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“Are the fae kings with you?” I asked when she didn’t speak.
“I do not need them - I am a King. I rule my own now.” She grinned, her teeth sharp like vampire fangs. No. Like gobbelin teeth. I didn’t remember her like this, radiating dark power and dressed in black robes. In my childhood memories, she had been soft. Fae. Motherly, with filmy dresses and soothing words.
But I’d been only a child, and children are easily fooled.
“I will not side with you,” I warned, taking a step backward.
“I’m not here for you any longer. I’ve found someone stronger. Torrence lives, Lachlan. He has returned to me, even when you would not. He is my son. You arenothing,” she hissed the final word, and my heart ached for the mother I remembered.
That woman was gone, and in a flash of shadowy power, so was Julianna.
I blinked at the empty doorway, spreading my senses wide to find her energy. But she was truly gone. My mind was reeling with her claim of Torrence being alive - siding with her and thegobbelins she now boasted of ruling. It partially matched what that gobbelin had said to me in the last fight, when he mistook me for my twin. But there was no time for this mystery now.
The clash and roar of battle already reached my ears, coming from the direction of the palace, and I sensed blood magic in the air. Merden had returned, and the gobbelins had attacked.
Heart pounding, I raced back through the streets, taking a roundabout way to the palace to find where I would be most needed.
KANA
It had taken longer than I wanted, but I had found the way out.
The ancestors parted the darkness before me, and I turned to the mass of mist at my back. Nic emerged from it, standing tall and solid. Real.
He was coming with me, and my heart was happy.
“Who else will come?” I called into the mist, clutching theBook of Iceto my chest. I finally had the real book to bring back with me for my people. It was complete with all the spells, and my skin was healed and whole. Scanning the gray fog, I saw Grand-mère materialize, and I reached my hand out to her. “Merden stole yourfin de vie. Rebirth with me, Grand-mère.”
Valda chuckled and shook her head. “I’ve found I quite like it here, granddaughter. My time was good. My memories are better.” She winked at me, and although it twisted my heart to do so, I let her fade into the faceless, swirling gray.
But a man stepped forward, moving slowly yet with a determined stride.
“My time was cut short. I have things to finish,” he said, and as he neared, I recognized him.
“Ren,” I breathed, joy singing through me at the gift I would be able to offer Kassian - my King. Ren looked backward once, and the mist shimmered into the shape of a young woman. I thought it was his sister, but she shook her head at him, fading just as quickly as she’d appeared.
Then my heart leapt as I recognized Jax coming forward. I hurried over to them, holding out my hand. We could start over too, friends or... But Jax was shaking their head at me, a small smile on their face.
“Thank you, Kana. For everything you did. I’m at peace here. I like it.” They stepped closer, wrapping me in their arms, and I could feel the steadiness and strength that had been missing from them in the palace.
I swallowed down the words that would seem like begging - Jax deserved peace. If that’s what they had here, who was I to ask them to do differently?
Not all are unhappy with death.
The voice of legion spoke around us, and I understood that many more of the vampires Merden had murdered would still choose to stay here instead of start fresh or try to rebuild their old lives. The mist was comforting. Their current reality of good memories was safer than the unknown world beyond.
I had to respect that. Still, I waited, hoping more would join me. One by one, vampires separated from the mist. Those whose business on Haret was not yet finished. Those who wanted to go on living, creating new memories. The ancestors allowed anyone whose lives had been cut short to rebirth with me if they wanted, but nearly all who came forward had died very recently. Those who had been in the mist longer, like my mother and brother, never even materialized as individual consciousness.
As we stepped through the mist and back into the living world, I was flanked by Nicolas and Ren, and followed by several hundred vampires, all of us aching to live again. There weremillions more who did not follow, but I took comfort in that, as well. My people were content in death.
I was content with life. We would all win today.
As I moved through the empty streets toward the palace, my feet barely touched the ground. The Ancient Magic had returned to my veins when I left the mist, and my speed was faster than light. My strength was that of ten vampires, and my other senses were the stuff of legend.
I was the stuff of legend - the Queen who died and rebirthed. The Goddess who was made flesh.
I was here to create a new reality for all of Saori Sang.
We reached the battle, and every vampire following me sprang into action, the Ancient Magic already coursing through their veins because I was already Queen.
