Total pages in book: 117
Estimated words: 112398 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 562(@200wpm)___ 450(@250wpm)___ 375(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 112398 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 562(@200wpm)___ 450(@250wpm)___ 375(@300wpm)
Silence covered us for a few moments as we grieved for the man who’d meant so much to us.
Then Aria blinked, her hair swishing over the pillow as she gazed over at me. “What do we do now? Will there still be Kruen to fight?”
“That, I don’t know, Aria. Not until we sleep. But what I do know . . . ?” Shifting, I rolled on top of her. The thin towel was the only thing that separated us. I brushed back the pieces of hair clinging to her face, voice low with devotion when I said, “I’m going to keep every promise I’ve made you. I’m going to give you all the good things in life. The love and peace you deserve. A home.” I glanced away for a beat before I returned my gaze to her. “A family.”
Affection billowed through her features, and she reached up again, this time brushing her fingertips over my lips. “Together.”
“Always, always together.” I let a slight smile take to my mouth. “You just have to decide where that’s going to be. I’m guessing some deserted island where you can bury your toes in the sand.”
Joy swept through her expression, this lightness we found once we realized the chains that had bound us had been released.
The fear that she would be running forever.
That there would be nowhere to hide.
That one day her calling would catch up to her and bring her to her end.
But she had prevailed.
She had the power, just like she was promised.
“Well, a deserted island does sound pretty nice, but maybe only part-time.”
My grin grew. “Ah, yeah, that’s right. My princess needs two houses.”
Her teeth clamped down on her bottom lip, her neck and cheeks flushed with the blood that rushed through her veins. “Princess. Nol. Wife. Whatever you want to call me.”
She hiked a playful shoulder.
Sincerity took over when I murmured down at her, “What you are is my everything.”
And there was no teasing after that. There were only impassioned kisses and searching hands and healed hearts.
Writhing bodies and sweat-slicked skin.
There was only us.
Together.
Forever, in every way, no matter what that looked like.
Chapter Forty-Eight
Aria
Pax’s arms were curled around me where we lay in the middle of the bed.
Legs and hearts tangled.
Our breaths long, steady, and in sync.
Night pressed in, hovering in the room, lulling and coaxing our exhausted bodies toward the bliss of sleep.
For my whole life, there had always been a bare space in between asleep and awake.
A sense of anticipation.
One of joy and fear and purpose.
I began to drift on it, hovering in that nothingness.
Where I was weightless.
Timeless.
And heard the voice whisper somewhere in my ear. In my spirit. In my heart.
“Aria, dear Valient. The last Laven born. The last of my power. Our last chance to defeat the ones who would destroy us all. Chosen for a specific time to stand in my weakness. For many times love comes with the greatest burden, and the love I bore for Kreed nearly became our destruction.”
“Valeen,” my spirit murmured as I floated through a wispy light.
“But your love conquered. Your strength prevailed. Because of you, this world is safe, and I am replenished. Because of your hope, we go on. And now, sweet child, rest.”
I blinked my eyes open to the faintest rays of morning light. I was still wrapped in Pax’s hold, his breaths steady and slow where he slept next to me.
For the first time ever, the sharpened, honed edges of his face were serene.
And there was no panic inside me, no fear or distress, since I had not emerged in Tearsith when I’d fallen asleep.
Because we were no longer needed.
That battle we’d thought would rage on forever in Faydor had been won.
We were free.
Truly, completely free.
Epilogue
Aria
Five years later
Rays of late-afternoon light spread out over us, glistening against the bright blades of green grass that covered the entire yard. A massive tree stood proud in the middle, its dense branches stretching out to provide shade and protection from the summer heat.
We sat beneath it, softly swaying on the double swing that hung from one of its sturdy arms. In the peace, I sketched, my hand swishing a charcoal pencil over the thick paper.
Pax sat next to me, and he had an arm casually slung around my shoulders.
It was Sunday, and everyone had just left an hour ago after they’d been here for a barbecue.
What had become our large, extended family.
My mother and my father.
My brothers, who were still wild but in brand-new ways, both bragging to Pax that they were now taller than he was and were constantly wanting to wrestle him to the ground.
My baby sister, who wasn’t such a baby any longer and was preparing to leave for West Virginia to attend a small university next month.
Dani and Timothy, who lived about twenty minutes away.