Arianna’s vision flickered, wanting to run to her sister, yet in her current form unable to fathom how she might comfort her.
“It’s okay,” Laoirse whispered. “It’s almost done.”
Laoirse turned to Rion next. Another figure emerged, this one extending from Rion’s own power. He looked so much like her mate, yet carried himself with an air of confidence Rion had never displayed. Like he was meant to rule. A king who’d fallen too soon.
Laoirse ran into his arms and the male pulled her in so tight her feet left the ground. No one moved for several long seconds, then Laoirse turned slightly. “Burn him.”
Ellie stumbled to her feet and backed away, coming to stand directly beside Rion’s massive claws. Fire erupted from Arianna’s mate, consuming Vairik’s body until there was absolutely nothing left.
A ten-thousand-year-old legacy burned to ash.
Laoirse and the male held one another close, his head buried in her hair. Another moment passed, then Laoirse said, “This power belongs to you now. Use it wisely and bring this land back to its former glory.”
Arianna nodded, a promise from one queen to another. Then light opened in the heavens and the two phantom beings rose, becoming one with a light that blinked out as quickly as it had come. Arianna stared after them, praying that when she and Rion finally chose to fade from the land, they would experience far less heartache.
Chapter Fifty-Nine
Talon
Something in the veil of the world shifted. It split, then collided, as if opening and closing on their mortal world and somehow, Talon knew it was over.
Vairik was gone.
The others must have felt it too, because shouts of victory echoed across the battlefield, invigorating those still fighting.
Talon paused, letting his line of warriors pull away. Raevina did the same, watching Arianna and Rion rise into the sky as one, their King’s fire raining down on the last of their enemies.
They’d won.
A smile spread over Talon’s face. Raevina turned to him, mirroring the same expression.
They’d won.
Talon raised his sword high above his head and roared, a dangerous thing called hope blossoming through his chest.
No one needed words.
No one needed a speech.
The survivors simply raised their own weapons in answer, screaming across the field, their voices chasing away the last of their enemies.
They’d won.
They’d won.
They’d won.
Chapter Sixty
Talon
Talon waited with bated breath as Rion and Arianna circled overhead before finally landing in an empty section of thefield. Anyone within striking distance had quickly cleared out, giving their monarchs some much needed space.
Talon studied the pair, noting the way Rion restlessly circled his mate, tail flicking in agitation. His head swayed from side to side, almost as if he couldn’t accept the battle had ended.
Talon was hard-pressed to believe it, too.
It had taken some time, but Arianna, or rather, the phoenix version of her, had approached her mate, preening the scales behind his head until he’d finally settled. The dragon positioned himself on the ground so that his entire body circled the phoenix. A nearly identical depiction of the statue back in Levea's estate. Talon prayed it hadn’t been destroyed by the Dark Fae. It was a monument he’d walked by a thousand times, yet he wanted to look upon it just once more, this time with understanding.
