Bastian was king. Every guard answered to him now—he would be safe. Especially if Volney was at his side. But there was someone else counting on me now. Someone with hair the color of honey and a smile brighter than any sun. I smiled to myself as snippets of our future rose from the dust.
Epilogue
Two Years Later
The sound of Faramond’s face breaking against stone echoed through the room. His laugh accompanied it. An evil fucking sound that sent chills down my spine. I slammed his head down harder. Felt the hot blood splash against my face. Heard Bastian telling me to stop.
But I couldn’t stop. Faramond needed to die for everyone’s sake. And I deserved to kill the bastard. Crack crack crack. Like broken glass under a boot. Harder. Faster. I howled my rage, fed it to the stone floor—
“Saer.”
I paused. Listened. My hands still clutching Faramond’s head.
“Saer.” Gentle hands shook my shoulders. “Wake up.”
I lurched up with a gasp. Anais sat back on her heels, long hair mussed with sleep. Morning light seeped into our little home and the lazy bleat of sheep filtered inside. A dream. The same dream I’d had every night since I left Bastian in the tower. Left Faramond alive. Those two things had haunted me ever since.
Anais was the only reason I hadn’t perished at the Summer Palace. After returning for her, I slept for days. Then, when I woke, it was only because I needed to take care of her that I dragged myself from bed. For her that I made the long journey south, built a home, and bought a field to farm. Without her, I had nothing and no one.
“I’m sorry,” I muttered, shaking off the last remnants of the dream.
She brushed the hair from my face. “Are you okay?”
I forced a small smile for her sake and hid my shaking hands beneath the blanket. “I’d be better if you kissed me.”
“Oh?” She lifted the hem of her white nightdress in order to creep closer. “If I kissed you here?” She placed her lips on my cheek. “Or here?” My neck. “Or…” Her fingers trailed down my bare chest, over the scars there.
Goosebumps rose beneath her touch. Even after all this time, she calmed me and made my pulse race all at once. “Perhaps a little lower,” I proposed, raising a brow suggestively.
A loud bang on the door interrupted the serene morning. “Open up!”
I leapt out of bed, shoving Anais behind me where she still knelt on the bed. None of our neighbors would act like this—not even the authorities. Though Anais and I had mostly kept to ourselves, we’d been friendly with the entire town.
“Who’s there?” I yelled.
“I bring a message from the king,” the man boomed.
The king? My heart slammed into my chest. Something was wrong—it had to be. Why else would Bastian send a messenger after all this time? I pulled the dagger from beneath my pillow and pushed it into Anais’ hand, just in case it was a lie.
When I cracked the door open, a man in a deep blue uniform stood on the stoop. Bastian’s colors. Bastian’s messenger. I didn’t dare think on what the message could be, didn’t dare hope…
“Lord Saer Tufaro, you’ve been summoned to Ora Et immediately along with Lady Anais.”
“Let me get dressed.” I slammed the door in his face and turned to Anais. To our humble, one-room home. The kitchen where Anais cooked our meals, the fireplace that had warmed us in the winter, and the bed where we made love many, many times. A sudden wave of fear washed over me as I realized we were at risk of losing it all. If Bastian had changed his mind about pardoning us… no. He wouldn’t. Would he?
“I’m not a lady,” Anais said, eyes narrowed. “Do you believe him? What if it’s a trick to get us to return?”
My dreams weren’t the only ones haunted. While mine was always the same, hers were always different with one thing in common: both of us being caught by the crown. It didn’t matter how much I assured her that we were safe, that Bastian wouldn’t have let us go just to change his mind all this time later, she clung to the idea.
“Trust me.” Just like I had to trust Bastian. I took her face gently between my hands and kissed her.
✽✽✽
The palace was larger than I remembered. When the carriage passed through the outer palace wall, I took note of the second layer of stone and higher parapets. Every building we passed had work done to it—lighter bricks against darker, a new center fountain, fresh gravel on the pathways. I gave up a small prayer that we didn’t have to pass the Prince’s Palace on the way to the Main Palace. Seeing it again would make me feel too many things.
