Page 49

When the tunnel ended and she left the vast darkness behind her, she found herself in a courtyard.

Decaying, wilted flowers covered the beds that she guessed must have once been filled with wildflowers.

An elegant stone fountain covered one wall of the courtyard, but it was empty and a century of dust covered everything that Kate could see.

Her heart broke at the thought of how beautiful this place must have once been before Roan had. ..

She shook herself free of that painful thought.

What lay in the center of the garden was what held Kate’s attention most. A four-poster bed stood alone, far from everything else.

Kate knew with certainty that this bed was the very center of the labyrinth.

It pulled her closer with the force of cosmic gravity. The bedposts were laced with a thick draping of spiderwebs, concealing whatever lay upon the bed. But it could only be one person.

Kate took another step. She saw a statue of a gray dog lying beside the bed. Its head lay on its paws as if asleep. The dog suddenly moved, sounding like stone grinding upon stone as it looked at her.

It wasn’t a statue. It was alive. A growl of warning came from the dog, then died away.

The dog cocked its head at her as though it recognized her.

She recalled what Eudora had said, that Rath had gone with the queen to guard Roan in his enchanted sleep.

Rath’s wild form was that of a black dog, wasn’t it? Wasn’t that what Caden had said?

“It’s me... Kate,” she whispered to the dog, then nodded to what lay hidden beyond the cobwebs of the bed. “He’s in there, isn’t he? ”

The dog stood, shaking his fur. A century of dust floated into the air, changing its color from gray to black. Then the dog slowly came toward her, his paws making no sound upon the soil. Kate held her breath as the dog nuzzled one of her hands. Then he pressed his nose into her palm.

A sudden wave of images filled her mind.

Roan collapsed as Kate vanished in a blinding beam of light. Rath held his friend in his arms as Thalia appeared on the battlefield. Thalia cast an ancient enchantment over Roan, falling like golden dust on his skin, halting the progress of the cursed magic in his body but unable to cure him.

The years passed. The walls crumbled, flowers withered into dust, water vanished, trees decayed and fell to the earth.

The ivy shrank into dry husks and fell away.

All that had once made the labyrinth a dark and beautiful place vanished as the century rolled forward.

This place that had once been untouched by time had now been conquered by it.

Kate’s lips parted in shock as the vision faded. The black dog changed before her eyes into the weary form of Rath.

“Eudora hoped you’d come...” he rasped, his voice hoarse after a century of silence. “We all did.” He placed a trembling hand upon her shoulder. “Please, bring my friend back to me,” he pleaded. “And I will owe you a fairy’s debt.”

Kate nodded. She had to. She would find a way.

With careful fingers, she pushed the delicate layers of webs away from the bed, revealing Roan’s sleeping form, still as death upon the bed.

Her love’s skin was pale, his eyes closed. A faint patchwork of black veins could still be seen on his neck and hands. His fingers were folded around the pommel of a sword that lay lengthwise upon his body, a warrior king lying in death’s bittersweet repose.

Even now, he was still beautiful to her, still filled her heart with such a deep longing that could fill up centuries with her need to be with him. How could it be that her virile, strong, stubborn love had been asleep for a hundred years?

“I came back,” she whispered to him, thinking foolishly that her words would wake him. But he didn’t stir.

Kate lifted her face to the moon. Its gentle power, weaker than it had been before, still soothed her skin. She unwound Roan’s fingers from his sword and brought one of his cold hands up to her cheek. It took her a long moment to find the strength to speak past the pain in her throat.

“You’re the reason I’m here, Roan. I chose to stay, even as you forced me to leave you.

I would choose you over all the lives I might’ve lived in my world.

If there’s one thing I learned about being human while I’ve been here, it’s that my stubbornness and my determination can be one of my greatest strengths.

And if I have to sit here at your side for a thousand years to bring you back, that’s what I’ll do.

” She kissed his knuckles and gazed at his serene face.

The proud, beautiful Fae king had become her world and had given her his heart. She just had to find a way to save it.

“I found the heart of the labyrinth. Keep your bargain with me, Lord of the Labyrinth. You promised to send me home. Keep your promise.”

You are my home, she thought with all her heart. Come back to me.

The world was quiet. Nothing moved, not even a breeze rustling the dead flowers.

“Please... show me how to save you,” Kate whispered. “ Please... ”

A single drop of rain fell upon her nose. Dozens of other drops followed as rain clouds eclipsed the moon.

Rain... rain like tears . Tears!

She sucked in a breath. Tears carried magic. It was what she’d been told so many times. Tears held love , and love was magic.

Kate leaned over Roan, and the tears came so easily to her. They flowed in rivers down her cheeks, coating her lips even as the rain fell all around them.

When her lips touched Roan’s, the world seemed to stop except for the rain, which turned into a torrent as an ancient, invisible fire kindled between her mouth and Roan’s.

Come back to me, my Lord of the Labyrinth.

The rain suddenly slowed around them, drops hanging like frozen dew in the air before they began to slowly fly back up into the clouds as though time itself was turning back, like the hands upon an ancient clock.

Kate lifted her head and stared down at Roan. His lashes fluttered, and the shimmer of a century-old spell rippled over his skin and then was gone. The black veins on his skin faded away. Kate held her breath, waiting... hoping.

