Chapter 29
CHAPTER 29
The bright sunlight hit my face when I walked free from the supernatural courts. Jax brushed against my side, his presence heavy and pulsing with magic. I paused, standing on the top of the wide stone steps as the hustle of Jaggedston filled the view in front of me. The potions still clogged my mind, dulling my senses and suppressing my magic, but as I inhaled the fresh afternoon air, for the first time in weeks, fear didn’t grip me.
My mate looped an arm around my waist, drawing me close. I’d been allowed to change out of the hideous Nolus jumpsuit into my own clothes again. And despite the potions’ nauseating effects, that simple act helped to ground me further.
All of our friends followed us out onto the steps too, including Esopeel and Lillivel. Smiles broke across everyone’s faces, and they all rushed forward to hug me.
“It’s good to see you free at last,” Phillen said quietly. “I’ll never forget what you—” But he swallowed his words that were thick with emotion.
I met his eye and nodded. I knew what the guard was referring to. Because of what I’d done, not only was Jax still free, but all of them were too. Since the fact that I’d twisted fate had come to light, Jax had told his band everything about what had occurred in the initial reality I’d saved us from. Phillen knew he was to be hanged and that his son would have grown up without a da.
“No words need to be said,” I replied.
Phillen bowed, Lars doing the same, and the rest of our friends followed, each and every one of them bowing to me, and that simple act portrayed so much more than any declaration.
Lillivel and Esopeel both rushed forward after my Stonewild friends moved out of the way, and I bent down to hug Lillivel and then take Esopeel’s tiny palm in my hand. “I cannot believe you both stayed for the entirety of my trial. I shall always remember that kindness.”
“Oh, Elowen, I’m just so pleased to see you free and happy.” Lillivel hugged me again, and I realized she truly was my friend, and she cared for me even though she’d been paid to be my attendant.
Pulling back, I gazed down at the small cerlikan. “And, Esopeel, you actually left the Wood to be here.”
She shrugged her furry shoulders. “It was a small price to pay for all that you’ve done for us. Finally, the caverns in the Wood have been wiped clean of that horrible dark magic and returned to normal once again. And the half-breeds you saved...” She sighed. “The realm should be thanking you.”
We all embraced again, and I spoke to them for a few more minutes, but when I began to sway from fatigue, Jax helped me stand, and I finally said my goodbyes.
“Don’t forget to visit every time you’re in Faewood!” my wildling friends called.
I waved one last time. “I will, I promise.”
With my goodbyes complete, Jax kept his arm locked around my waist. “Let’s get you home.”
He flicked his fingers toward an attendant, who summoned an enchanted carpet, and when we were finally seated upon it, my mate enacted his right as a royal and commanded the carpet to rise high in the sky, drifting over the buildings and homes as we sailed clear over all of Jaggedston. The pale-green sky shone above, and intermittent pastel clouds dotted the horizon.
The ten Houses north of the city came into view, the glittering Adriastic Sea to our right, and the palace dark and foreboding off to our left, standing taller than any building in the capital.
My stomach twisted slightly as the palace grew closer. Trying to veer my mind away from what lay ahead, I asked, “How’s Bastian doing?”
Jax’s crashing blue eyes met mine, and his fingers curled around my hip. “He’s well. He wanted to be here, but we all decided it was best that he wait to see you until after your trial.”
I nodded, knowing that for all of us to be seen together in public would require many things to change first. Changes that likely wouldn’t occur until Jax took the throne.
“And is Bastian back with Anna?” I asked as the others spoke quietly behind us, and the palace grew closer with each second.
Jax nodded. “He’s not only back with Anna, but he’s back to work and back to his everyday life.” A look of regret cleaved his face. “He so wished he could have been down here for your trial. He asked me multiple times to convey his apologies.”
I gave him a sad smile, and while I knew that we’d done so much to help our continent and all of the fae on it, laws were still in place that didn’t protect everyone.
“And the enslaved half-breeds? What’s the latest update on them?”
“Saroly has removed anklets from most of them. Those half-breeds have been returned to their homes. Norivun thinks she’ll have the rest removed as well in the coming weeks.”
“Do the authorities know about their illegal children?”
Jax’s expression turned grim. “They do, but given what was revealed in your trial, at least the courts understand why those children exist. Still, I’m not taking any chances. I’ve hired magistrates to represent all of those who birthed children.”
I sighed heavily. “I shall pray each night that none of them are executed.”
A moment of silence passed over us as I thought of all of the half-breeds on our continent and what they still endured. “Do you think you’ll ever be able to acknowledge Bastian as your true brother for the entire realm to know?”
The wind brushed against Jax’s face, pushing a lock of hair into his eyes. He feathered it back and shook his head. “While my father sits on the throne? No. But one day, when the crown has passed to me, I plan to let the entire realm know that my brother is a half-breed, and a powerful one at that.”
A smile spread across my face, and my love for Jax magnified a thousand times over. “And your role as the Dark Raider? Is it truly over?”
He folded his hands together and nodded solemnly. “Fully over. I’d already made up my mind that I was done, but after seeing what you’ve gone through while being imprisoned, on top of what you went through the six weeks prior to that on the Isle of Song...” A sharp rise of his aura pounded out of him. “I will never do anything that could put you in such a position again.”
I squeezed Jax, and his long fingers closed over mine. “I would do it all again in a heartbeat, you know. Even if it meant I ended up back in that prison again. I meant it when I told the Queen Justice that I have no plans to twist fate again, but if I had to go back in time, if I had to do what I’ve already done all over again, I would still command the fates. You all have to know that I could never allow you to hang when all you’ve tried to do is make our realm a better place.”
“Which is why you’ll never be forced into that position again.” The finality of Jax’s words carried on the breeze, and I knew that he meant every word of it. “We’ll find another way to help those less fortunate. The days of the Dark Raider are over.”
A slight throb came from my temples. I rubbed my head, and Jax’s brow furrowed. “Are you all right?”
“It’s just the potions. They haven’t fully worn off yet.”
He growled slightly and moved his hand to my lower back, then rubbed me up and down in soothing motions. “What do you need right now?” Warmth from his palm seared through my clothing.
“Just you.”
My words brought a devastating smile to his lips.
We passed over the final buildings just south of the palace and glided over its mighty black gates toward the large open courtyard beyond. The gates’ guards watched us, bowing when the crown prince passed over them.
The carpet sailed downward, stopping just shy of the palace’s main steps. Jax helped me off, steadying me when my body swayed.
“I’m taking you to my tower. And please, my love, allow me this one courtesy.”
Before I could ask what he meant, Jax swept me off my feet and bounded up the steps two at a time. I squealed, and all of our friends laughed as they departed the carpet.
The guards standing at the main doors opened them in a flourish, and then Jax and I were back inside, within the Stonewild palace once more.
It was as we’d always planned. Somehow, things were once again on track. We saved Bastian, I commanded the fates and got away with it, we stopped King Paevin, and we freed the half-breeds. Yet despite all of that, one niggling detail remained that neither Jax nor I had acknowledged.
He was still the crown prince whose parents required he be married to another royal or noble.
And I would never be that female.