12. Chapter 12
Levi
L evi had no need to hide his face with a hood as he headed toward the market. After all, he didn’t think himself ugly, even if, compared to everyone else in the Shadow Lands, he was almost… ordinary.
Especially without his stitches.
Although he was very fond of the permanent ink he’d had etched around his neck, mimicking the way the stitches there had once looked.
It honored his past life, because he wasn’t Leander anymore, though the memories remained.
He was Levi, and he felt more fulfilled and complete in the Shadow Lands than he had ever been allowed to be in Emerald.
Of course, it helped that Levi was walking through town with the Shadow King’s hand clasped in his own, having left from the castle instead of his once-home in the tower.
One consequence of the Onyx gemstone’s destruction was that the rest of Braxton’s black crystals no longer worked. Levi could only hope that meant all the souls captured over the years had been freed, even if they didn’t have living bodies to return to like he had .
When the time was right, Levi did plan to visit his mother and inquire after his brother, Leslie.
Maybe he would even visit the Diamond Kingdom to find out what had become of his father.
At the very least, he wanted to give Leslie the music box, but the life he would live from now on would still be this one—with Ashmedai.
The usual crowd had gathered in the area before the market steps, waiting at the end of the long road that led out of their lands. Today was delivery day, when the carriages from Emerald would arrive.
The festival stalls had all been taken down, their lumber added to other structures or put away to be used again next year. Some remnants of the festival remained, like a string or two of crystal lights, but for the most part, the festivities were complete.
Everyone had already agreed that the tradition would continue, however. They knew the full story now, but the impact that night had had on all their lives was the same.
“Strange, isn’t it?” Ashmedai said as the caravan appeared, cresting the exit from the wood and heading toward them. “This is the last time those carriages will return without passengers. I’m still unsure about sending a delegation, but I know we can’t stay hidden any longer with the barrier open.”
“Remember what I told you of the Emerald Prince,” Levi assured him. “He is a good man. He saved me. He means to change things back home. And his father is a good king, if misguided. The first delegation is only meant to test the waters anyway. They won’t even know our true faces at first.”
“And after all!” Dreya bounded through the crowd, dragging a somewhat stumbling Luccite after her. “You’re sending us! Of course all will be well. Who better than the voice of the people, and our most powerful healer to make sure I stay safe?”
The assumption was, since being within the barrier required them to will themselves to look human or elven or what have you, anyone new entering the Shadow Lands wouldn’t be affected unless they chose to be.
People from other lands could finally visit or move here without fear—if only they could be made to understand and accept the nature of this place.
Dreya had indeed been chosen as voice of the people, though Luccite was selected mostly because she’d insisted, and because she was an alchemist by trade, which the Emerald Kingdom allowed.
Standing before Levi and Ashmedai, Dreya didn’t immediately release Luccite but kept hold of her arm.
They had been seen like that quite a bit lately and, given how much Luccite used to drape herself near Dreya in obvious if unspoken affection, the healer didn’t look all that bothered by the manhandling.
“I’ve been practicing,” Dreya announced, and with a wiggle of her nose, her more chimeric characteristics faded, leaving her looking quite human—except for her hair. “What do you think?”
“You might want to lose a few leaves.” Luccite snickered.
Dreya moved her head as if trying to get a better look, and Luccite rolled her eyes in dramatic fashion. With a shrug, Dreya returned to her normal self.
“Good thing crossing the barrier should do the hard work for you,” Luccite said.
After a giggle and pressing a loving kiss to Luccite’s cheek, Dreya headed up front to help Yentriss with the delivery, but since the crowd was continuing to grow, Levi and Ashmedai were soon met by another set of friends.
“Hello, Ash. Dear Stitches,” Daedlys greeted as he and Klarent came over to wait next to them. “And may I say, I appreciate you left me with a way to continue calling you that.” He nodded at Levi’s finely inked design.
Levi smiled, and then noticed how Klarent’s robes looked slightly more distended than usual. “Why, Klarent, are you starting to show already?”
“Indeed, I am.” Klarent stroked a hand down the slight bump of his belly. “Luccite said the gestation might be shorter than anticipated. They’ve even been kicking already. Oh!” His hand jumped where he had it rested. “And they’re doing it again. Would the godfathers like to feel?”
He didn’t wait for Levi or Ashmedai to respond but grabbed both their hands and rested them where his had been. After a moment, Levi distinctly felt a kick.
“Incredible!” he exclaimed. “We are so happy for you.”
“What are you hoping for?” Ashmedai asked, his own grin quite wide after feeling the baby. “Wisps or tentacles?”
Daedlys and Klarent both laughed.
“I just hope they don’t come into this world screaming like their father,” Klarent said with a nudge at Daedlys’s floating form. “That might make poor Luccite’s ears ring for days.”
