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I wouldn’t let him die.
Ren stood and walked to Zander’s body.
“Is that really him?” Dex asked.
Ren knelt next to Zander, and I felt, rather than saw, how he searched the male with his magic. Finally, he nodded.
“It’s him. Zander is truly dead. My father’s death has been avenged.”
His sorrow became my own. He could finally find his peace now and deal with his father’s death, knowing that justice had been brought to the killer.
His father was still gone, and Ren still had a long road of grieving ahead, but he could at last let his father rest in peace.
Ren stood and came to me. His face was filled with compassion that washed the sorrow on his features away. He held out his hand, and it was more than just a hand to help me up. When I touched him, here in the middle of the carnage, with the broken glass and blood on the floor and Lucia’s ashes blowing around, touching Ren was like coming home.
“Come,” Ren said, helping me up. “Let’s get you out of here.” He looked at Nylah for the first time. “Will you take care of the rest?”
“I will,” she said. “Dex and I have this covered.”
Dex grunted something I couldn’t understand, and Ren stood, lifting me in his arms. He turned, and the guards stepped aside, making a way for him to carry me out of the room. I didn’t remember making our way out of the fortress or how we went back to the palace. I couldn’t remember how I’d ended up in Ren’s bedroom. All I knew was that it was over. The threat was gone.
And we all lived.
33
Islept. I didn’t know how long, but I was buried in Ren’s bed for what felt like days. Sometimes, when I woke to go to the bathroom, he was right here with me. And sometimes, he was somewhere else, running the kingdom. But he was always just a thought away, and when I needed him, he appeared as if I’d summoned him without knowing it.
After sleeping like the dead, I felt better for the first time since everything had happened.
Ren sat on the edge of the bed, smiling at me when I blinked my eyes open.
“I think I slept for years,” I said, covering my face. I was pretty sure I looked like crap, too. Sleeping Beauty had been beautiful after sleeping for a century, but my hair was a tangled mess.
“You needed it,” Ren said with a chuckle. “Don’t cover your face. You’re beautiful.”
I warmed at his words.
“I like you in my bed,” he growled.
I giggled and pushed up so that I sat.
“How long did I sleep for?” I asked.
“Two days,” Ren said.
I gasped. “I missed training.”
He laughed. “I’ll write you a note to excuse you from class.” He winked at me. “Dex will be fine with it.”
I laughed, too, shaking my head. “I don’t know why I was so tired.”
“You used a lot of magic, Ellie,” Ren said. “That’s bound to wear anyone out, especially if you’re not used to it.”
“It was a lot,” I said, nodding slowly. “I didn’t know… How do I have so much magic?”
“I don’t know,” Ren confessed. “I won’t pretend that I have any idea what’s happening, but we’ll find out. Nylah is on it, and it doesn’t matter how long it takes, we’re going to figure it out. I can’t tell you how relieved I am that you have it, though.”
I looked at my hands and nodded. “Makes me a better warrior, right?”
