44
NORA
The castle gate closed with a loud thud.
Nora could hardly believe that she and Matteo were still alive. Soaked, bruised, bloody, and dirty, but breathing. He sat up and took off his helmet. His dark curls were wet with sweat and blood. Laird Donnelly’s soldiers surrounded them as they lay on the ground at the bottom of the gate.
“Are you all right, Your Majesty?” Laird Donnelly asked, holding out his hand to Matteo.
Matteo took it and smiled. “I hate to be a royal nuisance, but I do think I will require another bath. The water in the moat didn’t quite do the trick. In fact, I believe it made it worse.”
Nora was laughing as Matteo pulled her to her feet. The soldiers around them were laughing too. Matteo had that effect on people. His confidence, charm, and leadership were hard to resist. Without the earth shake, their people would have lost the battle and been overrun. It wasn’t so much a victory as a stalemate.
Laird Donnelly bowed. “Of course, Your Majesty.”
“Where is Elea?” Nora asked. “Where is my cousin?”
“She is safe in our highest tower.”
Nora sheathed her sword. “Take me to her.”
Laird Donnelly nodded.
“And someone take me to a hot bath,” Matteo said, and everyone laughed again. His eyes met hers for a moment. He wanted her to meet with Elea alone. He wished for them to reconcile without him distracting them.
She gave Matteo a small nod before following Laird Donnelly across the courtyard and into the castle. Her wet clothes clung to her body and armor as she climbed the stairs. The exhaustion from the battle caught up with her. They reached a circular room at the top of the stairs with beautiful furniture and velvet curtains, but Elea was not there.
“Her Majesty was here.”
Nora walked past Laird Donnelly to a door on the opposite side of the circular room. Turning the handle, she saw that it led to another staircase. She climbed it slowly and her eyes met the bright light of the sun. Blinking several times, she saw Elea slumped on the ground, her back leaning against the stones, her hand bleeding.
Kneeling down, Nora ripped off the bottom of her cousin’s petticoat and bound her hand tightly.
Elea opened her eyes. “You’re safe.”
“I’m sorry,” Nora whispered, the words painful on her lips. “I should have forgiven you earlier.”
The corners of her cousin’s mouth lifted. “I thought being sorry was my role in this relationship.”
Nora looked down at her bloody hands. “I should have accepted your apology at the cairns. I knew that you had changed and that you meant what you said, but I wanted you to suffer longer. To suffer like I had.”
Elea placed her bandaged hand on top of Nora’s bloody ones. “I betrayed you time and time again. I never treated you like a sister like my mother wanted me to. I was too consumed with jealousy of your strength. Of the fact that everyone preferred you to me. And when Matteo did as well, I was horrible to you. Like Eimhir, I betrayed you.”
“Technically, Matteo was married to you by proxy. Which might have given you just cause to be angry.”
She shook her head slowly. “If I had been loyal to my blood oath to you, I would have listened when you tried to explain to me what had happened. I knew by your scent that you were telling the truth. And now I understand that you cannot always help where your heart loves. Even if it is in unexpected places.”
Nora felt a smile spread on her sore lips. “A Kaulish prince turned Urkan seer.”
Elea blinked again. “Gerard is illegitimate. He is not a prince.”
“Not anymore,” Nora said, her smile so wide that it hurt her face. “His half brother, King Alexandre, made him an official prince of Kaul.”
“But he tried to poison him!”
Nora shrugged her shoulders. “No family is perfect. Ours certainly isn’t.”
“I think it could be,” Elea said, squeezing Nora’s hand. “I thinkwecould be. If you’ll give me another chance.”