Total pages in book: 141
Estimated words: 132138 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 661(@200wpm)___ 529(@250wpm)___ 440(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 132138 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 661(@200wpm)___ 529(@250wpm)___ 440(@300wpm)
But I believe in love. Vengeance burns away in the face of love. Love for my family and my husbands. Love for my people. Love for what is right in the world.
I am the vessel and the time is right.
I call on fire. It sizzles through my soul. I pull it from Shim, dragging his power into my hands, and with a great yell I send it out. It races from my skin. Heat, white and hot, flashes through me, a great wave of change. I send it to engulf the hags and Torin and Maris, send it out further to every soul on the hags’ leash. There is no way to free those they corrupted except to send them to the after.
Fire reigns, pouring from my every cell, a cascade of purifying blaze that wipes clean Torin’s evil.
I let it rage and rage, the heat crackling around me and then, when I’m sure it’s enough, I let it go.
I slump down, my body held up only by the chains that bind me. My clothes are gone in the crisp of the flames, the fire burning so hot that there’s nothing but stone and metal left in the room. Even the bones are ashes.
Weariness settles over me, but I need to hear them. Feel them.
Nothing. The connection burned out as it did before.
Or is it something worse? Minutes pass and I struggle against the bonds. I need to get to them. What if it was all for nothing and they’re dead and gone and I am left alone?
I love them. Unabashedly, unashamedly, and now that I served my purpose I want nothing more than the life they promised me. Our own kingdom and children to love, a lifetime to know my soul’s mates.
I need that lifetime. I need my forever.
Bootsteps hurry along the floor, echoing through the hallways. “Bronwyn?”
“Lach!” My voice is hoarse, but I call out anyway. I know his voice. I open myself and there it is. The connection is tenuous, but it is there. It will grow again. We will nurture the bond between us, and it will be strong again.
His face comes into view, his gorgeous, imperfectly perfect face, and then Shim is beside him, his eyes tired, but his lips smiling.
They hold me, their arms encasing me and lifting me up.
“It was a close thing, love,” Shim says.
“Shim passed out again. You have to remind me that Shim passes out every time you reach into his head and pull his power out. He damn near killed me.” Lach kisses me.
Joy wells inside me. It worked. I’m alive and whole and ready to live past this. “Get me out of here.”
Lach shakes his head. “Not a chance. We like you just the way you are, love. Bound and safe.”
“We’ve decided locking you up will keep you out of trouble.” But he’s smiling and winking as he says it.
I grin. They think I’m trouble now. Wait until they meet our children. I am sure there is lots of glorious, amazing trouble to come.
Chapter Forty-One
Lachlan
I sit back and watch as Bronwyn bonds with her new sister-in-law. After a joyous reunion with her brothers, Bron and Meg walk arm in arm, aiding all those who survived. The vampires brought tools and Donald Dellacourt is already arguing with his son over how this current political state will affect the stock market back on the Vampire plane. The group from Aoibhneas put up tents and began tending to the wounded under the direction of a red-haired Fae healer with the worst disposition I’ve ever seen. Queen Meg is doing her best to make everyone feel comfortable, but it will take a while to get the palace back in order. After all, my bride torched a good portion of it.
And Gillian. Gillian is gone again. She kissed me on the cheek and disappeared.
Roan and Harry are hot on her trail.
Bron laughs at something the queen says, the throaty sound making my cock jump.
“We should never have found her new clothes,” Shim says with a sigh.
I can’t help but laugh. “She’s going to be a queen when our father heads off to the after. She can’t walk around the Dark Palace without clothes on.”
“It’s a terrible shame and a waste of such beautiful flesh.” Shim sighs as Bron looks over and waves.
“I’m going to absolutely forget everything I just heard you say about my sweet sister,” Cian Finn says, looking very much the king. Everyone is busy cleaning up and burying the dead, but there’s a general buzz that sweeps up every worker. Though there is mourning, there is also hope. Cian smiles as he watches his sister with his wife. “I can’t thank you enough for finding her and for loving her. She tells me she’s very happy and intends to put the Dark Palace to rights.”