Epilogue
The soft soundsof the flat screen TV drifted across the rec room, followed by laughter. The clash of balls slamming the wood ricocheted through the place as Kira walked inside, brushing back her hair she’d changed back to auburn. Why invite trouble by looking like her mother, or make it easier for the Ancients to find her?
Týr looked up from where he and Aethan played foosball. “Be with you in a moment,elska.”
“Take your time.”
At the pool table, near the seated area, Blaéz sent the cue ball cracking the triangulated balls while Dagan waited his turn.
Kira joined Echo and Shae at the bar where Darci mixed sangrias. It was a few days after Christmas, and she still felt bad about everybody missing the festivities. “I’m sorry we didn’t get a tree or celebrate Christmas.”
“Hey, you are more important.” Echo gave Kira a quick smile. “There’s next year. We’ll have fun.”
“Yes, we will,” Darci added, filling another glass. She handed it over.
“Heck, it’s so good to beserveda drink instead of me doing so for others.” Kira laughed, happy she didn’t have to work out her final two weeks at the bar. While she’d been missing in Stygia, one of the Guardians had done a memory implant on her boss and co-workers making them believe that she’d already done so. It had saved a lot of time, and Kira was thankful.
As she sipped her drink, she found Echo studying her.
“You okay?”
Kira lowered her glass, sighing deeply. “I should be grateful that Mom’s alive and with my father, right? Even if it’s not in this world. Still, I miss her—I miss my grandmother, too. And though I’m not a fan of my father’s realm, I do want to see them again.”
“I’m sure Týr would accompany you.” Echo patted her arm.
“I know what it feels like,” Shae said, her eyes a dark, haunted gray. “When my mom went missing, it was like a hole inside me. Now that I have her back, I hope she’ll start to heal…” Her gaze slid to her mate. “But Dagan gives me the strength I need to cope, especially during the harder days.”
Týr then looked up from his game and winked at her. The warm look in his eyes made her smile.
“Jenna will heal,” Echo said softly, dragging Kira’s attention back to the girls. “We are here for her. We’ll help in any way we can.”
“So”—Darci wiggled her brows at Kira—“what’s in store for you now, all-powerful one?” she teased.
Kira grimaced wryly. Then she explained what her parents had told her about shielding her abilities from the Ancients, and the beads that would aid in her concealment and protection. “I still want to work at The Shelter, helping the homeless and street children. I feel it in here…” She tapped her chest, her gaze going back to Týr. “But not straight off. I still have to get used to this new life and this ability of mine. Then I’ll speak to Týr…”
“I doubt anyone would dare come after you, your mate will probably turn them into cinders,” Shae said with a smile.
Echo nodded. “You should have seen him when you were abducted. We thought he’d tear down this castle with his hands. And with all that powerful blood in him, imagine what he’ll do now.”
Yes, Týr would be merciless if anyone thought to harm her. “And then there’s me,” she said, determination firing her up. “I will never let anyone instill fear in me the way they had with my mother. Besides, I can defend myself.”
The door opened, and Nik stepped inside and halted, dressed in his patrolling gear even this early in the afternoon. Here was another formidable warrior. Tall as the other Guardians, and equally good-looking, with icy green eyes, buzzed hair, and…man! That serpent on his neck made her really uneasy. It looked soreal. Kira was dead sure the ink watched everyone in the room.
“Uh, I wouldn’t let Týr catch you eye-balling our newest houseguest,” Echo teased softly as more grunts resounded. Nik walked out again.
Kira set her glass on the counter and shrugged off her morbid thought. “I don’t understand his penchant for snakes. In spite of his looks, it makes him appear really menacing, don’t you think?”
“Menacing or not,” Echo said, “out there at the cabin, the way he iced all those dead fighters Narfi summoned, it was quite something to see.”
Kira frowned, she hadn’t been aware of that.
A grunt sounded, and the slamming of rods distracted her. Kira shifted so she could see past Shae to Týr. He thumped a palm on the edge of the foosball table. “And that, my man, is how you do it. Pity we didn’t have a bigger bet going, I would have whipped your ass. But—” On the whiteboard behind them, he marked the number one beneath his name and a huge zero next to Aethan’s, and then he grinned.
Aethan snorted, dropping a dollar on the table. Týr pocketed it with a smirk. “And the chateau in France? Mine for a decade!”
Kira couldn’t believe how fast Týr’s self-healing had kicked in once the spell had worn off, but he was still off patrol much to his annoyance.
“Are they always like this?” she asked. “I mean, I know they’re competitive.”