Once we stopped outside the Main Palace gates, I gave Anais’ hand a squeeze. My nerves were frayed over the idea of returning, but now that we arrived, I was barely holding onto my sanity. And to see Bastian again, to enter his court, dressed as we were…
Anais wore a brown linen dress with soft pink buttons down the bodice while I wore black pants and a deep red tunic. Nothing at all suitable to meet royalty. I hoped it would be a private meeting because we wouldn’t gain any respect from the court like this. If that was even his intention.
One of the servants opened the carriage door and bowed while we exited. The sun was too warm on my face, the scent of roses from newly planted bushes overwhelming. I took a shaky breath anyway and Anais offered me an encouraging smile even though this was her worst nightmare. Not mine.
“It’ll be fine,” I whispered to her.
Volney waited at the entrance, arms crossed, when we followed the servant through the courtyard. “Took you long enough to get here.”
My eyes flicked to the silver wing on his chest. “Lord Wing,” I murmured in greeting.
He snorted. “Follow me.”
I held tight to Anais’ hand as we entered the golden entryway and headed straight into the throne room. Blue banners hung along the wall now, showcasing Bastian’s color, and on either side of the matching aisle carpet were dozens of nobles. The room was utterly silent except for the soft tinkle of gemstones on the women. But none of the décor or the gawking people mattered.
Bastian rose from his throne at the other end of the room. His auburn hair was braided around a larger crown than he wore as prince but otherwise, he looked exactly the same in white clothes with gold embroidery. Anais and I walked toward him slowly, my eyes darting around the room in an unconscious search for danger. No one moved. Not the guards, not the nobles. When Volney strode past us, I startled, and he shot me a look from the corner of his eyes.
“Lord Tufaro and Lady Anais,” he said, unnecessarily, to Bastian.
We made it to the foot of his dais and gave low bows. My heart thundered as I waited for Bastian to speak. I wanted to embrace him, to tell him about our farm and ask him about everything he’d accomplished in the last two years. He’d already brought Ora Et out of poverty by temporarily eliminating most of the taxes, and there was an influx of foreign traders seeking to do business with Eradrist now. He was doing good things, just like he’d always wanted.
“Get up,” he said in a soft voice, right before grabbing my upper arms and pulling me into a fierce hug.
I stood in shock for a moment before returning it with equal force. “This doesn’t appear very kingly,” I joked, fully aware of the nobles behind us.
“Like I give a shit.” He pulled back and cast a glare at the governors sitting along the side wall, almost daring them to speak.
“You look the same,” I told him.
He looked me up and down. “You look different. A bit of color in your wardrobe does you justice.”
I laughed as relief flooded through me. He wasn’t angry with me—at least not as angry as before—and he hadn’t changed his mind. Then, did that mean… “It’s good to see you,” I said, sobering.
“There’s time for all that later.” His eyes slid to Anais and he bowed slightly. “My lady.”
“Your Majesty,” she whispered.
Bastian stepped back to his throne and cleared his throat. “Voln
ey, if you please.”
Volney unrolled a scroll and shot me a bored look. “By order of his Royal Majesty, King Bastian the First, Lord Saer Tufaro and Lady Anais are pardoned for their crimes of treason against the crown.”
Anais shuttered beside me and I took her hand again.
“Furthermore, Lord Saer Tufaro is to be immediately reinstated as a Wing to His Royal Highness.”
I sucked in a breath, my lungs feeling too full. Wing. Did I want to return to the palace? Anais and I had carved out a peaceful life for ourselves. We’d been safe. Besides, it was too high of an honor and I’d been too long out of practice. Bastian told me in the tower that he would bring me back, but I never imagined like this.
Anais leaned into my side and I felt her trembling. Shit. If I became a Wing again, I would have to let her go. Absolutely fucking not. “Your Majesty, I—”
Bastian held up a hand to silence me.
Volney rolled the scroll back up and pulled a second one from inside his jacket. He took his time, seeming to revel in the suspense. “By order of his Royal Majesty, King Bastian the First, from this day forth, all royal Wings will be allowed to take a wife.” He flipped the page over to show how long the new law was. “And so forth.”
