The dancing had digested the unreasonable amount of food I had eaten when we first arrived, and right on time, Fae servers filled our plates once more.
Free of worry, pain, and anxiety, we ate and drank. We partied with the Fae, made friends, and enjoyed each other’s company. The lanterns floating overhead shone brightly without making us squint. Instead, they filled the festival with warmth.
Soon, the festival began to wind down. Families of Fae began to filter out, and we took our leave as well. As we made our way toward the entrance, Kael spoke.
“We’ve been freed from the infirmary’s beds. We’ll be staying with you at the lodge now. I hope it’s not an intrusion.”
“Your presence is always an intrusion, Kael,” Daemon responded. Kael chuckled.
At our lodging, Daemon walked me to my door. The others went into their rooms, tired and probably needing extra rest to heal the rest of their injuries.
“Sleep well,” he said.
“You too.”
He turned to leave, then paused. “The joy you felt tonight, hold onto that. Remember it’s possible.”
“Why?”
“Because what comes next will try to take it from you.” His shadows thickened around his shoulders. “Don’t let it.”
He left before I could respond, disappearing into his own room and closing the door quietly behind him.
I stood there for a long moment, processing. Then I entered my space, stripped off the festival clothes, and collapsed into bed without bothering to blow out the candles.
Exhaustion pulled at me like a tide, but I couldn’t fall asleep right away. Instead, I lay there replaying the night: the petals, the light, the celebration. Daemon’s hands guiding me through the dance. The weight of his promise earlier:I won’t let any of them take you.
Lyralei’s words echoed:We are guardians. Keepers. The last defense against what hungers beneath the Cursed Throne.
I’d spent so long running, surviving, fighting just to see another dawn. I’d never considered what I might be running toward instead of away from. I never imagined that I would one day have something to protect other than my own skin.
But tonight, surrounded by people who had built beauty from ashes and valiantly preserved their families and culture despite genocide and exile, I understood.
This was worth defending. These people and this place were joy carved out of a nightmare. I would do whatever it took to preserve and continue their legacy.
And Daemon. Someone willing to risk his life for me. Someone who saw me as a person worth defending.
I would return the favors. All of them.
Sleep finally claimed me, pulling me into dreams lit by Veil-light and filled with petals falling like rain. For once, they carried no nightmares. Instead, the festivities continued in my sleeping soul.
Tomorrow, I would train. If I had to take a hundred thousand breaths to protect the joy I had experienced, I would.
The world I’d found.
The people who’d claimed me as one of their own.
And the man who’d looked at a monster and seen something worth saving.
I would do anything to protect them all.
CHAPTER 14
DAEMON
A week slipped past like water through cupped hands.
I watched Seris change. She didn’t transform overnight, but her incremental improvements in training were beginning to accumulate into something solid. Her posture shifted first. The defensive hunch and alert eyes melted away, replaced by something straight and unshaking. She became increasingly grounded in herself and her powers.
