Lady Aesira looked to her husband, who cupped her cheek, then bent to rest his brow on hers. When he pulled away, she blew out a resigned breath and met Daemon’s gaze.
“Send the message to your father, then get your ass back to Lyndaria. So help me, Prince Daemon, if Auraelia falls, I will findyouat fault. And there won’t be a Goddess in all of Arcelia who would be able to save you.”
Even with the seriousness in her tone—and the accusatory finger pointed in his direction—Daemon let his smirk shine. “I wouldn’t have it any other way.”
Auraelia
“Just set the tables up on the far wall,” Auraelia called out as a group of men carried them into the ballroom. She hadn’t stepped foot in this area of the castle since that fateful night. She’d kept the room sealed off, not wanting the physical reminder of when her entire life was turned upside-down—her nightmares haunted her enough. Months passed, and it still hadn’t seemed to right itself, and it didn’t seem like it would until the conflict with her cousin was over.
Taking a deep breath through her nose, Auraelia let her gaze slowly trail across the space. The windows were still blown out from when her magic had taken on a life of its own, but their glass had finally been removed from the marble floors, the late afternoon sun shining through the empty panes. The once beautiful crystal chandeliers were nearly bare but had been outfitted with new lights so that they functioned once more. The flowers wrapped around the columns had long since died and were replaced by twisting vines. Tables lined the walls and were slowly being filled with the food they could spare and tankards for the ale that Madame Sylvie promised as a thank-you for getting her ladies to safety in the Court of Topaz.
It was all starting to come together.
Ever so slowly, life was being brought back to the room that held so many harsh memories, and a hesitant smile began to tilt up the corners of her mouth.
“Planning your victory party already?” Daemon’s husky tone washed over her body, bathing her in a warmth that seemed to have seeped away the moment he left Lyndaria’s shores.
His name was nothing more than a breath on her lips, her heart racing into a gallop in her chest as she whirled around and met the mossy green of his eyes. The cheeky grin on his face did nothing to dim the adoration there or the love that she felt deep in the very fabric of her being. Her magic ignited beneathher skin, moving languidly through her veins like liquid fire and pushing against her hold as if it were trying to reach for him.
“Hello, my star.”
In one stride, Auraelia leaped into his arms, hers wrapping around his neck as her fingers found their way into his hair. She could feel his smile as she pressed her lips to his, his arms tightening around her waist, and he held her against him.
Home.
No other word could accurately explain the feeling of being wrapped in his embrace. The way his heart always seemed to beat in synchrony with her own. How their magic seemed to seep from one and into the other, swirling and weaving together in a tapestry to form a beautiful mural.
“I’ve missed you,” Auraelia whispered, pressing her brow to Daemon’s, their breaths mingling together in their shared space.
“You have no idea,” he sighed, his tone reverent as he lowered her back to the ground and pressed a chaste kiss to her brow. His hold on her loosened, but his arms remained wrapped around her as if he couldn’t bear the thought of letting her go. They shared a smile as he gently ran his thumb across her cheek, and then he looked over her shoulder and around the ballroom. “So, are you?”
“Am I what?”
“Planning your victory party,” he said with a laugh, his eyes sparkling as they met hers once more.
Auraelia scrunched her nose. “It’s more of a ‘the realm is about to erupt into chaos, so we might as well celebrate life as we know it before it implodes’party.”
Daemon tried to suppress his smile as he let out a muffled chuckle, tonguing a canine as he nodded his head. “Do you need any help?”
“No,we’vegot it. She’s been having me do all of herdirty work.” Aiden’s honeyed voice echoed through the room, briefly pulling Daemon’s gaze from her own.
“Do I evenwantto know what he’s implying?” Daemon raised a brow with his question, and Auraelia’s lips turned inward. “Auraelia, what does he mean?”
“I’d like the answer to that question as well.” Auraelia leaned around Daemon to see her brother propped against the threshold. “Hey, Rae,” Xander said with a smile.
She could feel the flush creeping up her neck and into her cheeks. “Now is not the time or place for that particular conversation.”
“Oh?” Xander’s brow quirked as he pushed off the doorframe and closed the distance to where she was standing with Daemon.
Reluctantly pulling out of Daemon’s embrace, she turned to cut Aiden a glare. “Damn it, blondie.”
“Blondie?” Daemon’s surprise was evident in his tone, his eyes flicking between Auraelia and Aiden.
“Don’t look at me, ask lightning girl.”
“Lightning girl?!” The confusion on Daemon and Xander’s faces had Auraelia choking on a laugh that grew into an explosion of hysterics as Daemon asked, “What the fuck did we miss in the last twelve days?”
“A whole hell of a lot, D. Awholehell of a lot,” Aiden said with a smile, mischief shining in his honey-colored gaze as he waggled his brows in her direction.
