Frankie
Somewhere behind us the falkyrie are celebrating. The air smells like smoke and roasted meat; music and laughter drift through the night. I lean back against the step, feet kicked up across Zarreth’s lap while he traces circles on my calf.
I could learn to like it here.
I tilt my head to the sky. Patches of pale gold drift throughout, pulsing like living constellations. They rise and fade, leaving soft trails that melt into a purple glow. “Me too.”
He jerks his head toward me. “What?”
“What do you mean,what?”
One brow raises while he studies me. “What do you mean byme too?”
I blink at him and smile. Maybe we’re both more tired than we think. “I could learn to like it here, too.”
He stares at me like he’s not sure he heard right.I didn’t say that out loud.
My heart skips. I’m pretty sure I imagined it, but his face tells me I didn’t.Sure you did,I think back, laughing at how absurd it is.
His eyes widen for a moment, then narrow again. Neither of us say anything. That’s never happened before, not even when we were…when we were mated. I’m not sure if I should be freaked out or fascinated.
Light ripples through the air, bending around a figure I’d know anywhere. Her wings flare behind her, bright enough to sting my eyes.Theia.
“I had forgotten how unpredictable love can be,” she says, almost to herself. Her gaze sweeps between both of us and it’s almost impossible not to shrink beneath it.
I suddenly forgot how to exist. Do I just sit here? Do I curtsey? Zarreth stays seated next to me, his hand tightening around my calf.
“The bond of flesh was too small for what you have. You’ve bound yourselves in a way even the Gods never dared.”
What does that mean? Hope flickers somewhere deep in me, but I shove it down before it can take shape. That kind of hope could kill me. Zarreth’s hand finds mine, his eyes locked on her like he’s afraid to blink.
“Your sacrifice not only linked the realms, it altered what ties you together.” She steps closer, the glow around her flickering. “You share thought because your souls have become what we once called theEternal Bond. It’s older than the Gods, woven in the time before creation itself.”
I can’t move. My throat burns. The ache that’s lived in me since we let go of the bond eases, but I’m not ready to trust it yet. Her eyes move between us again. “Few ever attain it. Most bonds are flesh or spirit, but yours exists in both. Not even death cannot sever it.”
I’m terrified to let her words sink in, but somewhere buried beneath all my grief, I feel it. A small part of me has known it all along by the pull deep inside me, the one that never faded, no matter how far apart we were.
Theia lifts her hand, a faint glow shining between her fingers. “For what you’ve given, I offer a gift in return,” she says, eyes dropping to my stomach. “Your children carry both light and dark. Let them never be bound by one world.”
Warmth flares along my wrist, carving lines into my skin until they twist into a five-headed dragon.The Traveler’s Mark. Zarreth has the same one etched along his forearm.
Theia’s gaze is gentle. “So they may walk freely between realms, as their parents now do.” The light swallows her as she begins to fade, her voice lingering for a moment longer. “Guard them well.”
My fingers settle against the newly-formed mark, while I imagine the twins playing ball with the other children in the Dark Realm, or swimming in the beautiful waters of the Light Realm.
Something tugs at my chest as light weaves an intricate design over Zarreth’s skin, each line burning itself into place. It’s a mark I know deep in my soul. One I thought I’d lost forever.
“Zarreth,” I cry. “Look!”
His eyes are already on my chest, followed by his palm, pressing against the warm mark over my skin. It’s different this time, made purely of light. It pulses in perfect rhythm with his…my mate, myeternalmate.
“I am yours,” I whisper. “And you are mine.”
He leans in, his words warm against my lips. “Always.”
For the first time in forever, everything is exactly as it’s meant to be.
EPILOGUE
