Page 354 of The Spider Queen

“You were asleep for three days, Stella. How did you expect to work through anything at all when you were shut down?”

He had a valid point.

“Tell me what to do,” I blurted out. “Tell me how I’m supposed to feel.”

He let out a chuckle. “It doesn’t work that way. Besides, do you really think I want to be responsible for your happiness? Or lack thereof?”

“And here I thought once I won my freedom, life would go back to normal.”

“You’re not normal Stella. You never were.” He paused. “Do you miss your life? You know, before you found out who you really were?”

I pondered his question for a moment and then shook my head. “No. I don’t miss my life. I never realized…”

“What?”

Looking him in the eye, I finally forced myself to be completely honest and transparent. “You could say I had a life, but I wasn’t really living.”

“And Lucifer…”

I swallowed. “Showed me what I was missing.”

Chapter 35

Two days later, the ship docked in Purgatory and I was no closer to figuring out how I felt about Lucifer.

In the near distance, I could see the gothic castle where I’d grown up. Beast statues guarded the entrance. Once I stepped off the ship and onto the beach, my feet would carry me to the fortress. To my parents. To the people who loved me enough to let me go and live as a mortal.

“Guess this is it, then. The end of your quest,” Aloysius said, gazing at the castle.

“Thank you. For everything you have done for me,” I said. We looked at each other and then I was in his arms. “Make sure she really deserves you.”

“Who?”

“Whoever becomes your queen. Make sure she loves you—the man—first.”

He pulled back and held my cheeks in his hands. He kissed my forehead and sighed. “Be well, Stella. I’ll see you soon?”

I nodded and then pulled away. “Are you sure you don’t want to dock here and then travel through the forest on foot to get home?”

He shook his head. “No. Poseidon wants his ship returned exactly where we got it from.”

“Or what? He charges you a fee?”

“What?” he asked in confusion.

“Never mind.”

I said my goodbyes to Dorian and Meghan. Meghan was stoic, but even I could tell she didn’t like that we were parting ways. Her gruff exterior hid the tenderness of her true heart.

When the ghost rowboat reached the shore, I climbed out and looked to the ship. Three lone figures, which didn’t belong on the sea, stood tall and proud.

I called them friends, and for a woman who hadn’t let people close to her, it was a monumental shift in my essence. I needed friends, I realized. I didn’t like being alone. I thought I’d been protecting myself, but all I’d done was cut myself off from having deep, meaningful relationships.

Inhaling a shaky breath, I turned my back on the ship and began to walk. The path to the castle was clear and obvious. Birds chirped, waves lapped, and I could hear flower buds opening.

I passed by a tree and placed my hand on its bark. It shook its leaves, welcoming me home.

It was all so familiar, like I’d never been gone at all.