by Anna Edwards
Sebastian appears before us as well, the light of the Eternals surrounding him. He smiles at me, and as a group, we prowl towards where Michael now holds Juniper hostage. The high priestess has fallen to her knees and prays for absolution for her crimes in trying to marry those not destined for each other.
“Foolish, man. You shouldn’t trust the King, Michael.” Juniper’s eyes turn as black as the night, and she shakes her head at the King’s antics. Michael lets go of her like he’s been electrified by the pure magic radiating off her. He looks down at his hands as they start to age, the skin wrinkling and drying all over his body until he looks as though he must be in his eighties at least.
“What are you doing?” The King jumps forwards, letting off energy bolt after bolt at Juniper. None get even remotely near her. Instead, they disintegrate to dust as they come into contact with the protecting spell she has surrounding her. The true magic of a Queen.
“I’m showing his true form.” She says, turning towards Taya.
A twisting magic expels from Juniper's hand and chases after my ex-girlfriend as she tries to run for her life. She doesn’t get far, though. It captures Taya around the ankle and circles its way up her leg, binding her, just like her magic did to me earlier. As it moves, it reveals Taya’s true form, a withered hag, a banshee. A woman who squeals for the death of a family member.
I’m moved to walk closer to the now old and incapacitated woman. I place my hand on her forehead, and her memories slam into me. The distress, the pain, and anguish. The need to be loved, but only being hated. The desire to scream out her pain. She watched as King Ambrose killed her and Michael’s mother. Michael helped their father, but Taya was only young, barely out of nappies. She saw and remembered the whole thing that day. She changed instantly as she bemoaned her mother’s death. Her father couldn’t have her spoiling his plans so he transformed her to the Taya who attended Caspian. She’s a broken woman.
“Stop,” I turn and order Juniper.
She cocks her head, and I know she’s reading my thoughts. Her eyes go wide and she withdraws her spell from Taya. I kneel down beside the stricken banshee. She opens her mouth to cry, but I press my hand against her forehead and allow my magic to sink deep within her. I don’t make the decision, I’m merely a vessel for the Superiors. They need to decide this time and I let them. I let them choose Taya’s fate, life or death. Eventually, her withered hag appearance fades, her magic disappears, and I feel the human woman she’s become.
“Sleep,” I whisper, and she falls into a deep slumber. I get to my feet and order Lucas to watch her.
“It’s time to end this,” Juniper announces. She stands over Michael, whose age is almost beyond recognition now.
He lives.
The voice of the Superiors echo in my head, and I shut my eyes. Michael disappears from the room. I don’t know where he’s gone, but I know the Superiors aren’t finished with him yet. There’s more to his story. King Ambrose is a different matter, though. The Superiors predict death for him.
The magical chants filling the room grow louder and louder. I allow them to sink into everything I am as I join Juniper. I take her hand, and an explosion illuminates the room; a massive flash of light, signifying the true union taking place today. The reunification of pure magic.
King Ambrose falls to his feet, a snivelling wreck now pleading for his life.
“Was it worth it?” Juniper questions her adoptive father. “The power, and the fear you put into the people with your magic? Was it really so important for you to become King that you were willing to betray the man who’d trusted you the most?”
“Your father would never have been a good King. I did it for our people,” King Ambrose pleads.
“No, you didn’t, you did it for yourself. Everything was designed to get to this point, so you could become the most powerful creature on the Earth. But you failed, and you’ll be nothing from now on.” I watch as Juniper touches the new ruby necklace she’s wearing. “They were my parents, and they suffered because of your thirst for power. But I’ll not allow their deaths to be in vain. I’ll make sure the entire magical community knows just who you are. Your legacy will be one of selfishness and destruction. The worst King ever.”
“Followed by the best Queen,” I add.
Juniper smirks at me. “That’s going to take a bit of getting used to, but from this day forth, that’s what I’ll be. King Ambrose, I relieve you of your duties. The Superiors will decide your fate.” Juniper steps forward and rips the crown from her adoptive father’s head. She hands it to me, and I place it upon her head, crowning her.
The room falls silent.
The chanting of the magical community stops as everyone realises the shift in power.
The true hereditary magic is back in control and bound with the love of her Guardian.
I take Juniper’s hand and we both turn away from the deposed King Ambrose to make our way to the throne of the magical realm.
“Watch out,” Emmie screams from behind us, and we both spin around to face the former King.
He swirls a ball of dark magic, a stronger force than we both know and directs it towards us. We both move, but as her protector I jump in front of Juniper, spreading my wings and pushing the magical ball back into her father. His eyes widen as the dark magic captures him in its spell. The tendrils of bleakness claw into his body, dragging him down beneath the floor and into the underworld, Tartus. The place no witch wants to end up. There’s no way back. It is true death.
