Chapter 15

CHAPTER 15

T his evening, I do what I do every time I wake up from a bad nightmare, and I look for my mates to check they are alive. Emrys is sleeping next to me, finally with some colour back in his cheeks after two weeks of constant healers. I might have brought him back from the dead, which has somehow become a legend around Ayiolyn, but Ares wrecked his body in the meantime. Grayson is on my other side, his arm thrown over his face and his other arm resting across my stomach. I ease it to the side and sit up, wrapping my arms around my knees. Arden is on the sofa, stretched out, and Lysander is on a makeshift pull-out bed by the bathroom. Terrin still hasn't gotten used to his human form, and he is sleeping in dragon form on the wrap-around balcony.

Only in the middle of the night do I get a moment to remember that Arty and Kian are gone. Telling everyone about their deaths when we got back was heartbreaking, and bringing their bodies here was just as bad. Even Hope cried, and we all bowed to them, because we owe them everything. I wish I knew if they are happy now and if they are still together in wherever death took them next. I want to tell Arty so much, tell her I love her and thank her. I want to thank them both.

Lysander and his mother have grown closer in their mourning, and the entire Water Court has thrown an endless funeral leading up to tomorrow. The funeral arrangements are tomorrow, to send their bodies into the Mist, and they can be at peace. There are so many bodies, so many funerals from the Air Court to go into the Mist that I know funerals are going to last for months.

Everything is so quiet in the night, and I close my eyes, remembering that I'm safe. My mates are safe. I don't think there will ever be a point I won't remember my mate dying in my arms, not just once, but twice, and how I very nearly lost him for good. A rustle from the balcony makes my gaze shoot over, and I see the outline of a figure. I can see Terrin's dragon stretched out on the other side, so it isn't him.

I quietly climb out of the bed, not wanting to wake anyone. Everything is such a mess, and we are all working from the moment we get up till the moment we get back to our room for dinner and bed. I know it won't always be like this, but getting order in the courts is important. Making sure everyone has food and housing is important. Our people are important, and we can suffer for a while.

I find my uncle standing outside. "What are you doing here?" I whisper, shutting the door behind me. I glance at Terrin, but he is a heavy sleeper and completely out of it. "I thought you'd gone back to Earth."

"I had until an old friend asked me to come back just this once. I have some good news to share with you first." His gaze sends fear lacing across my chest, even when I know he wouldn't hurt me. It's a normal response to the god of nightmares. "I am to have a child next year."

I smile. "Congratulations."

"Tell me you'll bring your own children to meet ours one day on Earth," he demands. "I don't want you to never come to Earth and see us."

"Aww, you saying you love me?" I tease him, and he rolls his eyes. "You could stay here in Ayiolyn. I'd like that."

He huffs like an old man. I suppose he is one, being an ancient god, but he looks like a late-twenties supermodel with crazy dark vibes. "My home is on Earth with my mate. Humans are so easily scared. There's nowhere else I'd prefer to be."

A laugh escapes me, knowing he's deadly serious about frightening humans for the rest of his life. Phobos literally has a Halloween-based island that runs all year round. He somehow lured his mate there, from the stories he told us before he left. He opens a portal, one on the ground, and it's weird. "It's a gift."

I peer into it. "I'm confused. What is a gift? Where does that lead?"

"It's a doorway to hell." He grins like that's a present.

"You want me to go to hell? Well, Uncle, it's lovely to see you too, but…" I grin.

"Snarky sarcasm suits you. I'd be annoyed if I hadn't taught you that myself. Now come on." He walks into the portal and down the steps. Reluctantly, I follow him, trusting my uncle. The steps go on and on, and my legs hurt by the time we come down what must be a thousand steps into a place that's actually very beautiful. If this is hell, then God knows what heaven must look like.

A big ancient house takes up the centre of the huge cavern, and purple fires burst up into the air all the way around it. Everything glows a deep purple, and it's so bright it hurts to stare for too long. The house itself is green though, the darkest shade, with exotic plants and trees all the way around it. Phobos doesn't lead me to the house, but around it to the back, along a stone path to where a massive garden stretches for miles below with a small lake in the centre. The purple light reflects off the black shiny stone above, and I look down at the natural pool, which is red and black instead of blue. It glitters like someone threw a dozen buckets of glitter into the water.

It's not empty.

Arty and Kian are in the water, and they're laughing, splashing each other. Just having fun like they didn't die to save the world. I take a step forward, but Phobos grabs my arm to stop me. "You can't communicate with the dead. It would confuse them and cause them pain. Their life is over, and their afterlife is to be shared only with the souls they love. Hades and Persephone wanted you to see this so you can tell Lysander he is well, because you were her sister in every right known to the gods."

Arty. Her hair is wavy and wet, and she looks so carefree. So, so happy. Tears fall down my chin, dripping onto my hands. "You could have brought Lysander here to see for himself with me."

"The water king cannot come. The invite was only for you, as this takes great magic," Phobos softly explains. "There are not many alive who get a glimpse of death and live to tell the tale."

"Thank you," I whisper to the gods that rule hell. I watch my friends for a long while, knowing this is the last time. For a second, I see the moment I met Arty in a room in the castle and how joyful she was, how alive she was. I remember her like that, remember her light and how that light eventually led to her saving the world. Because she did. She saved them all, even if most of the world won't remember that in the generations to come. I am going to tell my children about her and Kian and how they loved each other so much.

"They are honoured guests. Making such a sacrifice of their lives means that they will live like royalty. Their souls remain forever here. So will you, when it is your time," Phobos explains to me. "They will never feel pain, never want for anything ever again. True peace in death."

There is nothing I could have wanted more for them. "I feel guilty that I get to live, and they don't."

Phobos wraps his arm around my shoulders. "Only natural. I sensed your guilt and struggle. I asked for this." He kisses the top of my head. "You were my practice child, and I'm proud of you."

"Practice child? Please don't tell me you're going to train your own kid like me?" I shove him away, and he roars with laughter. I smile at him when he winks. "Aphrodite and Ares, where are they?"

His eyes drift over and look out in the far distance. I follow his line of sight to where there is a pit. A black pit with strange red creatures that almost look like three-headed dogs that guard all the surrounding way in a circle. Inside that darkness, something awful sends shivers down my spine. "They are burning in hell forever, and they will never leave."

I don't spend too much time dwelling on that as I look back, it's enough to know they are dead and suffering for their actions. Tears keep falling down my cheeks, and Phobos leans over, wiping one away. "Come on, niece. Death is not always ugly. It can be beautiful. That girl down there, all she ever wanted to do was to have someone that's worth dying for. She found you. She found him." He smiles softly. "Kian wanted to find someone to fall in love with, and to give his brother a reason to make everything better in the court he grew up in. He did both. Lysander will change the court forever for his brother, and never again will the Water Court know brutality. This is a happy ending, even with death. Death can be stunning."

Arty looks up and I feel like she can actually see me. She smiles so widely, only for a second, and then she turns back to Kian, kissing him softly. "Goodbye, Arty." I hope my whisper carries to her, to her soul, because one day, I will find her again. "It's time to go," I whisper, my voice broken with emotion. When I get back, I go straight through the doors and go to Lysander. His eyes widen as he wakes up. He smiles at me, although groggily, and wraps his arms around my waist. There's so much sadness in his eyes that never goes away. I curl up onto his lap. "I just saw your brother. He was swimming with Arty in a lake in hell. They're happy."

"What are you talking about, spirit witch?" he groans into my neck.

I lean into my mate and sigh. "Just that everything is over, and the ghosts are happy."