Eidolon (Wraith Kings, #2)

by Grace Draven

If her physical strength equaled that of her character, she could carry a loaded wagon on her back up a mountainside and never break a sweat.

“Privilege,” she said gently, “gives the crown its shine. Duty gives it its weight. It’s because you are now king that you can’t do as you wish. The person you are—honorable, brave—will do what’s required.”

“I would have been content to live my life as just Brishen,” he whispered into her hair. “Who was loved by Ildiko.”

“I’ll sleep long and hard when I’m dead. You defy death by celebrating life.”

Here on this high place built by a vanished race who had left their magic and their malice behind them, she finally understood something profound. While duty was the price of privilege, duty nobly fulfilled deserved requital. For what her husband was about to do, he had earned the right to keep the wife he wanted.

Ildiko raised a hand to show the other woman how badly it trembled. “I’ve never killed anyone before,” she said. “I had to. I know this, but it doesn’t make it easier to accept.” She returned Anhuset’s slight smile with a bleak one of her own. “I am not a warrior.” “You were when you needed to be.” Straightforward words without lavish, empty praise and yet Ildiko fancied she’d been given both absolution and the highest of compliments.

“May your journey continue beyond the reach of this world, and may you find peace.”