Page 142 of Ascendant King

“I can do this. I am king of House Bartlett.” Cade’s voice was a whisper inside my brain.

“You can do this. You are king of House Bartlett, mate of the Emperor Wolf, and the most powerful mage in the world.” I grabbed hold of his hand, squeezing. I reached up, cupping his cheek in my hand, turning our faces together so our foreheads touched. “I know you can save every supernatural creature in the world.”

Cade exhaled, his breath brushing over my lips like a kiss. Then he straightened, turned to the magic around us, and reached. The poisoned strands flowed to him, hitting him in the chest.

When he had collected all of them, thick pulses of acidic sap eating through his clothes, flowing through his heart, he said, “I sever the ties between the mage houses and you.”

He shook, but the strands remained there, the poison lingered. Cade’s eyes flew open. He glared down at the strands.

“You have fulfilled your purpose. I liberate you.”

I thought back to wolves, the ones who wanted to wear a collar and the ones who didn’t. The ones who knew what a good pack felt like, what a good alpha felt like, and the ones who didn’t.

I thought of Nia, whose experience in packs had been thorough, but she had chosen to wear a collar instead of going back to them until me. Until I had offered her a different way.

“Tell the ley lines what they’ll have instead.” I squeezed Cade’s hand.

“I offer you the freedom to be in the world. You can still fill mages if you want. Or you can ignore them. You can choose to be bound to a mage house, or even a single mage if you want,or you can ignore them forever and flow freely into the ocean. I offer you the freedom I’ve learned to embrace.” Cade’s voice went thick. “Let’s take it together.”

I felt the magic around me shudder. I saw cracks forming on the ley lines, and then they broke apart, revealing strands of pure, clean magic underneath. The poison flowed away, absorbed by the ocean.

Cade pulled the strands loose, leaving bloody holes in his skin as he yanked them free, sending them back to their natural courses.

I grabbed hold of his shoulders, turning him to face me. Then I kissed him like I wanted to.

When our lips touched, I could see the explosion of color in this strange world, as though our coming together birthed magic, as though every time I showed him how much I loved him, more magic came into the world.

“I love you,” I said. “Cade Bartlett, I love you.”

“I love you,” Cade said. “Miles, you are the other half of me. You saved me when I didn’t want to save myself. You are the one I need more than anything in this world. Because you are amazing. You experienced the same loss I did and became the man you are.”

Cade reached up, cupping my face, and I leaned forward, into his hands, and together, we swayed, surrounded by the beauty of the world.

“I promise I want to share all of who I am with you. All of my magic, all of myself.” Cade’s words held power, and I stared as a new tattoo inscribed itself on his neck.

I reached up, brushing my fingers over it. The ink wasn’t black like the rest of his. Instead, it was burgundy, the wolf logo the same as the one we had chosen for Los Santos Pack.

He had inked himself with Los Santos, with me.

“I thought when I became your consort,Igot the ink.” But my heart wasn’t in the joke because all I felt was a deep sense of satisfaction.

He had taken my mark. He had permanently inscribed my pack on his skin. I might have lost myself in him, drowned myself in his cool blue eyes, but apparently, he was just as lost as me.

“We always said we were going to do it differently.” Cade looked up at me. “And we did. We can still share magic but without the pain. Without the ownership. Instead, maybe we just belong to each other.”

“I can live with that.” I ducked my head, kissing him fiercely, turning to see the explosion of magic that met our kiss.

I laughed, throwing my head back. When I blinked open my eyes, we were back in our bodies, Cade lazing in my arms, the brush of fur and my pack surrounding me.

“Cade Bartlett, what did you do?” Rhys pushed their way through the crowd, dropping to their knees in front of us.

“I severed all ties between every mage house in the world and their ley lines.” As Cade said it, the grin on his face spread, his eyes crinkling in pure joy.

“You didwhat?” Rhys fanned themselves, and Nia came up on their other side, leaning hard against them. “Oh my god,thiswas worth getting out of bed this morning. The gossip. The backstabbing. Everything is going to be a mess for years. No, decades. I have to get back to my studio—everyone is going to want to talk about this, and who better to talk about it with than their dear tailor?”

Cade laughed, throwing back his head, the joy in it so pure and fresh that Rhys stared.

“What’sthis?” They circled the fingers of one hand in the air. “Is this…? Are you laughing? Is this joy? Maybe I’ll stay here fora little while. Because gossip is good, but I want whateverthisis.”