And when I emerged from Nuleef’s hold, it was to see her gazing at me with a serene expression while the vengeful god turned away, but he called over his shoulder. “We have avenged you and your mate, Keeper of the Stars. Your uncle’s curse holds neither of you anymore. Our bargain has been finished.”
Nuleef dipped her head, her metallic hair shining brightly. “Farewell, Keeper.”
Her sing-song voice carried to me on a breeze. With that, the two gods disappeared, either burrowing into the soil to wherever Diredan slumbered or perhaps removing themselves from sight while they walked away in private. I didn’t know.
But I stillfeltthem. Their presence was here in this feared Wood. Rich. Alive. Sated.
A burst of joyous laughter spilled from my lips, and Kole and I launched ourselves toward one another and caught each other in a crashing hug.
I bounced and laughed, shouted and cried.
Everything I’d been hoping for had come true. Every moment of despair I’d felt was lifted. Laughter and light filled my soul, and my mate was with me, healthy and healed, experiencing it all at my side.
Kole cupped my cheeks, his irises blazing with wonder and love. “You’re a fairy again, Princess.”
“And you will never be a vamfeer!”
He laughed. “I didn’t think it was possible to save either of us. I didn’t believe that we’d find a way, but you proved me wrong.”
I laughed anew and ran a finger along his throat, where just that morning, I’d felt the urge to drink his blood. The thought of doing so now racked a shudder of disgust from me, and he cocked his head.
“I was just thinking that I wanted to drink from you, right here, only hours ago.”
He arched an eyebrow. “Is my blood now repulsive?”
I leaned up on my toes to kiss him. “Take no offense from this, my love, but yes, it is.”
He laughed, the sound low and deep, and as his mouth descended to mine, he said, “No offense taken, my love. None at all.”
We fell to the Wood’s floor in a tangle of limbs. I kissed Kole with wild abandon, loving that my skin once again felt warm, my inherent scent no longer tinged with the stench of a vampire.
In a burst of magic, Kole erected a foggy air Shield and ward around us, stopping any Silventine Wood creatures from seeing us or intruding on our privacy.
“Do you feel this?” I paused, just long enough to bring his palm to my chest, to my strong heartbeat thudding within.
Tenderly, he smiled and pressed a kiss to my neck. “I feel it, Princess, and you smell like you again. I can detect your arousal and anticipation. Your emotional flavor has returned.”
“Stars, Kole, we’re both healthy again, both alive, both like we used to be.”
He growled and unbuttoned my dress. “And I can’t wait a second longer to claim you as fae.”
He opened my dress and pushed it down my body, sucking in a breath when my breasts popped free. With a flurry of clothes, we were both naked within seconds, and my body throbbed with anticipation.
But for the first time, my arousal was entirelymine. No further vampiric urges or wants were inside me. I was fae again, just as I’d once been.
And when my mate sank his hard length inside me, and our bond burned brightly between us, I felt all of his love, all of his lust, all of his need and awe, that we were making love as the gods had always destined for us. We moved as one, heightened emotions strumming between us as our hands entwined, and his burning gaze met mine.
And when we came, our bodies soaring together in a cacophony of rapture and eternal song, it felt as though we’d finally connected in the way our souls had always been meant to be joined.
We were whole.
Happy.
Fae.
Bonded.
And eternally in love.
