Epilogue
Jace
Jace stared out into the distance, his hand fisted around the pendant at his neck. The chill of the evening air clung to his skin. The sun had dipped below the mountains, casting long shadows across the ground, and the sky bled into twilight.
He shook his head, allowing his hair to change back to its real color, as onyx as the darkest night.
Being the son of the Serpent Lord and the White Bone Demon had its advantages.
From his mother, who had murdered and then taken the Onyx Tortoise High Concubine’s body, he had inherited the ability to change his appearance at will.
During the chaos of the Annihilation, it had been simple to kill the real Silver soldier meant to become the next captain. Taking his place was even easier. The Onyx King died then, too. Pity. But the man had only been a stand-in for Jace’s true father.
Jace hated the Onyxes, even though he was technically royalty. One day, he would reclaim his throne.
And then he’d give it up.
Despite the Serpent Lord’s wishes, Jace didn’t want to rule. He hated any form of control. He wanted complete freedom for all, to erase the artificial barriers set in place by arrogant pricks like his own father.
Jace would return the world to what it was supposed to be.
No more realms.
No more gods.
No thrones.
No rulers.
No limits.
Only Rubi.
Jace was water. And Rubi was fire.
Jace only wanted her to be his equal, his counterweight. She was his destiny. Even before he had heard the prophecy, he had known his match was out there.
He looked at the jade bracelet on his wrist, the perfect match to Rubi’s.
He disguised it as a silver cuff. But that bracelet had manifested on his wrist on his twelfth birthday, his first zodiac year, just like it had done for her.
She probably didn’t even know what it meant, though he knew she felt how their magic resonated when they were together. Rubi and Jace were bound together.
Everyone wanted her for their own reasons. His father wanted his demon servant to consume her so that he could be released and manifest fully in the Mortal Realm. Jace had been ordered to organize the demon and false-rebel attack. He’d known Rubi would survive, though. She was too powerful not to.
But it wasn’t just him. Blake and Draven wanted her to be theirs, to possess her.
She didn’t belong with Blake, and certainly not with Draven.
When the next stage of the Raveling took place, Jace would accompany Rubi as her loyal friend to the firens in the Dominion of the Red Phoenix. He would protect her from demons and his father.
At the right moment, he would kill Draven. Because Jace knew exactly where Draven was.
And then he would kill Blake.
He would set Rubi free to be with him, heir to the Serpent Lord.
After all, it was prophesied.