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“Morgana please, how do I get back?”
She smiled calmly, “Goodbye, my child.” And then she pushed me hard in the chest and I fell back, and I kept falling.
My eyes openedto a deep blue sky painted with streaks of red and gold. I choked on the air in my lungs, trying to remember how to breathe.
In and out—yes, that’s the way.
My males rushed to my side, leaning in over me, but not touching me as though they were afraid I was a phantom returned from the grave to torment them—or else afraid that perhaps I would shatter under the pressure of their touch. The only one who didn’t move was Kade. He stood a few paces away. A statue carved of hard, tan stone—and seeing a statue cry was just as rare. But it happened.
I swallowed the foul tasting layer of decay in mouth, “Idiots.” I couldn’t help it. The word sprang from my lips. “The only place you’re all going ishome.”
Alaric crushed my body against his, and the breath I’d fought to take was knocked from my lungs. But I didn’t mind—not at all. The others wrapped their arms around me and Alaric, forming a barrier of warmth around us. I reached for Kade over their lightly shaking bodies, and his lips pressed into a hard line, but he came, caressed my face, and kissed me on the forehead before tucking all of us into his wide arms—covering us with the shade of his great black wings.
Chapter Thirty-Six
Liana
They hadn’t left my side since we returned to the palace. Not as I bathed, or as I’d dressed. I marveled at the smooth skin of my stomach once I had washed away the mess of dried blood. It was incredible. A miracle. Everyone knew the story of the Alchemists, how the greatest of them had defied the laws of life and death by creating a philosopher’s stone.
The man had died, gone insane, shortly after he’d created it. As far as we knew, the precious manmade stones were still used in Emeris, though they were rare and reserved only for use by royalty.
My body was tired and aching, but my mind had never been more alert. Perhaps it was an effect of the stone. I supposed, though the very thought of the Alchemists repulsed me for what they’d done to the families of my court when they slaughtered our Draconian shifters—I had to thank them. At least for this one thing. Without their knowledge, I’d still be dead.
I’d healed Tiernan’s shoulder, and Alaric’s burnt hand, hushing them when they protested I should be resting. My Graces seemed easier to wield, and I thought they finallyfit.As though my body had accepted them, instead of fighting against them. After being bound and suffocated inside me at the weight of the bindstone, my Graces were all too eager to bend to my will.
There was so much to do. So much to prepare for. I’d told them of the Mad King’s forces. They didn’t know where said forces could gather, there wasn’t a large enough place to hide an entire army in the Wastes. But they would send more scouts, and they would find out. Perhaps the scouts they had already sent to investigate the disappearing Fae could find something.
So, they knew as well as I did how much there was to be done. But I was glad they were of the same mind as me to take this one night for ourselves.
Alaric sighed from beside me. We were all of us laying on my bed over top of the rumpled sheets and covers. Pillows strewn about. I was in the center, and every one of them had a part of themselves touching me. Alaric wound his fingers through my hair. Finn laid his head on my chest, listening to the strong beat below. Tiernan held my feet in his lap, caressing the smooth skin on my ankles. And Kade laid opposite me, the length of him pressed against the length of me.
I was whole, content.Peaceful.
“I have to tell you something,” Alaric said, and I looked up to meet his gaze.
“Hmmm?”
He cleared his throat, and I smiled. I had thought I’d never hear his nervous tick again. It no longer annoyed me—it was almost endearing. Kind of adorable.
“I bound myself to you,” he said in a rush, “I did it while you slept and I’m sorry.”
“You what?”
“It was how we found you,” Tiernan said, rubbing soothing circles into my calves.
Finn propped his head up on an elbow, facing me, but his eyes remained downcast, “It was my idea. Isuggestedwe all do it—I mean, bind ourselves to you. But with your permission, of course.” He cast a cheeky look at Alaric, “And we had planned to ask you if you would bind yourself to us as well… and… and consummate the bonds to strengthen their power.”
I knew little of the Immortal Bond. But I knew the basics and understood the reasons why they would want that. Especially them. My guardians. They would always know where I was, and if I was safe. They could always find me.
But it went both ways. I would know the same things about all of them. I could always find them. Keepthemsafe. And the thought ofconsummatinga bond with all four of them made my toes curl in the most delicious way.
I beamed at Finn, “It’s a brilliant idea.” I watched as stoic shock crossed each of their faces. They had expected me to be angry, I could tell, but I was far from it. I was downright giddy at the thought. All of us together in the most intimidate and permanent way we could be. It was everything I wanted. And the fact that they wanted it too made it even sweeter. “Why didn’t you think of this before?”
Finn laughed, smiling from ear to ear, but then his smile faded, and he shrugged, “Because it’s permanent, Liana.”
Alaric twisted my hair around his fingers and I met his steely gaze, “You could change your mind and do what your court expects of you: To chooseonemate, makehimKing Consort, and produce an heir.”
I shook my head at him. Always so sensible. Alaric was wise beyond his many years, and I had thought him stubborn, a bit of a brute. But I could see it now, he was patient, and would always put the needs of others before his own. And he would accept my decisions whether or not he liked them.
I stared incredulously at all of them, but my sights rested on Kade. The guilt in his eyes was palpable. I sat up and reached out to him, forcing him to look me in the eyes.
I spoke to them all, but it was Kade who needed most to hear it, “I willneverchange my mind. You aremine,” I told him, as he’d once told me, “And I am yours. All of yours.”
The Mad King never got the philosophers stone. He didn’t get to make the wielder of the Blessed Blade unkillable as he’d obviously intended. But with or without my Graces and the stone, I knew he would follow through with his plans to attack before the first snows fell.
The time for secrets had passed. I’d have to tell my court the truth, ready or not.
Though thebastardRicon lived, so didI. And together with my males, we had time to prepare for the battle to come.
* * *
