I winked at Caelan. “How does it feel to finally lose, asshole?” I flicked my fingers at him. “Now get the fuck off our land.”
He disappeared with a pop of sound.
Caelan was back home on poison-soaked lands.
Exhaustion caught up with me. I swayed on my feet. My eyes rolled up in the back of my head and darkness overtook me.
Epilogue
Spring came early to Emberwood with the help of its resident goddess. Still seemed weird thinking of myself that way. I’d always been just Evie until recently.
Now I was the fae queen, mate to Rowan, and, in a few minutes, I’d claim the title of wife.
Moira fussed with my bouquet, pretending she wasn’t crying.
“I’m already mated, Moira. That’s a lot more serious than this.”
My best friend sniffed. “Yes, I know, but you’re in a dress and there’s cake and a DJ.” She fluttered a hand in front of her face. “It’s all soromantic.”
I brought her in for a hug. “One day, I’ll be messing with your bouquet, too,” I promised her.
Moira grimaced. “That won’t happen for a long time, if ever.”
Ethan had left not long after helping us retake our Keep. I never thought he’d be as…
Well, I didn’t have the words to describe Ethan. If you asked Moira, she’d describe him with words like, “asshole,” or “misogynist pig,” or my personal favorite, “egotistical fucktard.”
We all saw people differently, though I suspected Moira would change her mind about him soon enough.
Caelan tried and failed a dozen different times already to break my spell, finally learning his lesson after the third shifter he sent through the thorns died. Nothing would grow on his land either. Nothing would die, but the seasons would not come, new flowers would not grow, neither would the grass or vines. He was trapped in a paused world. A harsh lesson, but one he needed.
What I didn’t tell him was the spell had also put his land into a form of stasis. Death would not come for him. Not now.
Tess had confirmed it, staring at me strangely when she did.
Everyone stared at me a little strangely these days.
Everyone except Rowan.
Caelan and I weren’t quite finished. Not yet. But he no longer held any power over me.
I was the only one who held the power.
Moira linked our arms together. “Are you ready?”
I adjusted my veil and took a deep breath. “Ready.”
We grinned at each other and stepped outside, immediately surrounded by shifters and fae and humans, every single one of them our people. Poe and Fee swooped playfully through the air, their happy cries shattering the skies. Tess and Ash stood together, the dryad holding the Chimera baby dressed in a frilly pink dress. Tess held Seymour, who happily waved his traps around. Everyone I loved was here today. Mom and Dad stood beside them.
Hope and Declan sat in the next row, both smiling broadly.
And as I walked toward Rowan, my mate, the love of my life, my soon-to-be husband, flowers sprang from each step I took, a testament to my power, one I would no longer hesitate to use to protect the people I loved.
No matter how dark a path it might take me down.
