“In a week,” I agreed.
“Then I shall be more than content,” Raza purred. “I shall be deeply satisfied.”
“I thought I already satisfied you?”
“You know, just because you stick those wings up, doesn't mean we can't hear you,” Killian muttered.
Raza folded his wings behind him, and gave Killian a glare, “I shall remember each interruption and inconsiderate gesture, Lord Killian. And I shall inflict them all back upon you times ten.”
“Alright, Dragon,” Killian chuckled. “Fair enough.”
“My wife,” Tiernan slid me from Raza's embrace and into his. “Sweet Goddess, we're married. I never thought I'd get to be your husband.”
“I did,” I laid my hand to his cheek. “I thought about it a lot. Until Danu took those thoughts away.”
“Danu... it all makes sense now,” he whispered. “I never felt like myself. For months, I felt like a ghost, a phantom in my own body, doing and saying things I had no control over.”
“I had wondered how I could have been so wrong about you,” I laid my hand on his chest. “How I could have misread your heart.”
“My heart has never wavered,” Tiernan declared. “Not once has it ever stopped beating for you. Even in the midst of that madness, I loved you.”
“I never stopped loving you either,” I melted into his embrace.
“If our love can survive a goddess' manipulations, then it can survive anything,” Tiernan laid his forehead to mine.
“Your Majesties,” a seelie man stepped forward. “May we crown the King now?”
“First,” Tiernan scanned the crowd, “tell me where my father is.”
A muttering began, and the seelie looked uneasy.
“Your father fell defending Her Majesty, Queen Isabel,” the seelie man reported. “I'm deeply sorry.”
“He wasn't in the Queen's Guard,” Tiernan growled. “What do you mean he fell defending Isabel?”
“He drew on Moire after she declared her challenge to Queen Isabel,” the seelie said. “The elves shot Count Diocail.”
Tiernan's glare turned on the elves, and Dagur strode forward.
“I was not with the group inside the castle,” Dagur said, “but I know why my brethren acted. Danu implored us to stand by Moire until the Twilight Star appeared. Until then, we had to keep up the ruse. I am sorry for your loss, Your Majesty, and our part in it.”
“We have all lost much today,” Tiernan said gravely as he faced the Seelie Court. “I cannot mourn as if I am the only one hurting. So, if you will accept me back into your hearts, my fellow seelie, we will mourn together, and we will rebuild our kingdom into something even stronger than it was before.”
The seelie liked that idea. They shouted and cheered.
“And my wife?” King Marcan, I meanLordMarcan, stepped forward, still cradling my dead grandmother “May I bury her within the royal crypt?”
“Of course,” Tiernan said gently. “And you are still welcome here, Lord Marcan. You have been a good king to the seelie for thousands of years. That will not be forgotten.”
“And my son?” Marcan asked. “Shall he be allowed to stay as well?”
“Yes, absolutely,” Tiernan said.
“Where is my Uncle Shane?” I asked as I peered around the room.
“Find him,” the seelie before us said to another. Then he looked to me, “We will take care of it, Your Majesty.”
“I'm sorry, but who are you?” I asked him.
