by Lexi Blake
I closed my eyes and let my heart be filled again.
* * * *
Zoey
I saw Daniel running and then the ax split his back in two and I felt my whole world shudder and threaten to crack. I screamed and tried to get to him. He couldn’t survive that. Even from where I stood, I could see the blood begin to flow, to leave his body and sink into the dirt around him.
He couldn’t die this way. We couldn’t end this way. I had to get to him, to put my arms around him.
Marcus. Marcus could save him. Marcus could give him blood and then Daniel would be fine.
I turned in time to see the witch throw Marcus back with the force of her magic. My dear friend was knocked back on the branch of a tree that pierced his heart.
He turned to ash before my eyes, and I realized all was lost.
I felt a rough hand grab me by the elbow, preventing me from getting to Daniel. I whirled on him to hit him with all my might, but that mountain didn’t move.
Dev. I saw my faery prince with a knife to his neck, a thin line of blood already welling.
I would lose them both and my daughter. The Taggarts were fighting, but they were going to lose.
Summer stood in the middle of it all, completely still. Two guards had her by the wrists, but she didn’t move, and there was a blankness to her eyes that frightened me. The general was arguing with the witch, and I heard him call out that they should kill us all and be done with it.
Summer’s eyes cleared and an unearthly light illuminated the air around her. My daughter, who seemed to almost hunch in on herself most of the time, stood tall, and her voice was firm when she spoke. “Let me go.”
The guards dropped their hold.
The general stared at them. “I told you to take her into custody.”
Both guards began to reach for her again.
Summer snapped her fingers and suddenly there were two stones in her hands. “You may go.”
I heard a roar and was suddenly free, and the man who’d held me had a clawed hand around his throat.
I looked up and saw the most beautiful sight I’d ever seen. Daniel had the man dangling from his grip. His eyes had bled to that deep blue he got when the vampire part of him was fully in charge. And those fangs of his were out.
The king was back and he was angry.
“I would let my partner go or you’ll feel my wrath,” Daniel said, his eyes on Devinshea.
Kelsey ran up to me, her eyes wide. “He turned. He must have died and turned. It happened so fast.”
Summer smiled at her father, an oddly serene expression given we were surrounded by death. “No. He didn’t have to die. My father was freed when I was. He is who he always has been, who he was born to be.”
Erna seemed to realize something was going wrong. She held a hand up toward Dean, threatening him with that dark magic of hers. “Put that charm back on, girl, or I’ll kill your little playmate.”
The man holding Dev let him go, and Daniel tossed aside his captive. I found myself surrounded by them. Dev pulled me into his arms as Daniel stood between us and everything else.
“Should I take care of this army, daughter, or would you like to do the honors? I can certainly kill the witch,” Daniel said.
Dean held up a hand. “I would very much like to not be magically killed.”
Summer sighed and looked to the woman who’d been her mentor for years. “She’s not going to kill you. Certainly not with her magic. It’s sad to be born without the things others have, to be left behind by your own sisters. That’s why you did it, why you decided to become the hag I see inside you. She’s twisted and warped, but she feels strong to you. She feels like no one could hurt her. No one can touch her either.”
Dev took a step back as Erna’s face became twisted, aging in a heartbeat to something sallow and wrinkled, her eyes sinking back into her head.
“Whoa.” Dean moved behind Summer.
“I don’t care what this witch says, Summer of the Gent…” the general began, puffing out his chest.
Summer silenced him with a wave of her hand. “You are insignificant to my story. Hush. You are like so many men who believe they are entitled to whatever they want. You are not my king and you never have been, but know my mate and I will keep the planes safe. I give you the gift of new life.”
There was a whisper of wind and then we were standing in a sea of flowers in bloom. They reached out as far as my eye could see, a wild tangle of colorful life. It filled the fields where a moment before there had been an army.
“Did she turn everyone into flowers?” Taggart asked, watching my daughter warily.
