Brexley #2
I couldn’t deny her or the truth. I was going to need her.
With everything I was taking on, Maja’s presence was comforting and warm in a time of uncertainty and doubt.
I moved Lena and her daughter and Emil’s family into the floors below, so they could be together.
Emil had never been found, and sadly, we all knew he probably never would.
His wife and their kids were on the ground floor, while Lena took the first floor.
They all seemed very happy here. This was Maja’s domain. We just lived here.
“Edesem?” The door started to open. Warwick groaned against my ear, nipping at my skin before he pulled away, dropping to the bed, not bothering to really cover himself up as the woman moved into our bedroom, heading straight for the closet.
“You are late.” She tossed clothes for me to wear out on the side chair.
“She’s early compared to when I planned on letting her out of here.” Warwick peered over at me, stretching out, looking relaxed and satisfied. Though I knew him too well. If I didn’t leave now, I wouldn’t be for another few hours.
“Thanks, Maja.” I nodded at her as she exited the bedroom, tapping on her watch. Warwick’s hands tried to grab for me as I leaped out of bed. Smirking over my shoulder, I ignored the clothes she laid out and grabbed my cargo pants and sweater. This meeting was anything but formal.
“Should I ask what you are doing today?” I tugged on my clothes.
“Scorpion and I are checking on business stuff.” He tucked his arms under his head.
“Ah. The brothel.” I frowned, yanking on my boots. “Spending the day with some of your old fuck buddies?”
“Jealous, Kovacs?” He growled into my ear. “Thought you loved watching me with all of them? You sure stayed and watched.”
“Fuck off.” I cut off the link, making him chuckle from the bed. He shoved the comforter off, rising and prowling toward me, his naked body lining up with mine.
“You know a hundred of them couldn’t compete with you.
” His voice was gravelly, his palms holding my face, turning me to look at him.
“I’ve got my hands full enough with you.
” His mouth covered mine, and his tongue slipped past my lips, showing me everything he felt, kissing me so deeply that I got dizzy.
“Szeretlek, házisárkány.” I love you, my domestic dragon (better half).
He said through our link, kissing me again before slapping my ass and strolling off into the bathroom, slamming the door.
I stood there in a daze, his sentiment cascading over me like warm water, a smitten smile growing across my face.
Shaking myself out of my stupor, I grabbed my jacket and headed out.
Maja handed me a cup of coffee and some files at the door, her grandkids playing on the living room rug, giggling and chattering, lightening the place with sounds of joy.
Hearing them, seeing the buds of spring coming out, the sun shining, gave me a thread of hope that a new day had risen and hope was on the horizon.
I sipped my coffee, snuggling against the nippy breeze coming off the Danube, watching the builders reconstruct the longstanding parliament building.
My old home. The full wall erected around Leopold had been officially torn down last month, and now we were in the middle of rebuilding all the damage the war caused.
Some damage could never be rebuilt. Blood still marred the cement, left by those who had given their lives for this land.
Gazing down at a dark stain under my boots, trying to keep the tears back.
I knew who had laid here, who had bled out.
The devastation of Rosie’s screams as Killian fell still woke me up in a cold sweat.
We had lost so many. The absence would never go away, their spirits forever walking this terrain, haunting it with memories, staining it with their souls.
“Almost back to new.” A voice came up beside me, a shoulder bumping mine softly, his attention on the work being done as he sipped his own coffee. “We got a lot of work ahead of us, but I think we can open it up to the public by summer.”
I gazed up at the man, unable to stop a smile from curling my lips.
“Think you will be okay with a more democratic country?” My shoulder hit his back playfully, noting the bodyguards not far behind him, keeping watch. “No one calling you lord?”
Killian glanced down at me with a wicked gleam in his eyes. “I get plenty of that at home.” He tipped a brow with innuendo. “Though I’m still not opposed to King Killian.”
I snorted, my head shaking. “Yeah, because that’s less egotistical than lord.”
“And because you said that, I was thinking, your role might be more a secretary position, or maybe my coffee girl?”
