Page 61 of The Night Prince 4

“But I could be,” Declan insisted.

“I don’t believe you did. You would have turned that energy onto yourself instead of her. I know that about you.” But Finley knew that Declan would still cling to this outsized sense of responsibility too. Or maybe it wasn’t outsized. It was understandable. Declan was so powerful. A mistake by him… But Finley pushed that aside and said, “Even if you lost control of your magic–or something went wrong when you were with her fighting the Leviathan–that is not the same as doing an intentional act. You were brought to Illithor by Lady Ashryn. You were a child. You were attacked. You tried to save your mother. Those things are all true. But anything else? No.”

“You are a good friend, Finley,” Declan said softly. “Such a good friend.”

“You think I’m making excuses for you? I admit that I would do that for you to assuage your guilt,” Finley admitted with a nod. “But I don’t have to. Reverse the situation. Put me in your shoes. Would you blame me for what may have happened when I was a child in a fight for my life and that of my mother?”

“No, but I was trained. Well, sort of. My magic only Awakened I think a little while before we got to Illithor so…” Declan pressed his lips together. “I see what you are saying, but I still might have been the spark to light the match that burned this world.”

“If it weren’t for Vex setting up the wards ages ago, we would have been overrun a long time before now. And they weren’t going to last forever,” Finley said.

“Lady Ashryn was trying to weaken them… just a little so that we could get through to the Lieran Plane. She wanted to take me to Aquilan,” Declan rubbed his face with both hands. “All this time, I was meant to meet him. But in bringing us together, I brought destruction in my wake.”

Finley was going to object again to such a thought, but Declan suddenly straightened. His hands fell from his face and he was gently moving past Finley back into the bedroom. Everyone was very quiet in there and Finley wondered how much they had heard. He sincerely hoped that if they had heard some or all of what they’d said, they would not take Declan’s side in that he was responsible. But he didn’t even have a chance to look at their faces in the low wisp-light before the doors to the bedroom opened. The flare of sunlight had Declan bringing up an arm protectively, but suddenly that light was extinguished like a curtain falling into place.

Yet it was not as dark in the room as it had been for the Sun King was there.

Just like in the Dawn when he had sung that first night he’d come to Tyrael, there were motes of golden light that swirled around Aquilan. Golden motes that danced and spun. This light did not hurt Declan it seemed for his best friend brought down his arm immediately and gazed with almost stupefaction at Aquilan.

The Sun King was beautiful, but somehow, in that moment, he seemed almost ethereal. His eyes locked on Declan. Declan’s locked on his. The two of them moved towards each other as if in a trance. It was only when Declan was a foot from the Sun King that he stopped himself from going any farther. His hands fisted at his sides and he clearly was using all of his considerable willpower to remain where he was. But Aquilan was not stopping.

His expression was a mixture of relief and joy. Radiant. He was radiant. Finley found his throat closing up with an almost painful happiness. Aquilan was the embodiment of light and goodness and… love. Love for Declan. It was written there for all to see except seemingly his best friend who was staring resolutely down at the ground now.

At least, he was until Aquilan’s arms flowed around him and held him. Then Declan’s head snapped up and his expression showed his surprise and then… then his eyes half shut and he leaned against the Sun King, accepting the embrace, and lightly moving his own arms around Aquilan’s back. It was as if he could not believe this was happening. That it was a dream he would wake from.

But Aquilan looked wide awake. The Sun King let out a relieved and pleasured sigh. “Declan, you’re awake.”