Epilogue
EPILOGUE
EIGHT YEARS LATER ~ ELOWYN
Beyond the tall windows of the council room, it was a gorgeous, sunny day. Dozens of dragons swooped through the sky. Younglings who were still learning their limits were playing. Most of the dragons, however, were moving through training maneuvers, led by Einar and Máda, the sapphire-blue she-dragon who’d eventually shared part of her name with me.
The very first of my and Rush’s official acts had been to rescind Erasmus’ standing order to kill all dragons on sight. The next had been to remove the dragons’ heads from the pillars and return the pedestals to their original purpose, which was to allow the magnificent creatures to perch throughout the city.
Even after that, and even though the dragons had grown to trust both me and Rush, who’d forged his own connection with the creatures and could now speak with Saffron as readily as I, they were unwilling to be complacent .
Rush and I weren’t willing to be either. Better that we all know how to defend ourselves and the principles for which we stood, just in case.
Any male or female who wanted to learn how to fight was now able to train. We’d built an academy and barracks on palace grounds to accommodate the growing numbers of fae determined to fully empower themselves. Ramana had become a fierce soldier, who’d stayed on as a teacher to help train new students.
And it wasn’t just weapons and grappling we focused on. As the land had begun to thrive, the earth and its crops becoming abundant once more, we’d had the resources to build a school for the magical arts as well. Some students attended both academies. Next, we’d be setting up a situation that would teach the dragons and fae to fight together. That step was still in progress. The dragons were a temperamental bunch who could breathe fire , and that was just one of their built-in weapons. We planned to tread lightly and get it right the first time.
With his wings tucked tightly to his body, Einar dove through a V formation of dragons, forcing them to disperse. One dragon jerked clumsily, losing altitude and rolling before he regained his balance. Máda’s demanding stare was trained on him. No doubt he’d be hearing about his mistakes. I’d learned early on not to interfere with the dragons’ ways of doing things. After all, I was dragon queen in name only. The dragons ruled themselves in balance with the fae .
That was a pretty sweet move, I projected to Einar, who’d circled around and was now coasting on his giant wingspan.
Huuuuh. Huuuuh .
Over the passing years, I’d learned to interpret the many variations of his grunted response. These huuuuh s had a bit of preen to them.
Keep up the great work.
Of course I will. I am capable only of the best.
Huuuuh , I grunted, barely smothering a laugh as I sensed his confusion roll across our bond.
What does that mean?
Gotta go. I’m in the middle of a meeting. Talk later. That was what I liked to call, back atcha, buddy .
You do realize I can hear your thoughts too, do you not? Einar asked.
Yup. Busy. Bye!
He was chuckling as he dove through the squadron of dragons a second time.
Before I made myself pay attention to the meeting I genuinely was supposed to be listening to, I searched for Xeno’s dragon. After Edsel had healed his wings so that their capabilities were fully restored even if he’d forever sport scars from the umbrac attack, Xeno had flown nearly every day. I’d barely seen him without a grin stretching his handsome face. But lately I rarely found him in the skies. He wasn’t there today either.
With a subtle sigh— Come on, El, all you have to do is sit here and listen —I forced my focus back to Hobart, who was still monologuing on the merits of allowing the humans Talisa had enslaved to remain in the Mirror World for as long as they wanted, granting them equal rights to the fae who’d been born here. Hobart was a viscount, the same snake changeling whom Eliana had sent to murder me during the Nuptialis Probatio. In the battle against Talisa and her forces, Hobart had been true to his dubious agreement to help each other, using his influence to convince the other serpuntas to side with us. Since then we’d become friendly, and then eventually trusted friends. But damn, was the male long-winded.
I glanced at Rush, found him staring blankly at a painting on the far wall of a mated pair of dragons, their wings extended, necks wrapped around each other in a gesture of love. It replaced one of Erasmus standing on the corpse of a bloody dragon. We’d given Máda the honor of burning that one.
Sensing my stare, Rush looked at me. His moonlight eyes brightened before he crossed them for a moment and stuck out his tongue.
I barked out a laugh before I could hold it back, hastening to cough into my hand to cover it up.
Pru, Ivar, and Morwenna, the white-haired parvnit, glanced at me knowingly. Hobart kept right on going.
