“I felt him inside my heart from the very beginning… I didn’t know why. I didn’t know how. I just knew that I had to go back for him. I just couldn’t leave him behind, regardless of what I had to risk. And I will never leave him—”
My eyes stung, my throat closing on the words from the emotion that snuck into me, but I didn’t repress it this time, not this one. There was no power in this world that could help me restrain the love I felt for that man. None.
“I just love him,” I confessed, letting the tear slide down my cheek. “He has changed my life.”
“As you have changed his,” she confessed with a beaming smile that reached her gray eyes, making the lines on the corners of her eyes crease.
Those, and the silver hairs that weaved through her dark strands, were the only indication of the age she’d been before she ascended. All evidence of the pain and scars she endured in theMirror World, physical or otherwise, were left behind with her mortal body. Now only her true self gleamed before me.
“You are everything to him, sweetie,” she continued, kissing the tear off my cheek before her eyes bored into mine. “And I will tell you something about the Skystorm men. Their love is just like a raging storm, wild and unstoppable. When they love you, they are yours forever.”
My heart skipped a beat with her promise, though I already knew her words to be true. In my heart, I’d known Braxton was mine from the start, no one was taking him away from me.
“And he loves me,” I confirmed, the happiness his love brought overshadowing everything else.
“That he does, Evie.” Her maternal love engulfed me again, and I hugged her too, welcoming Braxton’s mother into my life.
5
“Kiki!” Princess Keira’s arms opened wide, urging him into her warm embrace after she let go of me and turned to my guardian. Her endearing name for him jarringly contradicted the image of the giant and feared warrior chief we all knew.
In all honesty, I expected him to scowl at her like he usually responded to Braxton’s teasing, but when my eyes found him, I saw him frozen where he stood. Blood drained from his face while he glanced at Princess Keira. The expression that transformed his features was one of disbelief, yet it also unveiled the young man who turned against the only way of life he ever knew to do what was right, following the Harbinger of Justice and his wife… thePrincess of Caelisiuminto a new future.
The words he shared when we found out the truth about their retreat from the battle echoed in my mind.“I admired the Harbinger of Justice in a way I can’t even begin to explain…”From his reaction to seeing Braxton’s mother again after so many years, it was clear his admiration extended to her as well.
“Princess,” Kingston whispered, trying to regain his composure and fell to one knee where he stood. His hand lifted to his heart while his gaze fell to the sand in absolute veneration.
Princess Keira’s beaming smile dimmed at the sight of his admiration, and she sighed with both love and resignation, as though she should have expected such formality from him. Stopping before him, she lifted his chin with delicate fingers, forcing him to look up at her. “Rise and give me a hug, sweetie.”
The spirit of the young man he once was, captured his eyes when he glanced up at her and emotion glimmered in his honey irises, unable to be held back. With a slow nod, he stood, curling into her embrace like he would in his mother’s arms.
Princess Keira cradled his head to her chest, resting her cheek on his head and caressing his neck and back with such tenderness and affection that it left me speechless.
Kingston was from a race of natural warriors native to theCresting SunEmpire, the people who ruled and nourished the Desertlands long ago. In order to become the fierce sentries they were, Raithian took the chosen ones from their enslaved mothers as babes, so they never knew what tenderness and motherly care could feel like.
Watching Kingston with Princess Keira in this moment, it was clear to me that after they escaped the Hollow, he had found that feeling in her and he would never see her as anything else. I had never perceived such unbridled humility and devotion in him. When his eyes fell closed, a tear slid down his bronzed skin, and he held her gently.
He not only respected her, he worshiped her.
The reminder of just how much Kingston had truly lost in this war constricted my heart, just as Braxton’s arms wrapped around my waist, pulling me into his strong chest. Warmth met my cheek instantly, and we just stood there, in silence, letting the man who had become so much to all of us have this much-needed moment…
That was, until Brax’s breath fanned my ear. “I’m so going to tease him for this later.”
My lips twitched, but I sent him a warning glance that had him grinning mischievously. It was all jesting of course; even Braxton was feeling the emotion of their shared moment.
Princess Keira’s laughter rang around us like bells when she let go of Kingston and Imogen rushed her, almost tackling her from the excitement.
“Well, I’ll be washed, dried, and double fried, darling!! I can actually feel you! What crazy kind of magic is this?”
Our chuckles mixed with Imogen’s colorful language, watching her step back from the hug with true shock streaking her features.
“I’m a Soul Walker,” Braxton’s mom explained. “This ability allows me to commune with the world of the ascended while alive, speak to our ancestors, seek guidance, and choose my moment of peace and transition. Now that I have ascended,Soul Walkingalso allows me to communicate with the world of the living and bring you to my new home, theLake of Tranquility.In here, you can see and feel the true form of my soul.”
“Is that why you are tangible to us but still have that ethereal glow?” I asked, understanding her ability a bit more.
“Exactly, sweetie.” Princess Keira’s caring smile turned to me.
“Well, you sure look good for a dead gal.”
