Zoe Reed - Breaking Legacies

“Our cottage is comfortable,” Ava answered, reaching out for my hand, and I knew the gesture to be a reassurance that she wouldn’t have it any other way. That not even being back in a castle could make her want anything other than the life we’d begun to build in our comfortable home.

Nilson, who’d come back over to stand at our mother’s side with Akamar, beamed up at Nira. “Kiena’s teaching me to train the horses.”

“Is she?” Nira asked, glancing between him, Ava, and me. “I’ll bet the three of you will turn out the best horses in the kingdom.”

“In the world!” Nilson exclaimed.

“Forgive me,” Nira laughed. She reached out to grab him, pulling him to her so she could ruffle his hair, because he hadn’t yet given her a hug hello. “Best in the world.”

We wouldn’t be doing it alone, however. It was a tremendous job looking after horses, and would only get bigger as our stable grew, and so we’d hired some help. One of these individuals was Silas. Most of the soldiers who’d survived the battle were now soldiers under Kingston’s rule, and some others were given punishments comparable to their status and crimes. Silas had been stripped of his knighthood and relieved of his service to the kingdom—a punishment he’d accepted readily and dutifully.

Though our relationship wasn’t what it used to be, I couldn’t leave him in his newfound situation to wander in search of work, or to potentially find none and be doomed to a life of homelessness. He’d always been a soldier, so he knew no other labor and thus wouldn’t have easily been hired by anyone but myself. So I allowed him to build a small cottage on our land and gave him a job. It was an offer he’d accepted as stoically as he could, but with revealing tears in his eyes. We’d left him behind to care for the horses when we’d left for Ronan, along with Haunt, who’d decided to stick around even after the war, but who’d have never survived staying in a castle for a month.

“Your Grace,” said a soft voice, and the robed woman gave Nira an apologetic smile for interrupting our reunion. “We still have so much to rehearse, and you’ll have hours to converse soon at their—”

Nira made a loud shushing noise, cutting off the rest of the woman’s sentence. Then she looked specifically at Ava and me, explaining, “We have a surprise for you tonight,” but she cast a look at the robed woman on the word ‘surprise,’ chuckling amicably when the woman blushed.

“We’re here for you ,” Ava protested, and I nodded my agreement.

Nira waved it off with a flick of her wrist. “These last weeks have been more about me than I can stand.” She gestured toward the staff members that had brought us here, and who were still standing at the entrance of the throne room. “They’ll take you all for baths and refreshments.” She hugged us again, pressing another kiss to each of our cheeks. “I’ll see you soon.”

We turned to follow the staff members out of the throne room, but Nilson ran off after Akamar, both giggling mischievously and yelling about sweets, and my mother and another woman went chasing after them. Ava and I followed our own guide to the upstairs of another wing of the castle we’d never explored before, and were led into a bedchamber. We were assured that our bath was already being drawn, and told that someone would come and get us shortly. As Nira had promised, there were refreshments laid out on the table in our room, and I went over to have a look.

“Hungry?” I asked Ava, taking in the various fruits we’d been provided, grabbing a particular piece of green melon. “I do believe this is your favorite.”

Ava strode over, holding her mouth open so I could drop the fruit in it while she looked over the food too. “Ah,” she grinned, swallowing as she grabbed a specific red berry, “we’ve been provided your favorite as well.”

I laughed, narrowing my eyes at her because I remembered perfectly when she’d tricked me into eating that sour berry. Twice. While I reached for a cup to fill it with water, Ava wandered away from me to explore the room. She felt the covers on the large bed and examined the landscape painting on the wall, but it wasn’t until she’d reached the dresser and ran her hand over it that I recognized the wistfulness on her face.

Ava had been excited about returning, about seeing her brother and sister again after being apart for a couple of months, but she still had less fond memories attached to this castle. We were in an entirely different wing, and a different room than we’d been in on our first stay here, but everything was similar—the furniture, the colors, the smells. In our nights before leaving home to come here, she’d expressed an anxiety beneath her excitement, a fear that being back here would be too painful for her to enjoy herself as much as she wanted to.

“Is it as difficult as you thought?” I asked. “Being back?”

Ava paused in her tour, standing at the dresser for a moment before turning around to lean back against it, staring at the floor. “Yes,” she answered, so quietly that I almost couldn’t hear her from the opposite end the room, “and no.” When she paused again, I strode across the empty space to where she was, and leaned back against the dresser at her side. “I thought I’d be afraid… terrified, like that day, to think of what happened.”

“But you’re not,” I guessed as I wrapped an arm around her, and she leaned closer into my side.

“No,” she confirmed. “Being here already, I’m finding that I’m finally able to separate myself from what happened. From everything he did.” She looked up at me, a sense of surprised wonder in her eyes. “I don’t know when it happened, Kiena, but… I think I’ve mostly forgiven myself.” I pressed a kiss to her forehead, to tell her that I was glad for it without saying it out loud, and felt her arm go around my waist in gratitude. “I do feel some sadness,” she admitted, leaning her head on me, “but it’s that my father’s not here to see how happy we are, or how great a queen Nira will be.”

“He knows,” I assured her. If there was one thing that my brush with death made me certain of, it was that death wasn’t the end. That those we’d lost to this war weren’t entirely gone. “He sees.”

Ava’s arm squeezed me a little tighter, and we stood there for a few moments in silence. “I think,” she began eventually, hesitating before taking in a deep breath. “I think I’d like to go back there at some point during our stay. To that room. To face it and let go.”

“If you think it will help,” I agreed.

She glanced up at me again. “Would you go with me?”

“Yes,” I answered, nodding. Ava had forgiven me long ago for leaving her that day, and she’d never so much as hinted that she blamed me at all for what happened to her father and stepmother. I’d have gone with her anywhere, no matter what, but I also believed that she wouldn’t be the only one to benefit from facing what happened that day. “Of course.”

“Thank you.” She stretched upward to kiss my cheek, and we both stood there for a bit longer before she turned toward me. “You know what I’m looking forward to?” she asked, appearing ready to be in brighter spirits.

“What?” I prompted, and because the tone of our conversation was lighter, I pushed myself backward and up to sit comfortably on the dresser.

“I’m looking forward to making new memories here,” she said. She moved to stand between my legs, and set her hands on my knees. “It’ll be even better with your mother and brother here, though, I am suspicious of Nira’s surprise…”

“Knowing her,” I chuckled, “it’s probably a party.”

“For us?” Ava asked in confusion. “She said the surprise was for us, but we don’t know enough people here for a party.”