“After what she-whom-we-do-not-name did to the humans, we owe them,” Hobart insisted, as he had many times before.
It was a sentiment I wholeheartedly agreed with, but we were doing things differently from our predecessors. Rush and I had appointed representatives of all kinds of the fae to the council, which had to agree via a majority on any significant issue. Short of it being a matter of grave urgency, Rush and I allowed the council to reach its own conclusions. While the council debated the issue, the humans got to remain in Embermere, with all their needs provided for by the crown. I figured they could debate for another year if that’s what it took.
“Aye, well said,” Azariah interjected smoothly from where he stood beside the large, round table immediately next to the dais that held our thrones. “Now, if that is all, Hobart, I have a matter of my own I’d like to bring to the council’s attention. The podralas and I would like to practice with the dragons.”
“Practice what, exactly?” Ivar asked.
Azariah tossed his expertly braided mane and fluttered his wings along Bertram’s back. As usual, the ranucu was nearby.
“Practice … whatever we podralas will decide to practice.” Since learning that his kind had possessed a noble name forgotten to history save for the long memories of the dragons, Azariah had latched on to it, dropping the word as courtiers did their titles.
I couldn’t help but smile as Azariah tossed his mane again and tipped up his proud head. “What we do, exactly, will remain to be seen. I now request that the council agree to my terms. ”
Ivar sighed and leaned back in his chair, hands crossed over his flat stomach. “And what terms, precisely, are you asking us to agree to?”
It had taken time, but Ivar had proven to be a valuable addition to the council. Better than any of us, he knew how to facilitate happenings at court—and how to impede those who waffled toward the dark tendencies of before. When he’d relinquished Braque’s alchemical potions—powerful and dangerous—to us of his own volition, I’d understood he was ready to forge a new path.
Azariah snorted through his wide nostrils, his fluffy beard undulating. Beside him, Bertram waawaa ed amicably.
“I want us podralas to do what we want,” Azariah said.
“You already do do what you want,” Ivar pointed out.
Rush’s hand reached across the space between our thrones to clasp mine. All too easily distracted when the council meeting was entering its second hour, I jolted. His smile was mischievous. He’d known exactly how dazed I was. I was used to moving, fighting, training … not sitting politely.
He squeezed my hand, leaned closer, and whispered, “Let’s get out of here.”
My brows lurched upward. “What? Now?” Hope drummed through my muscles.
He inched nearer. “Yes, now. We’ve been present at every meeting. Done everything required of us. We deserve a little private time together before tomorrow.”
Tomorrow we were leaving for our annual tour of the clan territories. It was why the council was meeting today instead of at the end of the month as it usually did. Talisa had ruled the Mirror World to the exclusive benefit of the royal court. The outskirts of Embermere had suffered deeply, and the needs of the clans and their territories had been subjugated to those of the court.
Under our rule, the clans enjoyed an independence organized beneath royal rule. That meant the clans could honor their own traditions, cultivate their own particular resources to their benefit, and develop their terrain as they saw fit. As was the theme of our rule, the clans had become a balanced part of the kingdom as a whole.
The clans were thriving, and our yearly visit to their seats of power was our way of keeping abreast of their needs and their ways, of healing the disparate parts of our kingdom until they were back to one unified whole.
While waggling his brows, Rush urged under his breath, “We need to start celebrating our anniversary.”
I snorted a laugh, flicked a glance at Azariah and Ivar, and then at Hobart, who of course had opinions about the podrala’s request, and finally at Pru. The goblin sat on the council as representative of all her kind, but she was also the unofficial head of the council. Her big, dark eyes were on Rush and me.
I uncrossed my legs and slid along my seat toward Rush. “But our anniversary isn’t until next month.”
“And are you telling me it’s too soon to start celebrating the fourth year since our mating ceremony?”
“No…”
“Aren’t you the one who’s always reminding me how much we have to be grateful for?”
“Yeah…”
His lips spread into a wolfish smile he surely knew was irresistible. Besides, it was competing with a meeting . Rush had won before he even parted those lush lips I so loved devouring.