Juniper grabs my hand and squeezes it tight.
“What have we done?”
I pull her close to me. “He’s gone. It’s over.”
I try to make sense of what just happened
“It’s over.” Juniper looks up at me, her eyes back to normal and full of love for me. “We survived.”
I nod before lowering myself down onto one knee and bowing my head. “Better than that, we won, Queen Juniper.”
Emmie, James, Sebastian, Lucas, and Juniper’s mother all fall to their knees and bow their heads. I feel the rest of the magical community do the same.
It’s only then I feel Rose at my side. She pulls me to my feet and positions me next to Juniper before taking her own knee.
“And King Jacobi.”
The cry goes up around the magical community.
“Long live Queen Juniper and King Jacobi.”
It turns out royalty knows how to host a party.
Jacobi and I have had our official crowning ceremony. It was a dual purpose event. A King and Queen crowned, and a husband and wife tied in matrimony.
Are we young? Yes.
Do we care? No.
Were we destined? Absolutely.
I didn’t want to take my adoptive father’s name, and I didn’t want to take my long deceased parents’ name. Instead, I took my husband’s name, and we became King and Queen Ashdown.
Now it’s time to party.
I watch the many people dancing and singing, revelling in the joy and happiness surrounding us. My mind wanders to Taya. There’s something so tragic about how she’s spent her life, and the way she behaved because Ambrose had her in his clutches and under his spell. We’ve placed her in an infirmary, and I’m hoping she’ll get the help she needs and be able to reintegrate into our magical society. I’m not sure I’ll ever be able to have her within my inner circle, but I do believe in second chances, especially when her first one was ruined by someone other than herself.
“Hey, do you want to dance?” My new husband, King Ashdown, offers and I smile, sliding my hand into his. “Are you happy?” Jacobi asks me, looking down at me. I tilt my head back, and he kisses me, gently at first and then deeper, sharing his love with me as though we’re the only ones in the room.
“More than happy,” I answer when we finally part lips.
I look around the room and notice my mum and Rose talking quietly. There’s a shroud of sadness over my mother, but I don’t think it’s because she lov
ed Ambrose, I think it’s because she believes she failed me.
“What did you say to your parents?” I ask Jacobi as he spins me around the room like I don’t have two left feet.
“I told them to move away,” he replies as though it means nothing to him.
“What? Why?” I ask, pulling us both to a stop. People notice but say nothing. I guess it’s the privilege of royalty to stand perfectly still in the middle of a dance floor.
“Because she chose him, even after all my father had done, my mother chose him.” He shakes his head and lifts me off the ground like I weigh no more than a feather, and we dance again…well, I fly. “I offered to let her stay in my life as the mother of the King, but I told her she’d have to do that without him.” He shrugs. “She still wanted to be with him, even at the expense of losing me. So they’re gone, for good.” We glide over to the side of the hall and Jacobi sits in his throne, seating me in his lap. Tonight, it seems, we’re forgoing all formalities. “They’re not bad people, but my father doesn’t like to face his failures, and my mum feels guilty, so they’ll never come back here.” Cobi peppers kisses along my neck and behind my ear.
“There’s still a lot to sort out,” I tell him.
He nods as Lucas approaches and bows. “Your Majesties,” he murmurs softly.
“Oh, God. Please don’t do that,” I plead.
“He has to when in company,” Jacobi tells me. “But when we’re with our inner circle, they’ll use our names, and no one will address us as anything other than friend.”
Lucas rises, locking his gaze with both of us in turn, and then smirks.
“I wanted to ask what you want done with the followers.” His words cause a sharp stab of pain to slice through my chest.
“I don’t want anything done with them until we know who was placed under a spell and who wasn’t,” I answer.
“But only the two of you can determine that,” Lucas replies.
“Then it’s going to be a long month for the two of us.” My eyes move to Jacobi, and he nods his agreement. “Have you found Clara yet?” I ask.
Lucas shakes his head. “No, but I haven’t given up yet. You say she helped you?”
“She saved me,” I correct him.
“Tomorrow I’ll enlist the help of some of the royal guards and search for her again,” Lucas confirms.
We have placed Lucas in charge of the royal security and all the Kingdom soldiers. He has taken on the role with gusto.
“What about the sorcerer Ambrose was keeping against her will?” Emmie asks, stepping up next to Lucas as James moves with her. I feel a slight wind and Sebastian settles next to us. Jacobi looks up at him and smirks.
“Enjoying your angel powers, Sebastian?” Cobi chuckles, rubbing his hand up and down my legs which I’ve slung over his thighs.
“The flying is good, you know that, right, Guardian?” he teases.
