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He walked past his friends and made a joke about how atrocious the hospital attire was. But she thought he looked great, even in the bland beige linen shirt and trousers.

Despite his protests, Obryn directed the healers to keep him overnight.

“This is really not necessary,” Aidric said.

Obryn pointed at the bed next to Mira’s. “I insist that it is.”

Aidric huffed an angry breath but complied. Healers rushed around him, applying salves and potions. Although his Shadowflame had darkened since they arrived at Ivercrest, it was still a softer gray.

The fight against Rakkley had been an immense drain on her power, but as she looked into Aidric’s eyes, she was at peace.

—

When the healers and their friends were long gone and it was just her and Aidric left in Ivercrest’s infirmary, she stood and walked over to his bed. He lifted his blanket and she slipped under the covers, hugging his body and resting her head on his chest. His skin was warm again.

She closed her eyes and searched for Synth within her. But it wasn’t there. Instead, she felt only her own magic, no longer fighting something dangerous in her body but rather humming in gentle beats.

“How did you find me at Rakkley’s?”

He brushed his hand through her hair. “I coin traveled from the nearest magic gate.”

“Yes, but how did you know where I was?”

When he still didn’t answer, she looked up at him.

His finger wrapped around one of her curls. “I coin traveled…home.”

The word sang through her. She held her breath and stared into his eyes.

“Your researcher friend told me about it,” Aidric explained. “I was beside myself when you disappeared. I went back to Ivercrest, screaming at Tinley and the useless council defenders. That’s when Rylan talked to me. He said something about taking a mind-altering potion and it would bring me to you. I thought he was insane but then he told me about the time…”

He trailed off. Tears welled in her eyes as she finished his sentence. “…the time I coin traveled home and it brought me to you.”

He gave a soft nod. “So I flipped the coin.” His eyes roamed her face as if it was the first time he’d seen it. “And then I thought of home.”

She nestled her head against his chest again and felt her happy tears seep through his shirt. He kissed the top of her head and wrapped his arms around her.

For the first time in years, she wasn’t afraid to close her eyes and fall asleep. She wasn’t scared of nightmares. Her dreams were hers again. Her life was hers again. And she had him.

When they were released from the infirmary, they went to Aidric’s estate and spent the next week holed up inside.

There was a sense of freedom. Of new beginnings. A sense of an after. After the war. After the wounds. She still had her scar, but it no longer carried the same weight. The nightmares were gone. Rakkley was dead. Synth was forever destroyed.

Eventually, she would finish her research into removing the scar completely, but that could wait. For now, she wanted to just enjoy life without the constant heaviness surrounding it.

Although Aidric still suffered some residual pain from the incantation, he said he barely noticed it anymore.

She and Aidric couldn’t get enough of each other. He made even sex competitive, determined to do it in every room and on every surface in the house. He bent her over the table in the entryway, took her up against the wall in the hallway, interrupted her cooking breakfast by lifting her onto the kitchen counter and going down on her, pulling her on top of him on the couch, and recreating their first night together in the estate’s library.

When they weren’t tearing off each other’s clothes, they talked for hours. She wanted to know everything about him, from little things like his favorite breakfast food to deeper conversations they had about his past. He wanted to know about her parents, her time before the war, and her life in Yharvan.

The world outside went on without them, and that was fine with Mira because all that mattered to her was inside the estate. But after the first week, she had to go to Ivercrest and pick up some of her clothes, and he took it as an opportunity to check in with Obryn. Mira had avoided any news from the council, but Obryn kept Aidric abreast of the situation. The deaths of the defenders were deemed to be the fault of Feeders and Wielders. Tinley, according to the testimony of Mira and her friends, was killed by Rakkley.

Obryn used his influence to convince the majority of the Wielder faction in the council to vote for a staunch opponent of both Corvin and Tinley as new Primemage.

At Ivercrest, Mira caught up with Ella and Oliver. He had moved up in the council, but he seemed sheepish about telling her.

“I think it’s great,” Mira encouraged. “The council needs good people like you. Hopefully, it can become a better place moving forward.”