Chapter 84: After the Storm

Valen was running toward Leonidas.

The boy burst through the ring of guards, small legs pumping, his face a mess of tears and terror and something else, something Leonidas had never seen directed at him before.

"Papa!" Valen screamed again, and this time Leonidas heard it properly.

He called me Papa.

Leonidas tried to rise. His body refused. He got one knee under him, then his arm buckled, and he would have gone face-first into the stone if Aldric hadn’t caught him.

"Your Majesty, you need to—"

"Let me—" Leonidas gasped, blood flecking his lips. "Let me reach him—"

Valen crashed into him.

The impact drove what little breath remained from Leonidas’s lungs. Small arms wrapped around his neck, small hands fisted in his ruined tunic, and a terrified face pressed itself against his shoulder.

"You’re bleeding," Valen sobbed. "You’re bleeding everywhere, Papa, you’re—"

"I know." Leonidas coughed. He lifted one trembling hand and pressed it to the back of his son’s head. "Are you alright? Are you hurt anywhere?"

"No!" Valen pulled back just enough to glare at him, tears streaming down his cheeks. "You’re the one who’s hurt! You’re the one who—" His voice cracked, and he couldn’t finish. He just buried his face against Leonidas’s neck again, his small body shaking.

Leonidas closed his eyes. His hand stayed on Valen’s head, fingers threading weakly through the dark, soft hair. "I’m fine. I’m fine, Valen. I promise."

"You’re lying."

"I’m not."

"You are."

"Okay." Leonidas’s lips twitched. "Maybe a little. But I’ll live."

Footsteps echoed down the corridor, and Leonidas lifted his head.

Karina was running toward them, Soren clutched against her chest. Rynan and Daerys ran nehind her, flanked by a wall of guards with spears drawn. The clatter of their armor filled the corridor like thunder.

And then Karina stopped.

She had seen Dorian’s body.

The naked, blood-soaked corpse lay crumpled against the far wall, his severed hand a few feet away, his chest a ruin. His navy eyes were open, staring at nothing.

Karina swallowed hard. Her arms tightened around Soren, and for a long moment, she just stared at the man who had tried to destroy her family. The man who had tried to kill her son. The man who had come extremely close to killing her. The man who had haunted her nightmares.

He was dead.

He was actually, finally, dead.

She tore her gaze away and kept running towards Leonidas. Corvin stepped forward, bloodied and exhausted. "Allow me, Empress," he stretched his hands towards Soren, collecting him from her. The little snake allowed it, and Corvin shileded Soren’s view with his body, murmuring soft words against his hair.

Karina crossed the remaining distance immediately. She dropped to her knees beside Leonidas, her hands hovering over him, her red eyes glistening with tears. A small smile graced his Leonidas’s face.

"Karina," he rasped.

"Don’t." She shook her head, a tear slipping free and trailing down her cheek. "Don’t you dare say anything. You almost died again. You—"

Karina swallowed her words. She pressed a hand to her mouth, trying to hold herself together, but the tears kept coming.

Valen was still pressed against his father’s side, his small arms wrapped around Leonidas’s neck, his face buried against his shoulder. He was shaking. He hadn’t stopped shaking since he had crashed into Leonidas.

"Mama," Valen mumbled, lifting his head. He slowly released his father. "Is he going to be okay?"

Karina reached out and gently smoothed down Valen’s hair, her fingers trembling. "He’s going to be fine," she said softly. "He’s too stubborn to die."

She pressed her lips to Valen’s forehead, then she lifted her gaze to Aldric, who stood a few feet away to give thgem space, blood-crusted and swaying slightly on his feet.

"General." Her voice was hoarse. "How are you?"

Aldric managed a lopsided smile. "In need of a four-day bath, Your Majesty. But I am well. I am pleased you remain unharmed." He let out a short laugh, wincing as it pulled at something in his side.

Karina huffed something that was almost a laugh too, and then, before anyone could stop her, before she could stop herself, she leaned forward and wrapped her arms around Leonidas, careful of his wounds, her face pressed into the curve of his shoulder.

A ripple of shock went through the guards. Corvin’s eyebrows shot up. Even Aldric blinked.

Leonidas stilled for half a second, startled, and then his arms came up around her, one hand splayed against her back, holding her like she might vanish if he let go.

"Wow," Karina mumbled against him. "You smell."

He huffed a laugh that turned into a wince. "Blood, sweat, and dead man. It’s a whole bouquet."

"Disgusting."

"You’re the one hugging me."

"I know." She didn’t pull away. If anything, she pressed closer, her fingers curling into the ruined fabric of his tunic. "I know. Just... be quiet."

Karina closed her eyes and breathed him in, the copper of blood, the salt of sweat, his musk. It should have been revolting. It was revolting. But beneath all of it, she could feel his heartbeat. Steady. Strong. Alive.

She should not feel this. She knew she should not feel this relieved he had lived.

And yet.

And yet her hands were shaking. And yet her eyes were burning. And yet there was a tight, panicked knot in her chest that had been there since the moment she had seen him wounded when him and Rafael had first arrived.

Why am I so relieved?

I don’t even like him.

I don’t.

It’s probably because I didn’t want Valen to lose his father. Yes, that must be it.

"Empress, you’re crushing me."

Karina jerked back immediately, her hands flying up. Her face turned red, and she scrambled to her feet, smoothing down her ruined gown with shaking fingers.

"I—you—" She cleared her throat, refusing to meet his eyes. "Sorry about that."

A ghost of a smirk tugged at the corner of Leonidas’s mouth. "I’m not complaining."

She shot him a look that promised violence if he said another word. Then she turned sharply, her gaze sweeping over the corridor. The guards were still standing in a tight ring, their eyes fixed on the corpse. On the blood. On the severed hand still lying a away, fingers curled.

The children.

Rynan and Daerys had crept closer, their small faces peeking around the wall of armored legs. Rynan’s golden eyes were wide. Daerys’s silver hair was matted with sweat, his red horns catching the torchlight. Neither of them was looking away. Neither of them seemed able to.

Karina’s heart jumped into her throat.

"No, no, no." She moved quickly, stepping directly into their line of sight, blocking the view of Dorian’s body with her own. She spread her arms wide, herding them backward, away from the wreckage, away from the blood.

"Turn around" she commanded. "All of you. Right now."

Rynan blinked up at her. "Mama—"

"Cover your eyes, Rynan." She knelt in front of them, pulling both boys against her chest, one hand cradling the back of each head, pressing their faces into her shoulders. "You are too young for this. Both of you. You should not have to see—" Her voice cracked, and she swallowed hard. "You should not have to see any of this."

Daerys’s small body trembled against her. "Is the bad man gone?"

"Yes." Karina pressed a kiss to the top of his head, shocked he even let her, then to Rynan’s. "He’s gone. He can’t hurt anyone anymore. But I need you both to keep your eyes closed, alright? Just for a little while longer. Can you do that for Mama?"

Two small heads nodded against her shoulders.

She turned around, her eyes finding Aldric.

"General."

He stepped forward immediately, blood-crusted and weary, but his back straight. "Your Imperial Majesty."

"Get someone to clean this." She gestured vaguely at the corridor, at the corpse, at the trail of blood that led from the shattered wall to where Dorian had fallen. Her voice was steady now. The voice of an Empress, not a frightened mother. "This entire mess. I want it gone. And I want a full report on how he got in. Who failed. Who needs to answer for this."

Aldric inclined his head. "It will be done."