Chapter 40
Chapter
Forty
TWO WEEKS LATER
We were all sitting around a campfire drinking hot chocolate when an odd shift in the air sent the hair on the back of my neck standing up. Things had changed exponentially in my life, my magic the main thing.
I was more sensitive to power than ever before, and I recognized this signature of power.
I rose and jerked my head to Moira and Ash. Without a word, they rose to follow.
We walked through Caelan’s property until I found what I was looking for.
Ash sucked in a breath. “Tess!”
The banshee lay curled on her side, unconscious. I shrugged my jacket off and covered her up. Ash bent and scooped her up, cradling her close to his chest.
“Thank the gods,” Moira breathed. She brushed a hand over Tess’s hair and closed her eyes.
Caelan was there a second later. “She can have a room in the Keep. Simone is getting one ready right now. The Keep Healer will be down in a moment.”
Ash nodded his thanks and took off running with Moira close on his heels.
Caelan slid his arm around my waist. “I was beginning to worry she’d never return.”
“Mom said when a banshee inhabits a living body, it can take weeks for them to recover. But what Tess did…” My voice trailed off.
What the banshee had done was save a lot of lives. She might not have been fast enough to save me from that cursed crown, but I’d found my way back.
Just like she had.
“She destroyed Titania from the inside out,” Caelan finished.
My mother had been shaken by Tess’s act and the sheer power it must have taken to do so.
She had no idea how long it would take for Tess to regenerate but was confident she’d come back.
And she had.
I laid my head on his chest, soaking in his warmth. “We’re complete.”
“Mmm,” he agreed. He turned to gather me in his arms. “Will you open the shop soon?”
I shrugged. “This extended vacation is kinda nice.”
He smiled against my hair. “Joy Springs needs its Floromancer.”
“And they’ll get her,” I agreed. “When she’s ready.” I tilted my head to watch the Shifter Lord. “Not a moment sooner.”
He brushed my lips with his. “Any more visitors?”
There’d been a steady stream of angry fae outside my house over the last few weeks.
“Not after I fried the last one.” I had no idea what kind of fae it’d been, but the woman with strange eyes had shown up outside my wards, demanding I answer for the tree’s destruction.
I’d responded by giving her double middle fingers and turning her to ash, a cool new trick I’d learned how to do when I came hurtling out of that fucking tree.
The fiery talent had been coming in handy lately. There were a lot of pissed off fae demanding I pay for what I’d done to the World Tree.
Of course, they didn’t give a shit what that stupid tree had done to me.
Typical fae logic.
Caelan’s low chuckle sent shivers down my spine. “How about we go inside? Tess might be out for a while, and I have something I’d like to show you.”
I snorted. “Is that something inside your pants?”
Caelan scooped me up and loped toward the house, ignoring my screams of laughter.
“I always want to show you what’s inside my pants,” he growled.
“And I always want to see it.”
He stopped at the front door and kicked it open.
“Good news because I’m never going to stop showing you.”
I laughed and twined my fingers through his hair, bringing his face down to mine to plant a searing kiss against his lips.
“Mine,” I said quietly.
“Forever,” Caelan swore.