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I smiled and closed my eyes to savour the feel of him against me. “Me too.”
“Maybe we can come here when we want to be completely alone. Away from everything else.”
My smile widened. “Yes. We will grow old here together. Tending to the garden and drinking tea and reading until our sight begins to fail us.”
Ash held me tighter, lashes sweeping against my skin as he closed his eyes.
“That sounds perfect,” he whispered.
Chapter Forty-Nine
Several months later
Lonan
I was trying my best to ignore the gleam in Ash’s eye as he faced me from the other side of the Midsith, but he wasn’t being particularly subtle about the direction of his thoughts after seeing me.
“Really, Ash.” Idony huffed from behind me. “The changing of the seasons is a day to be respected. Perhaps you can save the lascivious looks for later? At least until the king’s coronation is over.”
Gillie, standing behind Ash, burst out laughing. Nua quietly shushed him, but his mouth was twitching with amusement as well.
Ash flushed. “Sorry.”
I managed to suppress my own smile, even as he glanced at me and flashed a final brief grin that told me he didn’t regret it.
And anyway, I was struggling to keep my eyes off him too. He looked so handsome in his crown, his curls neatly brushed for once but still wild. His skin was more burnished now from so much time spent out in the sun over the Mild Months—I was intimately familiar with how wonderfully hot it was to the touch. He was wearing a fitted tunic that showed off his broad shoulders and narrow waist, and the ever-present bow on his back was missing.
None of us had brought weapons today, to show the Folk that they weren’t needed. I didn’t even have my dagger. I felt strangely naked without my blades, but at the same time it was freeing.
I had brought far fewer people than the Carlin used to, and no guards. Though now I knew what my grandmother had managed to do to her twenty-three years ago, it made more sense why she’d always insisted on so many accompanying us. Only Idony and Belial stood behind me in the Midsith, while Nua and Gillie were behind Ash.
“So.” Ash rocked back on his heels and grinned at me again. “Shall we do this? Lots of other important things happening today too.”
Grinning back, I inclined my head and walked to the centre of the room. Ash met me on the other side of the First God’s sword, which cut through the Midsith and deep into the earth. Wordlessly, we both raised our hands and sliced our fingertips on the blade, then made our way to the silver bowl on its pedestal.
The air in here was warm and humid, especially while I was dressed in my new winter coat, but as our blood swirled together before mine swallowed up Ash’s, a cooling breeze chased out the heat. I couldn’t help but smile at the feel of it, a deep sense of satisfaction sinking into my bones. The Bitter Months were here.
“Happy birthday, Holly King,” Ash murmured to me before we stepped back. “We’ll celebrate later.”
My smile grew. After my coronation and the pyre-burning later to see in the Bitter Months, we planned on spending the night in our cottage to celebrate my birthday in private. We spent many nights there, having fallen into a comfortable routine over the last few months. At most, we spent only a week or two apart at a time. Ash would come and stay with me, and I would go to him. Now that I was king and the balance had been restored, the heat on seelie land was far more bearable. And now that the borders were more open, there was an abundance of unseelie food available to the seelie Folk. They particularly enjoyed our honeyed meat, and the lighter wine that was drunk during the summer months.
When we wanted to be truly alone, we would hide ourselves away in our cottage for several days at a time. We went for long walks in the forest and visited Orna’s market, politely refusing all the offers of free goods from the solitary Folk. But often, we would walk to the deepest, oldest parts of the woods to explore.
And so that no one would come across us while I gave Ash his “fae lessons”. To be fair, they didn’t always end with us fucking furiously on the forest floor. I showed him how to forage for the unusual plants he wasn’t familiar with. I taught him how to hide properly in the trees, and how best to detect sounds that didn’t belong so he’d know if someone was nearby, or if something was stalking him. We talked about bargains and how to make sure he wasn’t being tricked with words, as well as how he could make sure he didn’t trick someone else through the way with words he’d inherited from the Brid. We practised archery and throwing our daggers, setting up difficult targets between the trees to test ourselves.
I had never even known I was capable of being this happy. This at peace.
“I cannot wait to get back to unseelie and see the frost forming,” Idony said with excitement as I made my way back to our side of the room. She kissed the top of her hellhound’s head as he panted merrily in her arms. “Now, you’ll meet us there? The king’s coronation will commence at sunset. Gillie, do not make everyone late.”
“When do I ever make us late?” he replied innocently, even though he had done precisely that when he and Nua came to visit unseelie a few weeks ago with Ash because he’d overslept after a night of drinking with some of the off-duty guards.
“We won’t be late.” Ash grinned at me. “We’re actually going to follow you straight there.”
“At a slower pace, I assume?” I teased. I’d been teaching him how to ride a horse, but he wasn’t skilled enough for the fast clip we’d be taking back to unseelie.
“Maybe I just want to take my time to enjoy the scenery,” Ash said airily, but as we all made our way to the doors, he gave my ass a quick pinch.
“I saw that,” Idony piped up with mock sternness.
