Chapter 33
CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE
Hope tightened my chest as Diredan’s monumental power shot toward my mate. Kole was given no warning. No words of how long the magic would take. Or what it would feel like.
At my side, Kole’s body seized, his eyes widening. Similar to when the Wishing Stone had saved Timith, the warrior’s form became engulfed in starlight.
Colorful light blazed along his limbs, like a million stars glowed around him. The only difference in this healing from Timith’s was that nothing outward changed in Kole. His infection was still early enough that physical changes hadn’t yet occurred.
But inside, I knew it was different. Awe, relief, hope . . . all of it mixed together within my mate and traveled toward me along our bond.
His healing was done in seconds, less than a blink of an eye in the god’s eternal existence.
When Diredan finished, Kole released a breath, then gazed at me with shock.
The god turned to leave, but Nuleef placed a hand on his shoulder, stopping him. The God of Vengeance gazed at his mate questionably, but her attention shifted entirely to me.
A content smile curved her lips. “You reunited me with my mate and saved your own.”
I dipped my head. “Yes, thank you both for ridding him of Tenevris’s curse.”
I thought they would both turn away, but Nuleef didn’t move. Her head stayed cocked, and she added, “Diredan granted you one wish. Any wish. You could have asked him to turn you fae, but you didn’t. Why?”
I lifted my chin, emotions clogging my throat. “Because I would rather see my mate healthy and whole than me.”
Kole’s hand wrapped around mine, and he squeezed. I had no doubt he felt the same.
Nuleef’s smile increased, and understanding filled her aura. “Such is the way with mates, is it not?”
I nodded once. “Yes.”
“But I feel that your sacrifice should grant you some luck, and because of you, I’ve been reunited with my mate. Do you wish to be fae again with your mate, Princess Primelle Rose Everline Manafold of Mistvale Kingdom?”
My lips parted. “Do I? You mean—” I couldn’t continue. Surely, I’d misheard her.
Nuleef laughed lightly. “You understood me correctly the first time. Do you wish me to return you to fae? I can see in your heart that you do not enjoy being one of Heleveer’s creatures. Since you reunited me with my mate, I will grant you this lucky wish if you so desire.”
I glanced at Kole. Like me, he stood entirely still, but his sheer awe barreled toward me along our bond.
Tears formed in my eyes, and I bowed to Nuleef. “Yes, Goddess. I would like that very much.”
“Then it shall be so.” Nuleef raised a hand, and a blazing shot of power burned through my entire body. Like the Wishing Stone had done to Timith and Diredan had done to Kole, a million glittering stars appeared all around me, bathing me in a blanket of starlight.
I stood entirely still, suspended in time, frozen in wonder that it didn’t hurt even though I felt myself begin to transform. Colorful rays of light encased my limbs. Celestial power filled my very essence.
Before my eyes, under my glamour, my pale skin disappeared, and my previously healthy complexion returned.
In the same beat, my fangs retracted completely, the sharp tips disappearing as they returned to normal fae teeth once more. Miraculously, I felt no pain.
Amazement coursed through me, and tears sprang in my eyes when a strong lub-dub filled my chest. My hand flew to my heart just as it began to beat again, but despite that single first beat, the sound diminished, and the enhanced senses of my vampire magic began to fade away.
I breathed in a lungful of air, the urge to breathe overtaking me. And sounds diminished as everyone’s heartbeats no longer sang to my soul.
Tears began to stream down my face as Kole’s momentous hope barreled to me along our bond.
The entire process only took moments, the power of a goddess shedding me of the vampire curse my uncle had forced upon me, his manipulations entirely insignificant compared to her great might.
And when I emerged from Nuleef’s hold, it was to see her gazing at me with a serene expression while the vengeful god turned away, but he called over his shoulder.
“We have avenged you and your mate, Keeper of the Stars. Your uncle’s curse holds neither of you anymore. Our bargain has been finished.”
Nuleef dipped her head, her metallic hair shining brightly. “Farewell, Keeper.”
Her sing-song voice carried to me on a breeze. With that, the two gods disappeared, either burrowing into the soil to wherever Diredan slumbered or perhaps removing themselves from sight while they walked away in private. I didn’t know.
But I still felt them. Their presence was here in this feared Wood. Rich. Alive. Sated.