“Asshole.”
Killian laughed, the sound like the clank of bells.
Deep, rhythmic, stopping you in your tracks to listen.
I took in his profile, my heart still squeezing with the images of him getting attacked by Samu.
Half of his guts were left on the pavement.
I had been sure another of my family had been taken.
Killian was far too stubborn to die so easily, especially since he had so much to live for.
It took him almost a full month to heal, his body in a coma-like state, putting himself together again.
Rosie never left his side until one of us came and forced her to go eat, sleep, and bathe, watching over him ourselves.
I sat next to Killian’s bed many nights, holding his hand and telling him all the things he would be doing once he woke up.
Our city was in ruins, our country a mess.
People were scarred, confused, and hurting.
No one knew what to do or who was in charge.
One night, a week after the battle, sitting next to Killian, I swore I could sense the connection between us, trying to tell me something.
It was the part that had always been there.
The magic that recognized each other as equals.
He made himself to be a king.
And I was born a queen. Or at least I had the magic of one.
“You are a natural-born leader, Brexley.” Andris’s voice still rang as sharp in my head as it did the night he died. “All I can hope is I did enough with my time here, made enough difference. Now it’s for you to finish it.”
So, I had stepped in as temporary leader, recognizing it was my role until Killian was ready to take his seat. I fulfilled my responsibility to Killian, Andris, and even to my father, taking the best parts of each and trying to give this country the same compassion, drive, and hope.
It was Killian who offered a dual leadership position to me.
I rejected the idea. I wasn’t totally sure it was something I wanted to do forever.
There were so many things I felt needed to be done in this world, and the people needed stability and direction.
I became more of his second in command, although Killian still treated me like it was a partnership.
He joked about royal titles, but it didn’t match with the type of ruling he wanted to do.
In a place that had endless dictators and autocrats, he didn’t want it to feel like just another one was taking over.
That nothing would change or be different.
Everything had changed. Sarkis’s army rose against the authoritarians .
. . and won. The fae lord himself was a proud member of the rebel alliance, and under him, this country would flourish.
The stories my father told me about people walking freely on both sides, having picnics, shopping, going to movies, and meeting friends for lunch, Killian wanted to bring it back.
Neither of us wanted to be above our people. We wanted to be among them. So Killian and I were charting our own way.
Rosie had changed him so much that he no longer was the man high on the throne. He walked the streets, talking to people, getting their thoughts and opinions.
He became a true leader.
“President Killian . . .” I motioned for him to step toward our new-old parliament building. HDF’s former headquarters. Killian changed the name to A Nép Háza. House of the People, representing the new rule in this country.
“Okay, not as sexy as king, but still hot. Though I really like commander-in-chief.” He winked, motioning for me to go first, heading to our newly renovated offices.
It was hard enough to step into the building for work and not see all the shadows of my past like a movie.
That’s why I could never move back into the rooms here, choosing the penthouse across the plaza instead.
We were having it all redone and revamped, taking Istvan’s mark off it, though leaving a few things, so we would never forget.
While the decor and style stayed the same in the main part of the building, the offices became much more modern and refined to reflect our new government system.
We had a long way to go, but thankfully we had some astronomical donations come in from some private corporation in the Pacific Northwest. Killian and I knew it was from Lars, probably encouraged by his daughter, and we were not above taking it.
Gratefully. We were thankful for this secret help from Lars and Kennedy and the debt we would forever owe to Ember and Eli and the Dark Dwellers.
We were beholden to them so much for coming to our aid.
They showed up without question because that’s what they did for family, and now I was strangely a part of it.
Ember and Eli only stayed a few days after the war, needing to get back home, but I enjoyed my time with them.
Ember felt like the older sister I never had, and in a way, she was.
We were family, sharing something no one else did.
Another link in the chain, which tied all of our lives together across time, space, and the world.
Except, I had lied to them. My deceit, if ever found out, might end that relationship, but in my gut, I knew I had to.
No one should have the nectar.