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“Why not?” she asks, curiosity in her eyes.
I point at her heart. “We all carry magic in our hearts, so you see, we are the same. How can I fear myself?” My eyes crinkle. “Besides, they love me.”
The little girl smiles. “I hope someone looks at me the way they look at you one day.”
“They will.” I nod. “Someday, perhaps you’ll have your own monster who loves you.” I tilt my head. “What’s your name?”
She flashes a bright smile at me. “Delilah.”
“Delilah,” I repeat, chucking her on the chin. “One day, these lands will echo with your name, Delilah, just as they do the queen’s.”
“Just as they say yours?” she asks.
I nod. “Just like that.”
I stand and meet her parents’ eyes again while Kaito entertains the kids. “You’re raising beautiful children. I hope they have all the freedom any of us have ever wanted.”
The wife smiles. “Thanks to you, they will.”
I flush but glance back at my monsters. “I didn’t do it alone.”
“No,” she says. “But you and Cora took the first steps so the rest of us could follow, and for that, we are forever grateful.”
I can feel it then—hope and healing. We’ll be okay. The Shadow Lands, Dead Lands, and Gilded Lands are no longer separated by hate.
Hope fills me, and as Kaito makes tiny water animals and Rook joins in with his shadows, the last traces of darkness in my heart heal.
I am whole.
I am Kai.
Chapter
Sixty-Six
KAITO
Our feet dangle in the water, the saltiness of the mixed river making me feel at home as my magic surges through me, but my entire focus is on my mate sitting next to me. She’s kicking her own feet idly in the very river where we first met.
Where she came to die.
“What if this isn’t the right choice?” she muses out loud after sitting in nervous silence for far too long, but I have learned not to push Kai, and when she is ready, she will share.
She gnaws on her bottom lip, her eyes on the water even as her hand anxiously plays with mine.
She is so adorable. After everything we faced, this is what she’s worried about?
“What if it is?” I counter.
She lets out a sigh and meets my loving gaze. “I’m nobody, Kaito. I wasn’t meant to be queen.”
“I can’t think of a single other person who is more suited,” I tell her honestly. “You were willing to die for your lands and people, but you also heal them every single day. You offer them hope, happiness, and love. Right now, we all need somethinggood to lighten our moods and spark hope for the future. You and Cora are it.” I kiss the back of her hand as she leans into me. “You will make a magnificent queen, and what did your sister say?”
She sighs, glancing back at the water. “That she couldn’t lead without me at her side, and that we are two halves of the same whole—mercy and power, hope and protection. She said our lands need both of us.” She swallows hard, and I know she wants to cry again as she recalls her sister’s confession last night. She called upon our room late, took Kai for a walk, and asked her to lead with her.
It seems Cora doesn’t plan to ever let Kai go again and instead is binding her to this land and her side. Whether she knows it or not, I think Cora worries that without purpose, Kai may relapse, but she was right.
Kai was born to lead with her, and I will be right there at her side where I belong, always ready to catch her when she falls.