A burst of joyous laughter spilled from my lips, and Kole and I launched ourselves toward one another and caught each other in a crashing hug.
I bounced and laughed, shouted and cried.
Everything I’d been hoping for had come true. Every moment of despair I’d felt was lifted. Laughter and light filled my soul, and my mate was with me, healthy and healed, experiencing it all at my side.
Kole cupped my cheeks, his irises blazing with wonder and love. “You’re a fairy again, Princess.”
“And you will never be a vamfeer!”
He laughed. “I didn’t think it was possible to save either of us. I didn’t believe that we’d find a way, but you proved me wrong.”
I laughed anew and ran a finger along his throat, where just that morning, I’d felt the urge to drink his blood. The thought of doing so now racked a shudder of disgust from me, and he cocked his head.
“I was just thinking that I wanted to drink from you, right here, only hours ago.”
He arched an eyebrow. “Is my blood now repulsive?”
I leaned up on my toes to kiss him. “Take no offense from this, my love, but yes, it is.”
He laughed, the sound low and deep, and as his mouth descended to mine, he said, “No offense taken, my love. None at all.”
We fell to the Wood’s floor in a tangle of limbs. I kissed Kole with wild abandon, loving that my skin once again felt warm, my inherent scent no longer tinged with the stench of a vampire.
In a burst of magic, Kole erected a foggy air Shield and ward around us, stopping any Silventine Wood creatures from seeing us or intruding on our privacy.
“Do you feel this?” I paused, just long enough to bring his palm to my chest, to my strong heartbeat thudding within.
Tenderly, he smiled and pressed a kiss to my neck. “I feel it, Princess, and you smell like you again. I can detect your arousal and anticipation. Your emotional flavor has returned.”
“Stars, Kole, we’re both healthy again, both alive, both like we used to be.”
He growled and unbuttoned my dress. “And I can’t wait a second longer to claim you as fae.”
He opened my dress and pushed it down my body, sucking in a breath when my breasts popped free. With a flurry of clothes, we were both naked within seconds, and my body throbbed with anticipation.
But for the first time, my arousal was entirely mine. No further vampiric urges or wants were inside me. I was fae again, just as I’d once been.
And when my mate sank his hard length inside me, and our bond burned brightly between us, I felt all of his love, all of his lust, all of his need and awe, that we were making love as the gods had always destined for us.
We moved as one, heightened emotions strumming between us as our hands entwined, and his burning gaze met mine.
And when we came, our bodies soaring together in a cacophony of rapture and eternal song, it felt as though we’d finally connected in the way our souls had always been meant to be joined.
We were whole.
Happy.
Fae.
Bonded.
And eternally in love.
I was exhausted by the time we returned to the palace.
Kole and I had joined three times in our warded dome upon the Silventine Wood’s forest floor.
Finally free of any danger or constraints, our bodies had craved one another again and again.
And something about engaging in such acts deep within that Wood, at the very heart of where so many monumental acts had occurred that had ultimately brought us together, had not only fulfilled me, but had also exhausted me mentally and physically.
But the fact that I was tired and actually wanted to sleep created such excitement in me that I couldn’t stop my joyous cries and laughter.
Betsee made a startled sound when we reappeared in my bedroom chambers just after sunset in a blast of mistphasing magic. She staggered back and brought all four hands to her chest. “Goodness, Your Highness, but I don’t think I shall ever get used to that.”
I skipped toward her and pulled her into a fierce hug. She froze, bafflement filling her aura.
“I apologize, dear Betsee, but isn’t it the loveliest evening?” I released her from my embrace, and she stared at me with wide eyes.
“Well, yes, I suppose it is,” she replied, her tone calm and patient as though I’d gone daft in the head.
I laughed again and returned to Kole, sliding my hand through his, then said to Betsee, “Why don’t you take the night off, Betsee? In fact, take the entire month off. You deserve it after all you’ve done for me.”
Her eyebrows shot to her hairline, and I was certain she thought me entirely unhinged. “My lady, would you perhaps like me to seek Surrep?”
Kole chuckled and replied for me. “She doesn’t need a healer. The princess is simply in an extraordinarily good mood. I suggest you take her offer and run with it.”
A slow smile spread across the lady attendant’s face. “Are you certain?”
Kole and I grinned and replied at the same time, “Yes.”