Honor-Bound [ Lore of Penrua: Book III ]

Epilogue

He had restored to his friend's good graces by bringing home the lost princess—and he had thrown himself out of them again by taking justice into his own hands and executing the archmage. Had they been in the heat of battle, it would not have been a concern, but Uachi had killed a prisoner. Matei understood his motives and empathized with them more deeply than any man could, but he was a sovereign, responsible for the law.

He could not overlook Uachi's crimes.

The trial had been brief and private, and the sentence agreed upon by the High Council: Uachi had been stripped of his title. Matei himself had pressed for a harsher punishment—hard labor—but the council had advocated on Uachi's behalf, taking into account his brother's death, the deceit the archmage had worked on the empire.

Matei sighed. "Don't look like that. You may come back to Karelin if you wish to, Uachi, and I will be glad to have you there. But I remember a day several years ago when you came to me and asked my leave to return here to Hanpe. I wouldn't consent then—as if I held any sway whatsoever over your choices. As if I ruled you. I'm ashamed of it now. I still believe we've done things we never could have had you left us, but it was not right of me to ask you to sacrifice your happiness to stay."

"I'm grateful for it. The rebellion was over. The hard work to be done was in the capitol."

"And now? Now we have peace, at least for a while. You deserve rest and retirement."

Uachi huffed a laugh. It was a bitter thing, what he had lost, but he harbored no resentment toward his friend. There was a reason he loved and respected the man, and it was this. He was fair and balanced, conscious of his own biases, committed to holding everyone accountable in the same way. Yes, it had hurt to hear him speak out against him at trial, but Uachi knew it had hurt Matei too. He had done it because they were friends, because Uachi had sorely disappointed him, and because no one—not even the man they saw as a family member—could be above the Blood-Bound Sovereigns' law. "Retirement, is it?" he asked. "I thought it had been dismissal?"

Matei frowned, a shadow passing over his brow. "My friend—"

"Oh, don't pout, Your Finery-and-Fanciness." Uachi put a hand on his shoulder. "'Twas my crime, and 'tis my punishment, and there's not a part of me that blames you or would have expected anything else."

"I know." Matei's smile was pained, but genuine. "As I say: you may come back to Karelin if you wish, but something tells me you'll find it a challenge to take orders for a change. You grew rather used to giving them."

This time, when Uachi laughed, Matei did, too. Then he said, "Go where you will. Do as you wish. If you come to the capitol, come as my friend—as my guest." The rest was unspoken, but Uachi heard it. That is all I can offer you now.

Uachi fell silent. As the shock of Matei's command subsided, relief swept in to take its place. "Go where I will, you say."

Matei nodded. "Or stay where you will, I suppose. I imagined you would be glad to put roots down here in Hanpe."

Roots.

Uachi did not know what it would feel like to settle. He'd been half-settled once, living in Karelin with Ealin, but after the stillness of their peaceful life had been broken, his future had been cast again into uncertainty. He simply had not thought far enough ahead to make a plan. He was too used to crisis, to moving, to reacting to his life's turns and twists.

Now, Uachi took a step forward, opening his arms, and Matei stepped into his embrace. The two of them folded their arms around one another for a moment, clapping one another on the back as brothers do.

Over Matei's shoulder, Uachi caught sight of a figure standing at the edge of the woods, looking their way. After a second, the figure raised a hand.

Uachi stepped back, breaking the embrace. He gazed at Diarmán across the distance.

For the first time, he allowed himself to look. To really look.

For the first time, he allowed himself to acknowledge that Diarmán was looking back.

He raised his hand in response, and he did not fight the smile that rose to his lips.

"Maybe I'll take a holiday," he said.