“If that happens,” she deadpanned, since she was still nearby, “I’m letting you two finish the birthing on your own.”
They laughed again.
She was definitely joking , Levi thought.
Maybe.
It had taken until the festival structures were coming down before Levi and Ashmedai remembered the gift from Klarent had been left behind one of the stalls.
They’d reclaimed it then, and for all the sadness the memories of the night of the curse once stirred in Ashmedai, he’d found a place of honor for the tome on the mantel of the hearth in his bedchamber.
“Levi! Ash!” It was Kenner, sitting on Grillo’s shoulder, held up by his lizard arm, which he was more than used to by now. “Do you think anything exciting will be in the carriages?”
“Isn’t there always?” Ashmedai answered. “Is Grillo going to let you claim something, Kenner?”
“Within reason,” Grillo said.
“You know,” Levi mentioned to Grillo, “I never got the chance to ask you something. I didn’t hear the end of your poem to Yentriss. Did you get her to blush?”
“Spectacularly.” Grillo beamed. “Even better, if anyone asks her about it, she blushes again, such a lovely shade of forest green. You’ll have to try it sometime.” He winked.
At long last the carriages came to a stop at the end of the road, and the usual bustle broke out, with people vying for items after those already spoken for had been claimed.
Several spools of soft-looking yarn were heatedly sought after, Levi assumed with the intent of knitting a baby blanket, since the combatants were all those with child, the winners eventually being Amuro and Pentelyn, whose pregnant belly was also noticeably larger.
Nothing called to Levi to have as his own the way the music box had, though he thought he might get a few more tunics made in Emerald silk—for him and Ashmedai.
All too quickly, the spectacle was wrapping up, but before Dreya could announce the last carriage was empty, Gordoc let out a cry from inside where he’d been inspecting corners for anything forgotten.
“Ash!” He appeared in a flurry, waving something above his head. “There’s a note!”
Levi and Ashmedai turned to each other in surprise, and then swiftly began to push through the crowd, which parted for them once the initial shock wore off. In Gordoc’s hand was indeed an envelope—with the Emerald Kingdom’s royal seal holding it closed.
Ashmedai took it, and a hush fell over the crowd. Then, as soon as he had it open, Daedlys yelled, “Well, read it!”
Ashmedai chuckled but raised his voice for everyone to hear.
“Dearest people beyond the wood. We call you Dark Kingdom and Shadow Lands, though I have learned of late that such titles are not always true of the places we fear. I write to you first in hopes that the young man I switched places with as sacrifice to the Ice King reached you safely.”
Not exactly , Levi thought, though all had turned out well in the end.
“He was wrongly condemned for having magic, and I have since encountered much magic myself. I swear to you and to him that no one will ever be called corrupt again for having magic or being of elven lineage in my kingdom. We have reunited with the Frozen Kingdom, ended their curse, and all is well.”
Ashmedai met Levi’s eyes, pausing in his recitation, since Levi had explained to everyone about the current Emerald Kingdom and the Frozen Kingdom they feared.
“The prince saved the Ice King?” Levi asked in wonder.
“So it would seem,” Ashmedai said. He continued reading. “What I experienced is too long a tale to write here, but its happy end means that soon, in the once again Sapphire Kingdom, I am to be wed, uniting Sapphire and Emerald for myself and the Sapphire King to rule over both together.”
Now Levi was truly shocked, for he had heard rumors whispered about the Emerald Prince, but he’d never expected a royal wedding between kings.
“I would like to formally invite your own royal family and whoever else may wish to attend to join us on the date in the enclosed invitation and reunite your kingdom with ours as well.
I do not know why we lost touch. I do not know if the stories my people say of your lands are true.
I was told to expect monsters in the Frozen Kingdom, and while in some ways, that is what I found, I also learned that monsters are not always who they appear to be.
“So, I say to you now—you are welcome, and if you be monsters, we only hope you are kind ones. Signed Prince Reardon, House of Thom, of the Emerald Kingdom. Well.” Ashmedai’s sharp-toothed smile widened as beautifully as ever as he looked out at his people and lifted the note into the air.
“It would seem more than Dreya and Luccite need to prepare for a trip. We’ve been invited to a wedding! ”
The crowd cheered.
In all Levi’s wildest dreams, both as Levi and Leander, he’d never once believed any of this could be possible.
Now, as he looked at his king, his love, and the beautiful golden circlet with its red gem that Ashmedai wore often now, glittering in the sun, just like Levi’s ear cuff, he saw something so much better than what could be offered by a mere dream or illusion.
He saw possibility and a future all his own—one he would share.
“I will have to give this Emerald Prince my eternal thanks,” Ashmedai said softly, for Levi’s ears alone.
Levi leaned toward him and lightly kissed Ashmedai’s lips. “As will I.”