Nothing on this earth could.
“No! NO!”
Constance turned to run, her grin nowhere to be seen.
Moonlight burst from my skin. Surrounding Constance, it enveloped her and hardened—holding her still in her tracks with only a stray thought from my mind.
“You fool,” Constance screamed at Emiana. “Why didn’t you tell me she was moon-kissed?! Why didn’t you—?”
“Die.”
The command erupted from my soul, spoken with a voice that was and wasn’t mine. Pure, magnificent light wrapped around Constance’s arms, legs, neck... and pulled.
She choked—eyes bulging and body uselessly flailing against unseen chains. Her limbs lengthened, spreading in all directions over the newly awakened land.
“N-noo!” she rasped. “M-Meya, please! I am... your rightful... chosen! I was b-born for this... world! It’s mine! IT IS MINE—!”
She tore to shreds, showering me, Alisdair, and a screaming Emiana in blood and gore.
“Ahhh! What was that?” Emiana cried. “What did you do? What did—?”
I snapped to her, my whole body glowing—my whole body singing with pain and power. Lifting my hands to the air, moonlight collectedon my palm like starlings hopping along the branches—safe and knowing they were exactly where they belonged.
“Don’t you dare, you filthy Gutter whore!” Rage contorted Emiana’s face into something hideous. “Stay away from me! Eldur! Eldur!”
Fireballs soared at me, crashed into an invisible barrier, and glanced away—burning the ground around me.
“I am the high empress of Elva! Eldur! Eldur!” She rushed me when magic failed. “You will bow before me! You will obey—”
I swung my hands down, bringing the blinding, impossible light down on her like a ton of bricks.
It crashed on her skull, cracking it open and snapping her neck with her final insult still on her lips.
She was dead before she hit the ground.
Kicking away the useless creature, I turned on my gaping husband.
“Now, what were you saying before we were interrupted, my love?” I snapped my fingers, and his chains fell away like wet wastepaper. Just as easily, the power fled my body—leaving me weak but whole. “Something about loving me and worshipping my body until the end of time and after?”
A slow, wonderful smile spread across his lips. Surging forward, he scooped me into his arms—kissing me breathless.
“Yes,” he teased, nipping my nose. “Something like that.”
Epilogue
“Well, you definitely lied about doing all the work while your girls sat back and played.”
His chuckles washed over me before we entered the stables.
Alisdair looked up from his grooming of the stallion. His affinity with horses returned with the end of the curse, but this one in particular refused to break. Seeing that he let my husband close enough to brush him while he ate his oats was a surprise indeed.
On the other side of them, our twin daughters, Clara and Dearla, hauled hay bales out through the stable’s side door.
Alisdair crossed to us and pressed a warm kiss to our baby and youngest child’s forehead.
Rikdash screeched a greeting to his father, waving his tiny fists.
The next kiss was for me. “I wouldn’t be so certain they’re getting work done.”