“She let them begin again,” Charlotte replied with pure reverence in her eyes. “She is the Day Queen. We’re going to be okay.”
“She is nothing,” Erna seethed.
Summer stepped in front of the hag, and I thought that was probably a bad idea. I moved to try to protect my baby, but Daniel stopped me.
“She needs to do this,” Danny whispered in my ear. “She needs to stand up to the woman who tormented her for years and decide who she’s going to be.”
His hand found mine and we stood watching as our daughter freed herself from years of pain.
“I’m sorry you couldn’t see another path,” Summer said. “I do understand pain and loss, but it’s how we handle them that forms our souls.”
“I don’t care about my soul, you dumb bitch,” Erna sneered. “I care about revenge. I will return to Arete and destroy everyone who harmed me. I will be their queen.”
“I cannot convince you to change your mind?” Summer asked the question quietly.
Erna’s talons began to reach for her throat.
Summer waved a hand and Erna shrank before my eyes. Summer leaned over and picked something up off the ground. It looked like a seed.
“The others will have their brief time as flowers and then move on to the next life, but she needs some time to think,” Summer explained as she set the seed on the ground again, covering it with dirt. “A hundred years as a tree should help her along.”
“Hey, can you do Tag next?” Adam asked, pure relief on his handsome face.
“If she turns me into a plant, it better be poison ivy, and I’m getting all up in your junk, asshole,” Tag said and then seemed to sober. “Summer, I’m sorry about Marcus. He was a good male.”
Summer was already moving toward the tree where we’d lost our dear friend.
“Please tell me she can bring him back.” I walked with Daniel, Dev coming to my other side to take my hand.
“I think our daughter can do anything she likes,” Danny said with a satisfied smile.
Summer stood over the ground and placed a hand toward the grass. “I’m not done with you yet, vampire. Come back to me.”
Kelsey and Dean were with us, and Kelsey gasped as the ash rose from the ground and formed a male once more. Marcus stood there but he was dressed differently. Gone was the black bodysuit we’d all been wearing and in its place was a three-piece suit, like the ones he always wore around Council headquarters. His lips tugged up and I caught a hint of fang as he stared at my daughter.
“Thank you, bella,” he said, holding out a hand. “That was disconcerting to say the least. I prefer to not experience that again.”
Summer put her hand in his and tilted her chin up. They were perfect opposites. Night and day, but the love between them was so easy to see. “Never again.” She went on her toes to kiss him. “But we have one more job to do. Will you come with me to the Summerlands?”
“I would go with you anywhere,” Marcus vowed. “I am yours forever.”
She turned back to us, her hand in his, and they were a united front. “How about it, Momma? You want to take a trip to see where I’m going to live for the next couple of millennia before you head home?”
My heart seized. Not at the idea of seeing the Summerlands, but of what was unsaid. “You’re not coming with us, are you?”
“I can
’t. Now that I am unbound, I can feel how much the worlds need me. She is fading,” Summer explained. “That first day, the day I thought I lost my tribe, that was the first time she tried to contact me. Erna realized she could use it to trap me. She’d spent months preparing me, getting into my head and my dreams and tearing at my soul. The first convergence took my tribe to the Summerlands, but it can’t take me unless I wish it. I was afraid that day, and Erna twisted the truth. She burned my village and told me I had done it, that I had killed them all. I believed her. They’re waiting in the Summerlands for me. They’re waiting for me to come home and take my place.”
My baby had a job to do. “Will we be able to get back?”
Summer nodded. “Yes, and you’ll have to do it soon.” She turned to our mercenary friends. “Ian, Charlotte, Adam, I cannot thank you enough. Please extend my best wishes to the Dellacourts and my apologies to the Seelie kings. I won’t be able to meet them, but the convergences will cease. Tell everyone there will be a transitional period when the doors to the other planes won’t open and close in regular time and might not lead to the same places. You all need to be ready for a period of adjustment.”
