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The greedy-eyed crowd fell back.
One woman in a gown made entirely of feathers stepped forward. “You can’t claim to control that power yet. You only just stripped it from him.” She pointed at my dead brother.
Everence shook her head, but I answered.
“I was born his twin, the first heir to the former Sun Sovereign.” Several faces nodded, others looked at each other, aghast. “The power of the sun runs in my veins. I stole nothing from him.”
The crowd stilled.
“As I do not wish to rule you wicked people, I alone can choose my successor. Someone with the sun in her blood.” Without hesitation, I turned toward Everence, who still clutched the softly glowing crown. I lifted a hand toward her. “My cousin, Everence Bristleberry, of the House of Ice and the House of Sun, do you wish to wear the crown of the Sun Sovereign and rule these wretched souls?”
Everence stared at me with an inscrutable expression. Her mouth was tight, her eyes only a fraction wider than usual. Every eye turned toward her.
She glanced down at the crown in her hands.
“You have the power of the sun in your veins, as I do,” I continued, “but you also have compassion, a power none here knows, except, perhaps, my wife.”
I opened my arm to Talia, inviting her to stand beside me. With quick hands, she wiped away the tears that had slipped down her cheeks and stepped into my embrace. I pressed her back against my chest and wrapped my arms around her. She rested her chin on my forearm.
Everence’s stoic expression eased, and she smiled warmly at us. Her hands lifted the crown. “I will,” she said. “I will rule these people and these lands with honor and power, strength and dignity.”
I’d always known she was fit for a throne. She was the only fae I knew who didn’t crave power like the rest—even Hector always wanted more, even if he couched it as a means of helping me. She alone was fit to wield the true power of the sun and rule the summer lands, though it meant she would be forever apart from her beloved winter.
With a nod, I loosened my arms from around Talia and nodded. “As only you can, cousin. By my blessing, accept the power of the Sun Sovereign.” I reached out a hand and placed it on her shoulder. Light shone under my hand.
Everence lifted the crown to her head, and it settled on her silver-white hair.
I stepped around Talia and dropped to one knee, every other courtier present mirroring my movements. Talia knelt in reverence beside me.
Everence dipped her head toward me and then my wife, then she moved toward one of the long tables, humming as she went. Her tunic sparkled, though it was still night, and her hair glistened, clean and free of any tangles from the recent fight. In fact, as I glanced around, I saw nothing left of the recent slaughter, as if it had never happened. No blood, no bodies. No death. It had all vanished, even Fabian.
The blood from my hands had vanished, and my shirt no longer held a single red stain.
As every fae waited for Everence to take her seat at the center of the longest table, Talia whispered to me, “What now?”
I reached for her hand, sliding my fingers between hers. “Let’s go home.”
She squeezed my hand hard.
Everence lifted her arms to her guests, inviting us to sit and dine with her. Her first act as queen was to bless her enemies. She would make a fine sovereign. Slowly, and with repeated bows along the way, the courtiers around us moved toward the elaborate tables. I wasn’t in any hurry to move from this spot.
I turned Talia’s face back toward mine. “I am entirely your own, for all the days you live.” Her eyes sparked like two small fires. I hated to douse those flames, but I felt this needed to be said. The first time I’d said those vows, I’d been focused entirely on myself, on what I would gain. My eyes cut to the stones where Fabian’s dead body had lain, only moments ago. I was no different, really. Whether driven by a curse or driven by greed, we’d both been consumed with a desire to help only ourselves.
My forehead tipped down to meet Talia’s. “I will take on your victories and your losses, your blessings and your curses,” I whispered, ashamed of the man I’d been when I’d spoken them only weeks before. We were the only ones not moving toward the tables, but no one rushed us.
“I’m sorry, Talia. I should have never—”
She pressed a kiss to my lips.
“I’m not sorry. You kept me alive. You healed me. If I hadn’t taken your curse, you never could have stopped Fabian. It was meant to happen this way.”
I cleared my throat and smoothed her hair out of her face. “It was too much to ask of anyone, and yet you did it willingly. You surpass every expectation, Talia Vasquez del Sol.”
At the use of her name, her brow pinched.
“Vasquez del Sol is my true name. I am the heir of the House of Sun. In our lands, women take on the name of their husbands.”
For a moment, she looked up at me with wide, fearful eyes. Then, to my surprise, she chuckled. “That means I really am the wife of the sun.”