At long last, her king opened his eyes. And the rain once more poured down from the skies around them, and the air flooded with the smell of petrichor and growing things... of life.

Blue eyes no longer clouded by death or pain burned bright, like diamonds infused with fire. Those eyes... they were what her dreams were made of, and she couldn’t live another moment without losing herself in them.

Roan’s lips parted as he stared at her in endless wonder.

“Kiss me... Kate. Kiss me or I’ll believe this is yet another dream...” Roan whispered.

A joy brighter than any Shining One could create filled her body and soul as she kissed him. Roan was awake, alive . He was hers again.

Kate curled her arms around his neck as he sat up, and he pulled her onto the bed with him. Laughing, she buried her face in his neck as they held each other beneath the wild rainfall that coated their skin, washing away the dust and darkness of a century.

“You did it,” Rath said to Kate as he joined them at the bedside and clapped his hand on Roan’s shoulder.

“My friend.” Roan gazed up at Rath, his eyes dark with emotion. “You stayed with me, didn’t you?”

“I would stay with you until the very end of everything,” Rath promised.

“How long was I...” Roan didn’t finish.

“A hundred years,” Kate said. “I didn’t know it would take me so long in your world to get back here.”

“What of my sister?” Roan asked his friend.

“I haven’t seen her since you were laid to rest. The way here was closed to all. I do not know if...” The First Lance swallowed hard and looked away.

“She’s waiting for you, Rath. Go to her,” Kate said, then glanced at Roan. “Open a Fae road for him, send him home to her.”

Roan closed his eyes, and a blinding portal of light burst forth behind Rath. “Go, my friend. Delay not another moment. Life, even for us, is too brief to miss those we love.”

With a rakish but weary grin, Rath leapt into the road and vanished as the light from the gateway faded.

Kate and Roan looked at each other again, and then she leaned in, pressing her lips to his, tasting the magic that filled each tender, passionate caress of their mouths.

Kate wasn’t sure how long she and Roan were lost in each other, but when they finally took a moment to catch their breath, Kate realized the smell of death and dying around them had faded.

Dozens of intoxicating aromas now mingled in the air with the clean scent of rain.

She gasped as she saw the blooms of a thousand flowers in a thousand hues covering the ground.

The wildflowers had come back. Wisteria hung in draping boughs above their heads.

“You brought it all back to life, Kate of the Winslows,” Roan chuckled. “You brought me back to life.” For the first time, she glimpsed faint crinkles at the corners of his eyes when he smiled. Had he changed?

Roan placed his hand on the back of Kate’s neck as he pressed his forehead against hers. He closed his eyes and held her tight, as though he feared she might vanish.

“You’re mine, Kate. Mine now... mine always . I’ll never let you leave me.”

Her heart felt like it was going to burst. She was exhausted, so tired she could no longer move, but she didn’t need to. She was right where she wanted to be. With him.

“I’m not going anywhere,” Kate promised him. “I’m yours, remember?” She kissed the tip of his proud nose, which earned a smile from her dark king. Then she stroked a finger over his lips as their gazes held.

“How did you come back? Did Eudora come find you?” he asked after a long moment. “I used the last of my power to send you away.”

Kate feathered her lips over his and whispered, “Love.”

It was only one word, but it was the only word she needed to say.

He smiled back at her. “Love,” he echoed in wonder.

There was no greater force in the vast reaches of the universe. Even the Fae knew that.

“Once I realized that you were the labyrinth, it was easy to find you. Because I love you, even the darkest and scariest parts of you.” She traced his lips with a fingertip. “That meant I could always find my way to the heart of the labyrinth... to the heart of you.”

He touched her cheek and she flinched, rubbing one of the wounds she’d suffered during her journey. “Somehow, I suspect it’s more complicated than that.”

“I’ll tell you the very long and crazy story later.

Right now, I just want you to hold me.” She nuzzled him and breathed in that unique scent of his that in the past had driven her wild with lust, but right now simply made her feel like she’d come home.

His arms tightened around her, and he feathered kisses on her forehead and the crown of her hair.

“You will tell me what you’ve been up to, Kate of the Winslows, because I’d like to hear it before the blasted pixies tell everyone else.”

She started to laugh so hard it made her stomach ache. When she finally stopped, she was wiping tears of joy from her eyes.

“All right, I’ll tell you, but only after you do something first.”

Roan’s blue eyes burned intensely. “Name it, my darling.”

She was cradled on his lap and really didn’t want to leave, but it was time. “I found the center of the labyrinth. It’s time you kept your promise to take me home.”

His dark brows rose in surprise. “Home?”

“To the palace,” she added with a cheeky grin. “It’s our home now, isn’t it?”

“My home is wherever you are,” Roan said as he brushed the pad of his thumb over her bottom lip, “my love.” His deep voice carried those last two words with such power that she shivered.

His smile promised Kate that she was well and truly loved by the dark and powerful Lord of the Labyrinth.

Just like the bride of the dark woods in her book of fairy tales, she was no longer afraid.

She had set foot upon her path, and that journey had changed her.

Here in the land of the Fae, she had learned to believe in fairy tales and happy endings again.

After all, she was living in one.