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Cressida’s brow furrows. “I don’t think so,” she says. “I have an heir to think about now.”
She stands, but Fiona doesn’t get angry; she just looks sad.
“Okay,” Fiona says. “I understand. We’ll be here when you’re ready to take the fight to the Empire.”
And then she leaves.
We sit and listen to her footsteps fade away, her guard going after her. Florian gives us one final look, then a sad wave as she follows her queen. Fiona sighs and shakes her head, and I want to sweep her into my arms and take her to bed—she looks so tired.
“She may be right,” Verdie says. “The Empire is already incensed at your attack on Borealis, and they know that you’re a threat. There’s a chance they could attempt a takeover of Homeworld while we’re weak in the aftermath of this takeover.”
“Let them come,” Fiona says, leaning back in her chair. “Yrsa guides us. My warriors will protect me.”
Maybe she’s a bit mad after her ordeal. It’s too early to be building alliances.
But I believe she’s right.
And I’ll do anything to protect her as we rebuild our planet together.
EPILOGUE
FIONA
Homeworld is being rebuilt and the palace is starting to feel like my own.
I don’t know if this will ever feel like home. We were nomads for so long, it’s hard to think of this war-torn world as a place where we might spend the rest of our lives. But I’m starting to see it take shape in front of my eyes slowly as the palace is adapted to our needs.
The men easily take to their new roles. Taln is my chief advisor, something that happened rather naturally once I realized he had everyone’s ear and understood the intricacies of these worlds and peoples in ways that almost rival Nereus.
Ryker and Orion have become heads of the Royal Guard. It turns out that Ryker has quite a knack for making inspirational speech, and ever since Nuvar—the Nyeri’i Kye and Aramis met on Vehyris—has gotten to Homeworld with his cohorts, he’s had plenty of people to inspire.
Orion is more of a teacher, a general in practice. He has recovered from our ordeal fully, and he spends most of his days teaching the many rebels that have decided to join our armies and are now returning to their rightful place in Homeworld.And he works as my spymaster behind the scenes, letting me know when we hear about anyone who might still have allegiances with the Hyperboreans.
I don’t make speeches, not really. Nereus is better at communicating with his people, and while I hold court—which feels as ridiculous as it sounds—my Merati prince whispers in my ear, providing a wealth of information that feels impossible to remember.
Who knew that the boy with the long auburn hair and the lagoon green eyes had the memory recall of an encyclopedia?
And there’s Kye, who I see less often than I would like to.
The head of my fleet, often on refugee rescue missions along with second-in-command Gliss. We spend time in the throne room talking about what will happen next, Nuvar helping us map underground operations as we talk about the best planet to approach next. Inevitably, I always get an excited comms ping from Kye when a mission is almost successful, and Nereus grins next to me as he fills our world with citizens and takes back Elixir from the Hyperboreans.
We go with him sometimes. We would never let him do this by himself.
But there’s a reason I’ve declined his invitation lately, and I need to tell him soon. I need to tell all of them soon.
I’m aware they can probably scent the change in my body, but I still need to wrap my head around what has happened before I can think about what comes next.
And what comes next is: the future queen of Homeworld. I know she’s a girl—I don’t know how—but I can feel her presence, and I hope that she knows that I’m going to make this universe as peaceful and amazing as I can for her.
There are still a million things to solve, thousands of crises that still need to be untangled. But I will do that from my rightful place on my throne as queen of the Merati.
I have a thousand years and the most amazing team backing me up.
I wake up early in the morning, the sound of calm water brushing against the clear walls of my bedroom. I thought my dad had money, but this bedroom is so large it feels like its very own apartment, and even though almost a year has passed, it still takes me a little time to get reoriented in it as I awaken.
The bed is warm, Nereus’ arms wrapped around my waist and Kye’s breath puffing against my neck. He’s curled up around me, and my hand is resting on his cybernetic arm.
When I open my eyes, Kye’s shoot open too, and he flashes me a smile. “Good morning, princess,” he says under his breath.