It’s strange…contentment is strange. I’ve felt off kilter for so long, and I wasn’t sure if I’d ever feel balanced. I look at Jacobi as he jokes with our friends, our family, and I smile. This is what life should have always been like.
“The sorcerer?” Emmie urges.
“A girl, maybe a year younger than us. I don’t know who she is or where she came from, but she’s recouping. Ambrose took almost all her powers, and it will take some time for her to recover them,” I explain. “She is staying here, but she’s shy and fearful. It will take something special for her to feel safe again,” I tell them all, and curiously Sebastian disappears into thin air.
“Angels!” Emmie rolls her eyes, and we all laugh.
“I’m going to organise the search for Clara,” Lucas informs us.
“Wait,” I call after him, and he jerks to a stop. “Come here,” I urge him.
I feel the aggravation roll off Jacobi in waves as I place my hand on Lucas’s head. Turning towards my husband, I place a finger from my other hand over my lips, and he narrows his eyes but remains silent. I close my own eyes and think about Clara, how she looked, smelled, sounded, and I pass all the information into Lucas’s mind. Our eyes open at the same time, and he nods. A fierce determination comes over him, and something else, an emotion I can’t place.
“We’re going to dance again,” James tells us, grabbing Emmie’s hand and dragging her away.
“That sounds like a perfect idea,” I reply, turning to look at Jacobi who shakes his head.
He stands, lifting me in his arms and nuzzling his face into my neck.
“After all this time, all these years.” He shakes his head again. “There’ll always be the next threat, the next fight, but for right now, for this moment, I want to just be with my wife and enjoy everything that’s us for as long as we’re allowed.”
“I stand corrected. That sounds like a perfect idea.” I smile at him.
The love shines in his eyes, the power, the possession. My Guardian opens his wings and holds me in his arms as we fly. It doesn’t matter where to, because right now he’s got me, and I know he always will.
The End
About Anna Edwards
Anna Edwards is a British author from the depths of the rural countryside near London. When she has some spare time, she can also be found writing poetry, baking cakes (and eating them), or behind a camera snapping like a mad paparazzo. She’s an avid reader who turned to writing to combat her depression and anxiety. She has a love of traveling and likes to bring this to her stories to give them the air of reality. She likes her heroes hot and hunky with a dirty mouth, her heroines demure but with spunk, and her books full of dramatic suspense.
CONNECT WITH ANNA EDWARDS
www.AuthorAnnaEdwards.com
Newsletter: http://eepurl.com/cwxJ6v
Facebook, Friend: TheAuthorAnnaEdwards
Email: [email protected]
Also by Anna Edwards
The Control Series – A Contemporary Romantic Suspense Series set predominately in London
Surrendered Control
Divided Control
Misguided Control
Controlling Darkness
Controlling Heritage
Controlling Disgrace
Controlling Expectations
Controlling the Past
Dark Sovereignty – A Dark Romance set amongst the British Elite.
Legacy of Succession
Tainted Reasoning
A Father’s Insistence
Glacial Blood – Paranormal Romance in the Glacial National Park in Montana.
The Touch of Snow
Fighting the Lies
Fallen for Shame
Shattered Fears
Hidden Pain
Stolen Choices
A Deadly Affair
Power of a Myth - November 2020
Banishing Regrets - December 2020
Other works
Easy Rumba published by Lady Boss Press
Sing with Me published by Lady Boss Press
Happily Ever Crowned with Lexi C. Foss
Happily Ever Bitten with Lexi C. Foss
Beauty’s War - Gods Reborn with Claire Marta
Apollo’s Protection - Gods Reborn with Claire Marta
Oliver - Part of Blaire’s World
Redemption - Book Ten of the Cavalieri Della Morte
Cruel Angels with Dani René
See Anna Edwards’ website for more information: https://authorannaedwards.com
About Maria Macdonald
Maria is a full time working Mum, she has two beautiful daughters, both of whom love books as much as she does.
Maria has loved to write since she was a little girl.
Reading and loving books, as well as blogging, has inspired her to write and publish.
Maria, her husband and children now reside in Wiltshire, England.
CONNECT WITH MARIA MACDONALD
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Also by Maria Macdonald
Finally Unbroken - Finally Unbroken Series Book 1
What’s Left of Me - The Finally Unbroken Series Book 2
Chrysalis: The Emergence of Emery - The Gifted Series Book 1
Reverence: The Evolution of Emery – The Gifted Series Book 2
Ascendance: Emery’s Equilibrium – The Gifted Series Book 3
Dazed: Deliverance Series Book 1
Conflicted: Deliverance Series Book 2
Formative: Deliverance Series Book 3
Twisted Truth
