“You have no control over me.” Drawing power from my well, I sent it at Brodine-Ivenrail. A blink and nothing remained of the brown-eyed boy I’d looked up to, the strong guy who’d given me a shoulder to cry on so many times.
The man who’d played a final, ruthless game of Wraithweave and lost.
“I don’t want the world,” I’d whispered to the wind and the sun and to Drask perching on my shoulder. “And everything I’ve ever needed is already inside me.”
Fury.Vexxion’s voice held the ache I struggled to grab onto but couldn’t quite wrap my hands around. It would come. There was no way of avoiding it now, but feelings were what kept me from sliding into the bitter realm where Ivenrail wallowed.
My friends started waking, peering around with wide eyes as if they’d stumbled out of a dream and into a new, better reality. We explained what Brodine had done.
“Where is he?” Reyla stormed to her feet, a weapon springing into her hand. “I’ll gut him.”
“He’s no longer a threat,” Vexxion said.
Her gaze homed in on him. “You . . .” Her head tilted, andshe frowned. “You didn’t do it,” she diverted her attention to me, “but you.Youdid.”
I jerked my chin in acknowledgement.
She stumbled over me, nearly falling but righting herself, before she plunged down on top of both me and Vexxion, her hug enveloping us both. “I’m sorry. I should’ve seen what he was doing.”
“How could you?” I asked, finding myself patting her back to givehercomfort. “He fooled all of us.”
“Even Kinart.” Her eyes swam with tears. “When will this end?”
“I’m afraid it’s just beginning.” Aunt Vera thrust herself out of her chair to stand on the carpet, her posture barely wavering. “The curse . . . Your mother’s spell . . .” Panic blazed across her face as she looked between me and Layla. “We’re open and exposed and . . .” Blinking slowly, she stared at the floor with a frown shoving aside the panic on her face. “It’s gone, but . . . Lydel Court is . . .” Her heavy sigh was followed by a tentative smile. “Lydel Court has been restored, and you, my lovely niece, have done it.”
“They’re free,” I said simply.
Pandemonium broke out as Airia, Zayde, and Layla got up and crowded around us. Reyla slipped away from me and Vexxion to stand with them.
When Vexxion stilled, so did I, though I wasn’t sure why he’d done it. I looked up, and he gave me the sweetest smile. For an instant, it felt as if none of this had happened, and we were twenty and meeting for the very first time as a betrothed couple. He’d politely take my hand and kiss it. I’d smiledemurely. When we walked together through the garden, we’d start falling in love.
“Ah.” Aunt Vera cried out, scattering my daydream. She clapped her hands and sashayed in a circle, bumping into Airia who joined in on the dance, both women laughing shrilly. They came to a stop with my aunt wiping away tears while Airia grinned my way.
“They’re almost here, oh, my. By the fates, they’re almost here, and we’re not quite prepared.” My aunt hustled to the sofa and took my hand, dragging me off Vexxion’s lap, tugging me out into the open area in the center of the room. “We need to get you ready.” She looked me up and down, nibbling on her lower lip. “Where to start? Where to start?”
“I’m . . .” I wore a tunic and pants, an outfit that would do for almost any informal occasion. “Why do we need to get ready this instant?” Evenmywords came out giddy. She’d caught me up in her infectious happiness. Today had been a mix of enlightenment and destruction, and it was hard to find humor in what was left. How could she be laughing?
“This is yours.” Vexxion strode over to stand behind me, holding up the delicate chain with my pabrilleen stone pendant. It winked in the sunlight streaming in through the bank of windows on the far wall. “It belongs to you, Fury, though I thank you for the loan.” He gently placed the pendant around my neck and fastened it at my nape, his finger a whisper on my skin that blossomed into a kiss. “I’m returning it to you, and it’s never leaving your neck again.”
“What if I want to wear something else?” I asked, teasing.
“You can wear whatever you like, but I love seeing it fastened around your neck.”
“Because it tells the world I belong to you.”
“Our mating marks do that quite nicely.”
In a heartbeat, I could sink back into his arms and let them sweep me away, take me from here to a place where we could be together once more.
“Very good,” my aunt said, beaming at Vexxion.
“This belongs to you as well.” Zayde came over to stand in front of me, holding his clasped hand toward me. He peeled back his fingers, revealing a ring with a flat surface on the top etched with a dragon coiled around a sapphire stone. “I picked this up while we traveled and held onto it because I knew it was yours.”
“Where did you find the Lydel Court High Lady’s ring of power?” Aunt Vera breathed. Her finger twitched toward the ring before she snapped it back and looked at me with tears in her eyes. “The last time I saw it, it graced your grandmother’s hand. I thought the monster stole it somehow.”
“The emissary I sent to Evergorne was holding it for her,” Zayde said. “Mayline gave it to him before she cast the spell to protect this island.” His solemn gaze met mine as he lifted the ring from his palm and held it toward me. “If I may?”
I nodded, too overcome to speak. This was my grandmother—and my court’s—ring of power?
