can’t,” Galda replied with rare regret. “The realm needs stability after such unrest. It needs to heal.”

“ She needs to heal,” he snapped. He knew his anger was misplaced, but it demanded to be heard anyway.

“Will,” Aya soothed, her hand soft on his arm as she stood. “It’s fine.”

“It’s not—”

“I’m not taking the crown.” The words were directed at Galda, but they had Will drawing up short.

They hadn’t talked about it. But he knew Aya better than he knew anyone. He knew she did not want to rule. But to hear her say it so definitively, to witness her choosing herself for the first time in—

Had he ever seen her choose herself?

“Though it bodes well for Aidon that the people don’t seem bothered by a Visya on the throne,” Aya continued lightly.

Galda blinked.

Aya toyed with a loose thread on the sleeve of her infirmary tunic, the gray fabric worn and frayed. But she did not give in to Galda’s silence.

“You realize they see you as more than a Visya,” the trainer finally said steadily. “More than a saint, even. No one in our history has taken on a wrathful god and lived to tell the tale, except for you.”

“I did not do it alone,” Aya argued. “And if it weren’t for Pathos and Saudra, I wouldn’t have survived.”

Pathos, and Saudra, and…

Did you see my mother? Aya had asked him late that first night in the infirmary. He’d wedged into the small bed with her, Suja’s orders and his own healing be damned.

The question had startled him, and not just because they’d been lying in silence for so long that he’d thought she was asleep.

He hadn’t seen Eliza.

He’d been the one to try desperately to pull her away from Sage. But that did not mean Eliza’s spirit had not visited her daughter that day. Will could hardly explain the things he had seen. He would not question Aya on this—not if it brought her some modicum of comfort.

“I don’t know that the people care to get caught in the logistics of it all,” Galda mused.

Will scoffed. Of course they didn’t. They certainly hadn’t bothered before.

“But,” Galda continued, her eyes narrowing as she regarded Aya, “I will support your decision. If not you, then who do you propose?”

Aya smiled—the first genuine one Will had seen from her since the battle. There was a spark in her eyes, one he knew to associate with Aya having knowledge no one else did.

Seven hells, she’d been planning something. How had she even found the time?

“There is only one person I can think of who’s deserving of such a crown. Whose loyalty to Tala is true ,” Aya said.

Will frowned. Surely, she couldn’t be thinking of him . If Galda’s wrinkled nose was any indication, she seemed to agree.

Will was selfish, and he’d come to terms with that. He would continue to be if it meant Aya got to live the life she deserved.

He’d never be like—

“Liam.” The realization came so suddenly, it took him a moment to realize he’d said the man’s name aloud.

Of course.

It was an obvious choice.

Aya grinned as she nodded her confirmation. “Liam.”