Rain took form in the center of the Cauldron. She stoodon trembling legs and stared at Daric. He was so close, so close she could almost touch him.
He stared back. Then he roared and leaped for her. Rain bent and snatched up the starflower just as Braylian fought back, hard and fast, her flames surging high to reclaim her daughter.
Rain dove out of the Cauldron, fire licking her feet. Daric caught her and raced away, his broad back shielding hernaked skin from the inferno Braylian hurled at them.
He set her on her feet at the edge of the clearing. Rain wobbled, unused to legs and the need for balance. Daric steadied her. He gripped her arms, his blue eyes wild and haunted. “You’re real.”
“I…think so,” Rain answered.
“I love you. So much.” His voice cracked, and Rain let out a sob. He held her face in his hands and kissed her. Thekiss was hard but tender, heartbroken and unsteady. “Don’t leave me again. I won’t survive it.”
“I love you. I’ve been miserable without you.” The words trembled out of her, as shaky as her new limbs.
“These years without you…” Daric shook his head, his breath shuddering violently.
Rain wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him. Their lips collided, and warmth bloomed inside her, theheat of home and life and love, and she realized more than ever how cold and lonely she’d been without Daric.
She drew back to look at him, still shaking, her hands in his hair. She couldn’t stop touching him. “You threw away my starflower.”
“It was yours. I didn’t know how else to give it back to you.” He took off his cloak and wrapped it around her bare shoulders.
Fire popped, and they bothlooked at the Cauldron. As they did, the flames settled. The blaze turned into something resembling softness, and Rain instinctively knew that Braylian had forgiven her for rebelling. The goddess wasn’t angry. She understood that her daughter wasn’t hers anymore, and that Rain’s heart and spirit had belonged with Daric’s since the day they’d danced as children.
A triumphant, last sunbeam of theday hit the clearing at the same time as a wisp of fog. A rainbow shot through the moisture, and Rain threw her head back and laughed, happiness bursting out of her.
“Are you doing that?” Daric grinned along with her. It was the first time she’d seen him smile since the day she’d left him.
Rain shook her head, her heart healing as she gazed at him. “That’s my little sister, claiming Leathenbefore she sleeps for the next three seasons.”
“Spring will still see us? This hasn’t changed anything?”
“Spring will come to Leathen when she should,” Rain answered, trailing her fingers through the dark beard she would enjoy feeling all over her body as soon as she could. “And I have no doubt the little imp will split clouds over my head whenever she can. I probably won’t be able to leavethe castle between the winter and summer months.”
Daric gazed at her in confusion.
“We fought violently over Leathen,” Rain explained. “I took it, of course.”
“Of course,” he murmured, his expression saying he believed she could do anything.
“My prince.” Rain held out the starflower to Daric, now cool marble again.
He took it, and she angled her head for him. Daric slid the starflower intoher hair, pinning it back the way he had the morning of her birthday. It was the symbol of their love, and the sight of it disappearing into the Cauldron had given Rain the strength she needed to fight her way back to him.
“You’re several years late for your wedding.” Daric’s rusty attempt at humor tangled in his throat.
Rain slipped her arm through his and tugged Daric toward the shelter he’dbuilt, already eyeing the furs she could see piled up inside as bedding with great interest. “The wedding can wait until after I’ve had my way with you.”
A spark found its way into Daric’s eyes again—the first in a long time. “I’m at your service, my lady.”