“So let’s get out of here so I can start showing you how much I appreciate you.” He dragged his stare up and down the length of me with open suggestion he made no attempt to disguise. “All of you.”
I licked my lips. He followed the path of my tongue. “As it so happens, I just received your gift.”
His brows jumped. “Oh? What’d you get me?”
I snorted. “As if I’d ruin the surprise and tell you.”
That was when I realized the room had grown silent but for our whispers.
“By the Ethers,” Morwenna’s high-pitched voice said. “Just watching you two makes me miss my lover.” She winked at us, then quickly amended, “Your Majesties.”
“That’s highly inappropriate, Morwenna,” Ivar censured.
The fairy waved a tiny hand before leaning back into both, her legs crossed at the ankles at her place on the table. “They’re fine. They’re hardly listening to us anyway.”
A flush warmed my cheeks. I’d been working so hard to be the best queen I could be. The Mirror World deserved that.
“Leave them be, Wen,” Pru said. “They’ve been working too hard for all of us.”
“Then they should go have some fun,” she said. “It’s not like we’re going to be making life-altering decisions today anyway.”
Hobart sniffed in affront. “We very well could, if you’d be amenable to the humans getting the welcome that’s owed to them.”
Morwenna sighed. “The humans don’t belong here. It’s not about what’s owed them, it’s about disturbing the natural order of the Mirror World. Besides, they’ll be much happier among their kind.”
“The Mirror World’s order was already disturbed.”
“But Our Majesties have been doing a wonderful job of fixing all that, now, haven’t they?”
“That’s not in dispute,” Hobart said with stiff shoulders.
“Elowyn. Rush,” Pru said quietly from her seat, which was always closest to mine. We were, after all, the best of friends. “Go. Pru will update you later if there’s any need.”
I began to ask if she was sure, but by then Rush had leapt from his seat and pulled me up from mine. He led me by the hand from the room, while everyone who wasn’t standing stood to bow as we departed. The moment tall, gaunt Sigmund closed the door behind us, Rush swept me into his arms and ran down the first of many halls between us and our bedchamber.
I threw back my head and laughed as I jostled in his embrace. His crown, like mine, never budged, thanks to the land’s magic. It had taken time, but I’d learned to use and appreciate magic practically in all things. It was fucking delightful.
Rush careened around a corner and barreled into an open interior courtyard—practically slamming into a dragonling. The youngling darted around us, tripped over his floppy feet, and tumbled in a jumble of vivid, violet scales.
Saffron was a length behind him and skidded to a stop beside the little dragon, whose legs and wings were splayed out to the sides of his body. His tail was limp, its barb at the tip still soft and developing.
I’d been around enough playful, mischievous dragonlings in my time in Nightguard to know when one was alright and just looking for attention. I caught Saffron’s eyes and smiled. He’d forever be my favorite dragon, even though I loved so many of them.
Saffron’s scales were a gold so bright and shiny they rivaled the precious metal itself. While he was on the smaller side for an adult dragon, he still had to crouch to fit under the tall colonnade.
I patted Rush on the shoulder. “Put me down, love.”
Once on my feet, and holding a knowing look with Saffron, I gathered my skirts and bent beside the dragonling, whose eyes were shut, his tongue lolling from the side of his mouth as if he’d croaked from the spill he’d taken.
I ran a hand along the soft crest of scales along the crown of his head, remembering how it had felt to do the very same to Saffron. “Oh no! Are you alright, Keyon?” I ran a soothing hand along his chest next, where the scales were silky to the touch.
You’re too soft on him, Saffron said into my mind. You task me with guiding the dragonlings to find their strength, but then you spoil them.
Keyon opened one eye to peer up at me. When he thought I hadn’t noticed, he shut it tightly again, allowing his legs to hang more heavily outward, giving me more access to his tummy.
I indulged him with more caresses. I can’t help myself, Saff. At least we both know you’re up for the challenge despite how I pamper them.
Still. You could make it easier on me.
And have you forget how kickass you are? No thank you.
Saffron snorted. As if you’d ever let me.
El can’t help how much she loves you all, Rush added for us both. You may as well let her show it.
He needs to toughen up, Saffron said with a glance at Keyon, who was now purring contentedly.
He’s still very little, I said. He has time.
