Grief suddenly overtook him. His stomach shrank in on itself, and Kerrigan folded around his middle. He sank to his knees, then curled up into a ball. In his mind he saw lightning play through Orla’s guts. He watched Will burst into flames.
He wished his tears could have doused that fire, could have healed Orla’s wounds. He knew, however, that they could not—that all the tears that had ever been cried could never heal anything.
And yet, even with that realization, he could do nothing but cry.
75
Alexia shifted in the bed. Crow’s body pressed against her back, with his left hand on her stomach and his arm under their shared pillow. She slid her fingers from his, then rolled over to face him. His hand slid onto the small of her back, and her arm circled his chest.
She pulled herself tight to him, needing to hold as much as be held. She kissed his forehead. “You’re not sleeping.”
Crow, his eyes still closed, shook his head. His hair rustled against the pillow and his beard brushed the top of her breastbone. “I keep thinking back to the night we first found him. He was soaking wet, and so tiny. He’d been punched. He looked so helpless, just drenched and bedraggled, a feral little thing.
“And then today. I saw the expression on his face when he threw the Truestone. He knew Qwc would be in the right place. He’d changed so much, grown so much. The Will we found would have gone for the stone, but only because it was a gem, and he never would have thrown it away. No, he would have gone into the fire, clutching it to him, staring into its depths.”
Her hand came up and she sank fingers through the white hair at Crow’s left temple. “I know, Crow; I saw the changes. The way he dealt with Scrainwood and the Freemen. The way he dealt with Kenleigh. Once he left the Dim, he grew up a lot.”
“And now he’s gone.”
“He sacrificed himself so Rymramoch could live.”
Crow nodded. “He died well, yes. I can but hope I will die that well. We were so certain, though, that Will was the Norrington. Were we wrong? Was the prophecy wrong? Was Scrainwood right? Is Kenleigh a Norrington? Is he the Norrington? Is the Norrington out there dying in Sarengul?“
Alexia shivered and Crow hugged her a bit closer. “Crow, Kenleigh may not be the heir to the Norrington bloodline.”
He pulled his head back. “You’re not talking about his brother are you? What are you saying?”
She frowned. “After you left Caledo I learned that Sayce’s family had determined she was with child. At Nawal, she was beginning to suffer morning sickness…” Another shiver shook her. “Oh, by the gods, how will we tell her?”
She could feel the gooseflesh rise over Crow’s back. “You’re telling me that she is carrying Will’s child?”
“Yes. And she is in love with him. She does not know—at least, not yet—about the child. She will soon, of course, but she’s probably leading an army to attack the Aurolani host sieging Caledo even now.”
Crow groaned and his body sagged. “Will is dead, and the other Norringtons are in harm’s way.”
“There are two more, father and son.”
“They would never betray Chytrine.” Crow shook his head. “It’s Leigh and his issue that concern the prophecy; his father is no part of it. As for turning Leigh against Chytrine, that might be possible, but he could never stand against his father. No matter how powerful Chytrine is able to make the sullanciri, she cannot cancel out their innate flaws. Nefrai-laysh’s action in the Congress Chamber was pure Leigh. It was one of his fits of pique. What Will said stung him.”
Alyx pressed a finger to Crow’s lips. “Lover—husband—I know your mind is racing off on many paths, but there is one you avoid. Will’s death is a great loss to the world, and the world should mourn. It will mourn. But you, too, must mourn. He’s been as a son to you…”
Crow’s lips pressed together into a flat line, and tears welled in his brown eyes. “Not a son. A nephew, perhaps, and another chance with Leigh. My father helped raise Leigh’s father and taught him how to be a great warrior. He helped raise Leigh. And Leigh was my friend and I failed him. I failed him horribly. The sword he possessed—the sword that possessed him—came with a price. Its owner would be invincible, save that in his last battle he would be broken. Leigh was, and I did the breaking.
“But Will was his son, and I could teach him. I could give him the benefit of all the mistakes I’d made, all the mistakes his father had made, and all the things I had learned fighting Chytrine. Through Will, I thought I could atone for the evil I’d done his father and his grandfather.”
She grabbed a handful of his beard and tugged his chin up so she could look him square in the eyes. “And let’s not forget that Will was the world’s only hope and you managed to keep him safe from Chytrine and her minions. You weren’t acting selfishly; you were acting for the world. Had you not found him and had things not moved as they did, Chytrine would have five pieces of the DragonCrown, the dragons would be her allies, and we would all share Will’s fate.”
He nodded quickly, then turned his face upward. Tears rolled down the side of his face. “It hurts, Alexia. It hurts to feel hope die and… Worse, when I saw him running, I wanted to shout at him not to do it. But then, I saw the look on his face, and I was so proud of him. He’d gone from a feral child to a man, and made a man’s choice. And I couldn’t stop him; I couldn’t…”
As Crow’s voice trailed off into silent repetitions, Alyx slipped her arms around his body and clung to him. She buried her face against his neck and felt tears splashing down onto her cheek. His body shook, wracked with sobs, and she held on all the tighter. She held him until his body ceased jerking and his arms enfolded her, and she held on even past that.
Finally, as Crow sniffed and swiped at tears with his left hand, she kissed his neck, then pulled back. She came up on her left elbow and pressed him onto his back with her body. She slid herself onto his broad chest and settled her shins along his thighs as she took her weight onto elbows and knees.
Her fingers brushed hair back from his face, and thumbs smeared tears before she kissed his cheeks. “Crow, there are two things you have to know. The first is that I love you more than life itself. You did not fail Will, and you have not failed the world.” She lowered her mouth to his and punctuated her comment with a firm kiss.
Alyx’s head came back up and Crow tangled a lock of her white-blonde hair around a finger. “Second, my love, I believe in the prophecy, and you were right about Will. Sayce’s child, Kenleigh, or Nefrai-laysh may now be the Norrington by default. There is one other possibility, however.”
“And that is?”
She smiled. “That what Will has done has actually already fulfilled the prophecy. His death and all the things set in motion by it will make the prophecy come true. What we have to do, then, is to make sure everything comes together, and the threat of Chytrine is ended forever.”
It didn’t really surprise Erlestoke to find Resolute sitting out on one of Vael’s external landings. Though far too small to support one of the grand dragons, the opening was large enough to permit dracomorphs access.
The Oriosan Prince looked at his comrade. “Couldn’t sleep, Resolute?” The Vorquelf’s head came up. “I have not had a good night’s sleep, Highness, since before your great-grandfather was born. Tonight, though, sleep eludes me completely.”
“We seek the same quarry and it escapes us both.” Erlestoke sighed loudly and glanced at two silhouettes flashing past the sliver of moon. “I envy Perrine and Qwc their ability to fly.”
“They are no more successful at hunting than we are.”