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“Hey!” I exclaimed. “I had quite the day inside the center of the earth.”

He sat up slightly on his elbow, resting a hand on my stomach. “I know we can’t talk about our trials . . . but are you okay?”

I wanted to tell him everything I had endured. What had happened after we parted from each other at the stone formation. My three trials. And then Leo’s arrival to take me back to One. How I’d been able to act like nothing was wrong with Leo, managing to keep my composure while Leo had played his hand.

The only thing I hadn’t been expecting was Hunter.

“Where’s my brother?” Hunter’s well-being was more important than mine.

“Safe. Sigrid’s been checking in on him in his room. Alister has been to see him, too. He has a few broken ribs, but he’s in good spirits. I’ve invited him to our meeting this afternoon. Sigrid told me he’s a soldier, and he’s spent a good amount of time with the Deks. He could be a big help if we choose to counterattack.”

Of course, Adrian had already arranged a meeting. How The Nine moved forward from this attack would be critical.

“I wanted to talk to you about something,” Adrian said gently. “About your title, as queen. I know it’s a lot, and I want you to know, you don’t have to accept it. You have a choice, in everything. With the latest Dek attack, and working through the details of my sudden claim to the throne, there’s been no official coronation scheduled for either of us yet. There’s still time to change your future’s path. Decisions you made in your past life do not bind you in this one.”

I knew he wasn’t just talking about my title.

“Adrian . . .” I stroked his cheek, hoping my touch would be reassuring for him. “I’ve made my choice. I’m here, with you. As the queen, and as your wife.”

“But Bryn . . . all the decisions you made up to this moment were made under Leo’s scheming, and my silence about the truth. We both needed you to get your powers back. Leo needed them for his army, and I needed The Nine to see the truth about Leo, so they would back me when the time came to fight him. We both used you as a pawn for our causes.” He exhaled, upset with himself. “There were so many times I almost came clean and told you everything. So many instances where I wanted to take you away and hide you from all of this. But a life on the run isn’t a life. You deserve a life of freedom. One full of happiness.”

I thought his words over.

He wanted me to be angry with him. But I wasn’t. How could I be angry when none of this was his fault to begin with? “I wish you would have told me sooner what was really going on,” I whispered, “but I know it wouldn’t have played out like it did. It doesn’t matter who schemed what for me to get my powers back. They were my powers to get back. I was someone in a past life, and I wanted to be her again, for me. Brynlynn Stewart is Bryn Evans. We are the same. And I feel like I’m exactly where I’m meant to be.”

I brought my mouth to his, leaving a hint of a kiss before whispering my words against his lips. “Old Bryn chose you, and new Bryn chooses you again. Wherever you are, I’ll be, too.”

Adrian closed his eyes, slipping his fingers around his necklace that held our rings. Untying the leather carefully, he slipped the larger of the two circles on his finger, then gently slipped the other onto mine.

His voice was heavy with emotion. “When I lost you, I almost didn’t survive it. I won’t lose you again, Bryn. Promise me . . . promise me that we find a way to make sure Leo can never hurt anyone again, with you staying very much alive.”

I wiped away the tear that fell from the corner of his eye.

“Please, Bryn, promise me this.”

I rubbed my nose gently against his. “I promise.”

He grabbed my face, kissing me deeply as I leaned into him, pushing all my worries from my mind.

I thought of him, and only him. Right here and right now.

Everything else could wait.

CHAPTER THIRTY-NINE

BRYN

Icould never have imagined a day would come when I would be sitting at a table in a meeting room, with my brother and husband, on a different planet, talking about the extermination of an alien species.

But here I sat, with Hunter on one side of me and Adrian on the other, as everyone in the room discussed the best way to ensure what happened last night never happened again.

Most of the council members from The Nine had already been portaled back to their respective homes by Adrian, the Malesa bloodline knowing no boundaries when it came to full-moon-standard portal travel, thanks to the limitless night magic that had been passed down from Adrian and Leo’s mother, Marissa Malesa. The queen who had been the most powerful night-wielder to date before her sons had come into their full power.

As Adrian and I had gotten dressed this morning, Adrian helping me into my pants, somehow making the act just as sensual as taking them off, he had confided in me that he’d known from the very beginning of his life that the queen was his mother. Adrian had been sworn to secrecy to never talk about his true heritage, though, something that had pained his mother to ask of him. However, she had always treated him as her son, and often spent time with Adrian and his father privately, in a small house outside the castle grounds. Adrian’s father still living there to this day.

Marissa and Vincent had loved each other for years before Marissa’s duty as the queen forced her into a marriage with Leo’s father; with Vincent loving her so much he had followed her into Delirium, even though he didn’t come from royal status—his love for her the strength he needed to survive his trials—just so he could live the same stretch of time as her, even if she was committed to another during that time.

Whereas I had a choice in whom I could marry, something rare when born into a royal line, Marissa had no such choice. Marissa’s parents had not been kind like my own; hers choosing tradition and lineage over their daughter’s heart and happiness.