Not with a big brother or sister on the way, Saffron said.
He has a point, Rush conceded. Larissa will be having the new baby in a month and a half at most, and if it’s another changeling, we’ll all have our hands full.
As if we’d conjured her, Larissa entered the courtyard from the opposite side. Hand in hand with Xeno, her face was tilted up toward him. When Xeno’s eyes widened as they landed on his prone son, her stare followed, her long, silky hair sliding around her shoulders, skimming the bulge of her very pregnant belly.
When she started running toward us, tugging Xeno along by the hand even though Xeno, as a dragon shifter himself, knew full well how resilient his son was—and how inclined to theatrics—Rush called out to his sister.
“He’s fine, Lari. Just took a little spill.”
Her steps slowed.
She spoils him too, Saffron told Rush and me.
Well, I said. He is awfully cute.
Saffron bristled ever so subtly. Had I not known him all his life, I might not have noticed. I added, Not as cute as you were, of course, but cute enough.
Unable to hide his delight, Saffron chuffed, a puff of smoke rising from his nostrils. No one can be as cute as I was.
Undeniably true.
By the time Larissa and Xeno reached us, Keyon’s eyeballs were fluttering nonstop beneath his eyelids from his effort to keep them shut.
Xeno stifled a laugh so as not to encourage his son, something I’d seen him do countless times, while sharing a good chuckle through a stare with me .
I snorted quietly. “Like father, like son.”
Xeno tipped back his head and laughed, raising Larissa’s hand to his lips to kiss it. Her cheeks were fuller than usual with the pregnancy, and when she smiled she radiated well-being. Braque’s poison had taken a couple of months to work out of her system, but since then she’d suffered no lingering complications.
“Keyon,” Lari called as I continued to rub his tummy.
He moaned as if waking from a deep sleep.
“Key-key,” Lari repeated.
His eyes opened slowly—dramatically so.
“Whatchou been teaching him, Saff?” Xeno asked. “I don’t need him to learn how to better wrap any of us around his little finger—or wing, depending.”
Saffron chuffed again and didn’t deign to relay a response through me to Xeno, as he sometimes did.
“Are you alright, Key-key?” Lari asked as she tried to squat down beside him. Halfway through, she gave up, pressing both hands to her low back instead.
Keyon nodded since he was in his dragon form.
“Then get up,” Larissa said. “Your teacher’s waiting for you.”
Keyon dragged his feet for a moment, but after craning his neck way, way up to examine the impatience on Saffron’s face, he popped right up.
Lari patted him on the back, between the wings. “Now go be a good boy for Saffron.”
I’ll take him to play with the others, Saffron told me and Rush. Remind him he’s not the only dragonling around.
He was, however, the only dragon changeling in the Mirror World—at least for a bit longer.
As Saffron led Keyon from the courtyard, Rush laced his fingers with mine. “El and I were on our way to a celebration,” Rush told his sister and her husband. “Talk more later?”
“Oh?” Larissa said. “To celebrate what?”
With his eyes on mine and glowing like the brightest moonlight, he answered, “Finding the love of my life and getting to share my every day with her.”
Xeno and Larissa seemed to disappear as I lost myself to the swirling of those stunning eyes. I stared at them for long moments, saw myself reflected in their depths, the love for me so obvious in them. His tattoos crept slowly along his body until they spread over his neck and face. Instead of thorns, the vines were capped in full, ripe flowers. His skin glowed with the faint luminescence of his increased power, as did my own.
The scar I’d once thought of as the Kiss of Death, that he’d covered with his magic via a lasting handprint visible only in certain lights, had become a sign of our love’s remarkable endurance.
No matter what life threw at us, we’d get through it together, always stronger because of our union.
When I blinked back to our surroundings, Xeno and Larissa were gone. The courtyard was quiet but for the burbling of its central fountain.
“I guess they left?” I said huskily .
“I’m glad they did,” Rush grumbled roughly. “I need you and no one else right the fuck now.”
Swallowing thickly, I nodded as his eyes smoldered. This time it was I who led him toward our bedroom at a run, giggling as we went, ignoring the curious looks from any we came across. Surely they’d learned by now: we were a very different kind of king and queen.