“We’re going to have to stay in one place for a while. Gotcha.” Taggart slung an arm around his wife’s shoulders. “I’m sure my Charlie can fill the time by telling me she told me so.”
Charlotte grinned. “I totally can do that. I’m writing a whole book about this. It was a wonderful adventure. And we got to meet a real live goddess. And I’m probably pregnant. I’m kind of hoping for twins.”
“As long as they’re boys.” Taggart kissed his wife’s hair. “Come on, Adam. We’ve got some witches to get through before we can go home.”
“I think you’ll find they are no longer concerned with me,” Summer announced. “I’ve sent them back to Arete where they will trouble us no more.”
“Did you turn them into seeds, too?” Adam asked.
“No, I merely explained to the lead witch who I am and what I’ve done,” Summer replied matter of factly. “She agrees that her plane has no issues with me.”
Adam stared for a moment as though more should be forthcoming. “But you didn’t leave…this is a goddess thing, right?”
“Turns out one of my powers is to speak through beings with psychic abilities. Some might call it speaking in tongues, but I’m good at it so none of that babbling nonsense. It’s how I’ll be able to contact my parents when I’m in the Summerlands.” She looked up at Marcus. “Come, my love, and let’s see our kingdom.”
Kelsey had tears in her eyes as she held up her hand. “I can’t go. I’m sorry. I’m going to have to find my own way back, but I can’t leave that book. Gray made me promise I wouldn’t leave it behind. It’s necessary.”
“I’ll come with you,” Dean vowed. “We’ll find it together.”
“Or it’s sitting in that pack out amid the wildflowers.” Summer pointed to the swath of flowers. “Erna didn’t leave it behind. Likely she couldn’t have since the book knows where it wants to be. Papa, if you would do the honors.”
Dev reached out a hand and the flowers seemed to swell, a wave that brought Kelsey what she wanted. She sighed in relief when that bag was in her hand. She could come home with us and take back her life.
“Summer, our little queen would like to know if she is welcome.” Dev held out his hand and Arwyna was sitting there.
Summer smiled brilliantly. “Oh, yes. I’ve missed my pixie friends. Come. Let us see home again.”
“Again?” Danny asked.
She nodded. “The place we go to is a piece of Heaven. It’s as close to where we all come from as we’ll get in this life.”
I had actually been to the Heaven plane. It looked a lot like my penthouse. I didn’t mention that, though. It seemed like a momentous occasion, and my sarcasm is not always welcome at those.
“How exactly are we getting to this place?” Dean asked.
Summer held out a hand and a door appeared. “Turns out that the void was actually a door to the Summerlands. They’ve been trying to get me to come through it for a while now. Because my magic had been warped, it showed up as a never-ending void threatening to drag us all into nothingness.” She wrinkled her nose my way. “I know I need therapy, Momma.”
I laughed because I rather thought her therapy from now on would come from Marcus.
Summer held Marcus’s hand as the door opened in front of them, pure sunlight and soft winds coming through. I smelled the sweet scent of milk and honey waft in. She turned back to our friends one last time. “I wish blessings on you all.”
She walked through the door, her head held high—a queen returning to her kingdom, her king by her side.
“Let’s go guys,” Charlotte said. “We need to get home before she takes over. We don’t know when the planes will go wonky.”
Adam nodded. “Yeah, well, after all this I’ve decided I’m letting you set me up. Charlotte knows best. If she thinks I should be in a weird threesome, I’m there.”
Danny tugged on my hand. “Come on, baby. One last adventure before we go home.”
Dev followed eagerly. “Yeah, because when we get home, we’ve got some trash to take out.”
We had a problem to handle, but we would be together, and we could handle anything together.
We walked through the door and into paradise.
Chapter Thirty-Three
Summer
We walked through the door and into the Summerlands, Marcus’s hand warm in mine. We found ourselves in a field before a magnificent white palace. To our left I could see mountains, and I heard the sound of the sea in the distance.
