Page 97 of The Endless One

“Oh, that was Alexander, actually. Apparently, while he was growing up in Orenda, he used to hide from Leon underneath these branches. I’m quite partial to it. I’ve spent a lot of time underneath these branches, pondering the meaning of life while saving so many.” She smiled up at him. “It’s a nice refuge, I think.”

He frowned down at her. “Why are we talking about Leon at a time like this?”

“A time like this?”

Elric reached down her body and palmed her sex. She was so sensitive, she bucked against his grip, even while he grinned down at her wide-eyed expression. “This, Jessamine.”

She steadied herself and nodded. “Right, you don’t want to know what I did with your gift. That’s fine.”

She knew him so well. Jessamine watched his brows draw down and his expression change to one of deep disapproval. “You know I want to know what you did with him.”

“You said not at a time like this.”

“Jessamine.”

“Beg me for it.” She rolled on top of him, straddling his bare hips with her palms on his chest. “You like to do that, don’t you?”

“You play with fire, woman.”

“No, I play with a god. I want to tell you, but I also don’t want you to be quite so sassy about it.”

He glared up at her, but she knew without a doubt he was so pleased to see her like this again. He’d missed this just as much as she had.

“Fine,” Elric relented. “What did you do with my gift?”

She turned his head, pointing out into a field beyond where she had started a massive garden that overlooked much of her sun-drenched realm. “Do you see my garden, Deathless One?”

“I do.”

Turning his head just a little more, she made it quite easy for him to see the scarecrow hanging out over the crops. “Even here, there are birds. The crows were the very first thing the women who stayed in your coven gave me. Crows are smart, you see. They can be trained and taught all manner of tricks. Like to feast upon a scarecrow who was a very, very bad man in his life.”

She watched the knowledge dawn on him, and then he looked at her. “You turned your ex-husband into a scarecrow?”

“He was hardly my husband.”

“The vows were said.”

“And then he murdered me. I think I get to do whatever I want to him while I’m in this realm. Not to mention he was an awful person and brought about the end of the world. Releasing Ajax was a poor plan, and I think he needs a few centuries to understand that.”

Elric sighed. “You really can’t just kill someone, can you?”

“That’s your job, my love.”

“You could have let him die and go into the afterlife.”

“That’s not a punishment. It’s a gift. I have no interest in giving him any gifts while I’m still a goddess.” She kissed Elric hard enough that their teeth clacked together. “Now, you are here to bring me home, I suppose?”

“I am.” But then his hands came down on her thighs, and his hips flexed up into hers. There was a hardness there that she wouldn’t mind exploring again. And it seemed that might be entirely his intent. “Unless you want to stay here for a few more hours.”

Elric leaned up and kissed her jaw. “Or days.”

Then he kissed lower, his lips trailing over the cushion of her breast. “Perhaps… weeks.”

“Maybe not that long,” she murmured as she sank into him. “But they can wait a little while longer.”

Jessamine had known coming back to Inverholm would be both wonderful and difficult. She had known walking through the streets and seeing everyone alive would be surreal.

But whatever she had thought, it was nothing compared to the reality. Just trying to get into the realm, first of all, was difficult. Elric held her hand and brought her with him, but the moment she felt herself pulling away from her golden light, there was something that made her… stick.