Chapter 39

Chapter

Thirty-Nine

ELRIC

H ours had passed but we still remained on the bloody battlefield in Menodore. Nothing but blood and ash remained from the dead, no bodies to burn on a pyre, no funerals to commence for those who had lost their loved ones today. There was not a single sign that indicated the Gods nor the Demon King had survived that monumental blast of magic.

Reaching down, my tattooed hand swept through the blackened sludge, searching for any lingering trace of them.

"They're gone," Selene said before her hand came down onto my shoulder. She was dressed in a tunic and simple pants with leather boots, streaks of black blood mixed with sweat on her face. "I can't feel their bond anymore but it's different than before."

Standing to my full height, my knees cracked from the movement and I tilted my head, "How so?"

The rightful heir to Menodore shrugged her shoulders as if she hadn't just destroyed the Ruler of Infernum and their crown mere hours ago. "I can't explain it. I… I just know that they are safe." Her emerald eyes looked up to the clearing clouds, a thoughtful expression on her blood-streaked face. "Where they're meant to be."

Staring into her gemstone eyes for a heartbeat, I then pulled her in for another crushing hug. The scent of pine and vanilla whispered into my nose, making me hold onto her tighter. She let out a breath of surprise and chuckled, "That's the fifth hug you've given me this hour."

My soul had never felt so light, so free. Smiling, I pressed a rough kiss to the top of her matted head before pulling her back. "Keeping track, are we?"

Selene rolled her eyes and she punched my arm, a sting of pain lighting up my bicep. I couldn't stop the boisterous laugh that came out. "I'm just happy you're here and so are Em and Minks and Cordelia and…" I trailed off but she kept grinning at my words.

She gave me a conspiratorial smile. "And?" a dark eyebrow lifted in question even though she knew the answer.

I could feel my face heating up like I was a teenager with a crush. I was over thirty years old but even just the thought of the female had my heart pounding, stomach churning giddily with butterflies. She was clever and quick-witted, resourceful and viciously independent. She was cunning and gorgeous and so alluring, just her smile alone had me transfixed but what made me truly see Keva was her heart.

The patience and generosity and kindness she possessed. Her ability to see the beauty in even the most vile of beings.

My grin was large and wide, the back of my neck tingling with heat as I answered Selene's rhetorical question. "And Keva, of course."

Rainbow braids popped into my side view as if I'd summoned the ravishing Queen of Gambriel. "You said my name?" her voice was light and airy, so close to the breathless tone she took when she came.

Selene gave my arm a squeeze before kissing Keva on the cheek. "I'm going to check on Em and see if he needs more help with his new powers."

It was pretty startling to think of how Emrys was not only bound to Selene through their Mating Bond but also through the Blood Oath and exchange of powers. He had obtained all of her endless powers from the Gods, but what was most surprising of all was the one power we didn't think he would receive.

The power that came from her mother's line of healers.

That one tiny tendril of magic that kept her connected to not only her family but to Menodore, Emrys now shared it with her. He was in the healer's tent with Ausra, testing out the new magic that did more than just destroy—rather, it rebuilt, and if that wasn't poetic justice, I didn't know what would be.

"We will be over to help in a little while," I reassured Selene about my half-brother but she waved me off, my line of vision on the distracting queen before me.

Her soft fingers ran along my bicep, tracing the intricate lines of black that overlapped the scars. Grinning so wide I swore my face was going to split from happiness, I gripped Keva's hand in mine and spun her in front of me.

The scent of midnight jasmine and soft clementine flooded my nostrils. She had changed into a fresh set of my clothes, oversized and baggy even on her curvy form. The sight of her deep brown skin against the light linen of my old tunic eased that claiming ache in my chest.

There was no plan, no organization of political rulings and laws while we were still recovering from Infernum's invasion. We needed to get Mags and her company back to Atrium, Gambriel's troops back down south, and there were endless lists of chaos to coordinate.

There was so much to do, so many questions to ask, and answers to be found, but one thing was for certain—Keva would be in my life, some way, somehow. Oceans apart or just mere rooms away, I would always find her, but only if she'd let me.

"So…" She smirked, small dimples peeking through, and waited for me to finish, an unbejeweled hand on her hip. "What are you doing after all of this?" I swung my inked arm out at the destruction around us.

"I heard there was going to be a party of sorts," the Queen of Gambriel giggled as I pressed a kiss to her palm, the sound music to my ears. But she held the same question of what if in her sapphire eyes that gave me hope of a future for us. She was fiercely independent, understandably so after a life of bowing to others' wishes, so I would take any semblance of herself she could give me.

Gambriel's fierce queen didn't push the question, didn't give me an answer about us, but she still had that flickering light in her gaze as she flicked a braid over her shoulder. "And you know those are my specialty."

"So I've heard." Who hadn't heard of the extravagant parties Keva organized practically every night in Gambriel?

The parties were once a way to help her chase away the loneliness that came with the cage she was trapped in. A way to rid her mind of the grief and guilt of her children and her bastardly husband's abuse. But now she was free from that cage, free to feel those emotions and love the world how she had always desired.

And that was more than enough reason to celebrate.

Nevertheless, we had much to do before any celebration. Homes and cities to rebuild, monarchies to dismantle, people to free, and countless other items on the agenda. It was staggering to think about but even with the weight of the world on our shoulders, I'd never felt more content.

Leaning into the minx that stole my heart, her cerulean eyes sparkled in the sunlight before I captured her lush lips and sighed in contentment.