Still, I was recovering from what had happened. That moment when I’d watched him die had been the single worst of my life. I’d felt half my heart shrivel and die, and only my father’s love had allowed it to become whole again.
“Don’t, bella.” Marcus brought my hand up to his heart. “It’s over and we made it through. Everything that has happened in the last few days are merely stones in the foundation we will build our life together on.”
He’d already forgiven me for not acting sooner, for letting myself be mired in guilt and self-loathing. I didn’t even have to ask. “I won’t fall back into those habits again.”
“I won’t allow you to,” he promised. “I intend to let you know every moment of the day and night how loved you are. I’ll start now. You are my beautiful love and you fill my heart and soul. I am happy to be here with you. I can feel your energy here and it soothes me. This place feels like home.”
A tear slipped from my eyes because he was right. This place felt like something I’d been waiting for all my life—peace. I belonged here. I understood things better here.
I understood that I was unique in all the universe, that the forces that shaped me made me an individual and also a part of creation’s whole. Everyone is. It’s not merely the superheroes of the world who have value. We are all unique and yet all connected, a vast network of life and emotion and learning. We are all learning, growing, angry, hopeful, sad, passionate, joyous.
I could hear the hum of the universe.
I stood in front of this beautiful white palace, gleaming in the light of the afternoon sun. But something was wrong. The grass wasn’t green. It was patchy and fading, like the ground was sick. There should be a full grove of healthy trees, not the wan, sad-looking ones I saw here.
I looked back to where my Fae father stood. “Papa?”
He shook his head. “Look at the ground beneath you, daughter. You don’t need me for this task. You simply need to let the land know you’re here.”
I bent down and touched the dirt, a warmth filling me, and the grass came to life. A vibrant carpet of green filled the space and the trees that seemed to be dying grew new leaves and breathed again.
The wind picked up, stirring around Marcus and me as though welcoming us.
The palace that had seemed to glow was now radiant, the marble spar
kling in the sunlight’s caress.
I watched as a woman ran from behind the palace doors, her familiar face breaking through years of doubt.
Haweigh put a hand to her mouth as though to bite back a cry, and tears poured from her eyes as she raced down the stairs. She threw her arms around me and pulled me into her embrace. I had seen this woman be stalwart in the face of every sort of tragedy. She was a leader.
But now she was a mother.
I had been gifted with two amazing mothers, two wonderful fathers. I hugged her and silently thanked the universe, was grateful where I had been dissatisfied and self-absorbed.
“I had given up hope.” Haweigh pulled back and looked me over. “When that terrible barbarian came through, I thought all was lost.”
“That was my bad.” Kelsey held up a hand.
“I’m sorry. I didn’t understand what was happening,” I admitted.
Haweigh’s lips formed a hard line. “It was the witch’s fault. No. It was mine for letting her trick me.”
“And if it hadn’t happened, I wouldn’t have been waiting for my love,” I pointed out.
She took a breath and when she let it out, she seemed to let her anger go. “You are right. All things are as they must be.” She looked to my parents. “I should have known I would see you again. I have word that you have changed much since our last meeting. You are welcome to the Summerlands, Your Highnesses. And Marcus Vorenus, you are most welcome, my king. I have no doubt you will rule these lands with a patient hand and a loving heart.”
For the first time Marcus seemed a bit disconcerted. “I am merely my queen’s consort.”
Haweigh shook her head. “No. You are her balance. You are night to her day. King Marcus, as Summer was created to perform a necessary job, so were you. You are age and wisdom to her youth and enthusiasm. You have watched mighty empires rise and fall. You have seen the whole of humanity, the good and bad, and never did you give in to despair. Have you ever asked yourself why you were so capable of patience and kindness? You learned to survive loss, pain, to sacrifice when you were called to. Marcus Vorenus, as we have waited for Summer, so we have waited for you to finish your long journey home.”
