Three Broken Kingdoms-Book 1 of the Lost Continent (Completed)

Chapter Forty-Four: A General's Funeral

Ruby's funeral was a large affair.

Myra wondered, privately, if the general would have liked that. But there was very little choice, since Ruby had been admired by so many. The entire army, save the wounded, showed up to say goodbye to her, to mourn her loss on the walls of the city she had died fighting for. The Kallian north coast was close enough to Miras waters for her to be returned to-well at least the locket they'd managed to find left of her body-and Sarai would find her in the great sea anyway and bring her home.

Still Myra wished that Ruby could have met the ocean in the cove they called the Coffin, near the Cradle where the valkyrie children emerged. Leaving her to drift in Kallian water and make her way to the Asrieli Sea gave her heart a strange pang of pain. Myra thought of Ruby's family as they gathered. She had a daughter-a training warrior-just like she herself did. It could have been her so easily, falling from the skies. What would Kestra have done if she died on the walls of Cobalt? The thought left a lump in her throat.

Someone blew the horn of Sarai, making a low, mournful sound that every valkyrie warrior knew. The mourning call for the valkyrie warriors. They had wrapped the locket in a cloak of light purple, denoting her Unit General rank, and on that cloak, Ruby would float out to sea. They had made her a necklace of her gryphon's feathers to float alongside the locket as well as a lioness emblem to symbolise her other form.

"Sarai, oh great goddess of warriors, receive this brave valkyrie with honour. Let her join you in the life to come and know her greatness by the light purple cloak. Ruby Farahsdaughter Meredith, I say farewell to you, my sister. You died bravely, defending your people against evil and fighting, always, for truth. You were my counsel in times of need, and my friend in times of peace. May the sea, which you were born from, claim you again in death." Viktoria repeated the traditional words in the ancient language of the valkyries, spoken before the common tongue had reached them all. Myra gently eased Ruby's necklaces and cloak into the sea.

She wiped tears from her cheeks. Naming Ruby's successor would come later, as well as naming her new one. For now, the valkyries mourned.

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Jasper

He sat at the foot of the governor's palace, staring out at a city rebuilding. The valkyries, elves and rebels had not been stingy about helping the people of Cobalt repair the city that they had destroyed. Already they were recovering from the attack-at least, the districts they wanted to were. The areas in the Empress' pocket were mostly deserted and not very well thought of by the alliance of Miras, Asriel and Tarua Teris, so those were left alone.

"Jasper?" someone behind him called out. He whirled around to face Myra, her red hair flying in the wind, no longer tied in her usual tight bun.

"Do you want a drink? We don't have to talk."

Yes. Other than his aunt's forgiveness, he couldn't think of anything he wanted more.

"Yeah," he replied, trying to smile, but failing miserably.

"Have you spoken to Nala yet?" Myra asked after they had walked a while.

"I thought we didn't have to talk," he deflected easily. In the hours since get out had been burned into his brain, he had avoided his aunt as much as possible.

"We don't have to. But if you want to..."

"No," he replied slowly, drawing in a breath. "I'm not ready for that yet."

"Do you know what you want, Jasper?" she asked him, blue eyes piercing.

"I want my mother back," he said softly, but not weakly. "But if I never get that then I want you. I want you, to chase away the fear and the pain, to just to talk to, or sit beside in silence when even that is too hard." He loosed a shaky breath, and felt tears burn in his eyes. "But I can never have that. Because of the way I was born, the kingdom I was born to. All because of a hate that's divided all of us for centuries. I can never be your friend."

Friend felt too small a word for what she meant to him. Myra was the light at the end of the tunnel, the hope that had kept him together over the weeks he had known her. She listened; she understood. Unlike all the others, she never blamed him, never hated him.

"We'll find a way," she replied. "If that's truly what you want, Jasper, I will find a way."

"How? You could never leave your world for mine, and your people would never let me into yours."

"We can call you an ambassador. You would be perfect-the Chancellor's adopted son and the..."

"Ally\prisoner\war council member..."

"Of the valkyries," she completed, ignoring the subtle jab. "If that was what you wanted. But it would mean leaving behind Kallias, your people and your aunt."

"An aunt that hates me and a people who will do the same," he summed up. "I have nothing left in either the dying Kallian Empire or the to-be Calore Kingdom. All I have left is you."

"I shouldn't have asked you to tell your aunt the truth," she muttered. "I should have let things be."

"Eventually I would have done it. I'm finished with being a coward and if moving past my fears means letting go of everything and starting anew then I'll learn to accept that. All I know is that I cannot go back to the person I was-the boy who killed his own because he was afraid." He shook his head gently and looked up into her blue eyes. They were like the ocean: the deepest and darkest blue he had ever seen. He didn't know why he did it. All he knew was that was that in that moment he simply needed to. The words burned in his mouth.

He told her his Name. His true and sacred name.

"Jasper, I can't-"

"No. I want you to have it."

She choked on words. She'd barely opened her mouth when he said:

"You're a good friend, Myra."

"A friend?" she said softly, to him, to herself.

"Yes, of course-" he said quickly, but then stopped. The question in her voice made him freeze. A friend, she had said, a note of enquiry in her voice.

"A friend?" he asked to her, to himself. Was that what she was to him? What he was to her? They had come together in the strangest of circumstances-a prisoner and a general, a valkyrie and a human-and there they stood, in a city of ash, Myra's eyes burning into his.

"Am I your friend, Jasper?" It wasn't an accusation. She knew that she was his friend, his rock in the turmoil, the person he held onto when the world burned, his...

Jasper realised with a jolt that he was in love with Myra Isidore. What would he have thought of that, mere months ago?"

"Myra," he said slowly. "Myra, I think I love-"

She kissed him, not interested in waiting for him to finish his sentence.