My head spun as I looked at Bastian. This seemed impossible. I knew he’d been changing things. Making new laws, tweaking old ones, but this didn’t serve Eradrist. It only served Volney and… and me. He must’ve fought the governors tooth and nail for them to accept a law like this.
I glanced down at Anais who searched my face, trying to read my reaction there. Whatever she saw, her face lit up. “You’re a Wing again.”
“Not if you want to go home,” I vowed quietly so only she could hear.
“You are my home. Not a place. Besides, you’ve missed him for too long already.”
I dragged in a rough breath. “And you can see your family if we live here.”
“Something tells me that we won’t have to wait long for the wedding,” Bastian said with a grin. He stepped forward and clasped my shoulder. “Your uniform is waiting in your rooms.”
“I…” I cleared the lump from my throat. “I don’t know what to say.”
“Then say nothing.” He embraced me again, this time with more restraint. “Welcome home,
brother.”
Books By This Author
Lion (Faeries of Oz, prequel novella)
A villain prequel novella
Tin (Faeries of Oz, 1)
Heartless fae assissin, Tin, brings Dorothy back to Oz. (Friends-to-enemies-to-lovers)
Crow (Faeries of Oz, 2)
Crow and the Wicked Witch seek their revenge (Lovers-to-enemies, second-chance romance)
Ozma (Faeries of Oz, 3)
Ozma, true queen of Oz, and Jack must defeat the Wizard to reclaim her throne (Secret identity, second-chance romance)
Tik-Tok (Faeries of Oz, 4)
Tik-Tok and North travel the seas to open a portal to another world. (Enemies-to-lovers)
Rav (Vampires of Wonderland, prequel novella)
A villian prequel novella
Maddie (Vampires of Wonderland, 1)
Noah, Alice's brother, must brave Wonderland for a cure to vampirism. (A stuck-together romance.)
Dream Keeper (Dark Dreamer, 1)
The Sandman and Nora must work together to stop the Nightmare Lord. (Young Adult)
Dark Consort (Dark Dreamer, 2)
Night Warden (Dark Dreamer, 3)
The Last Goodbye (Forgotten Gods, novelette)
Fragile Chaos (Forgotten Gods, 1)
A god of war seeking restoration. An unwilling sacrificial bride. Betrayal that could destroy them both. (Young Adult)
When Stars Are Bright
A Thumbelina retelling set in 1930 vaudeville. (Young Adult)
Darkness Whispered
Acknowledgements
2020 was a year. Then, the weekend before Thanksgiving, my apartment building caught fire. It started on the first floor and quickly engulfed the entire stairwell. (We were on the top/third floor.) Thankfully, everyone got out okay! But we lost everything we owned. The bright side of things? Our faith in humanity was restored. The number of people and the sheer size of their generosity left me, and my entire family, in awe. So many things arrived at our new apartment without a note letting us know who sent it so, if you sent something and I didn’t reach out, please know we appreciate you! This book is for all of you wonderful people who gave me, my husband, and our kids our lives back!
2021 has been a bit of a roller coaster too. Between moving from Mississippi to Massachusetts six months after the fire, our household delivery taking almost seven weeks to arrive, and starting a full-time temp job, I’ve been a bit scatterbrained. Thank you to everyone who has put up with me and kept me sane while I try to settle in!
All my love to my family, Lindsay, Candace, Loretta, the Saltmates, Elle, Amber, Donna, KM, Jessica, Angela, and Melissa.
Finally, thank you for reading!
About The Author
Amber R. Duell
Amber R. Duell was born and raised in a small town in Central New York. While it will always be home, she’s constantly moving as a military wife where the next step is always an adventure. When Amber isn’t writing, she’s wrangling her two young sons. She is a lover of history, a fan of snowboarding, and a travel enthusiast. In her downtime, she can be found curling up with a good book and a cat or two.
FOR MORE, VISIT:
WWW.AMBERRDUELL.COM
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