Page 36

Chapter

Twenty-Two

NIKOLAS

I held my breath as Ezabell approached the sunstone.

She was radiant , light rippling from her in waves. The sigils burning on her throat and arms were as bright as the stone, which pulsed like the heart of some great, terrible beast.

Magic whispered through the Grove, the words too quick to catch.

Power lifted the hair on my nape. In some dim corner of my mind, I was aware of Corvus and Viraxes cringing away from the light.

But I couldn’t be bothered with them. They were insignificant now, any threat they’d posed vanquished by Ezabell’s transformation.

Because she was utterly transformed, her gorgeous body dipped in gold. Embers danced in her wake. Her cloud of black hair floated behind her as if tossed by an otherworldly breeze.

The whispers raced faster. Ribbons of light spooled from the stone, rising and falling like gentle sighs. Ezabell paused before the stone, a golden goddess in the center of the Grove. Then she reached up with a steady hand and took it.

Light blinded me. I jerked away, throwing an arm over my eyes as I waited to be incinerated. But the brilliance dimmed as swiftly as it came, and when I lowered my arm, Ezabell stood barefoot on the grass with the sunstone cradled in her hands and a look of wonder on her face.

Strong fingers tangled with mine. I looked at Dain and saw my own emotions reflected on his face. Awe. Happiness. Pride.

Ezabell turned toward Corvus, who still crouched with Viraxes at the edge of the Grove. A wild look appeared in his eyes. Babble spilled from his lips as Ezabell advanced on him.

“Everything I did, I did for the kingdom!”

Ezabell kept coming.

“I never meant for anyone to be hurt,” Corvus said. “I was only trying to protect what’s ours.”

Ezabell didn’t slow. Magic shimmered around her. Her sigils blazed. The sunstone in her fist cast a thousand glittering beams of light on the grass and the walls of the Grove.

Viraxes scrambled backward, abandoning his conspirator. Corvus turned defiant.

“You can’t kill me,” he said. “I’m a lord of the Summer Court.”

Ezabell plucked the crown from his head.

“No!” he cried, lunging for it, but she was already walking away. When Corvus scrambled after her, she flicked her wrist without looking back. A wall of golden light materialized between them, sending Corvus staggering backward with a pained yelp.

Ezabell stopped in the center of the Grove. Facing Dain and me, she pressed the sunstone into its mount. Then she settled the crown on her head.

Light flared, but it didn’t blind me this time.

The sunstone glittered in the center of the crown.

Ezabell lifted her arms away from her body.

She tipped her head back, turning her face to the sun.

Light streaked down her arms and into her hands.

It danced in her palms, power waiting for its queen’s command.

Dain and I sank to our knees. My heart raced as light and magic swelled the air. The whispers intensified, and now I could hear them like a shout inside my head.

QUEEN EZABELL OF THE SUMMER COURT.

Like the sunstone, she was great and terrible—a radiant goddess of light who could unmake me.

Power crackling around her, she turned back to Corvus and Viraxes. She tilted her head, and bars of light burst from the ground, forming cages around them.

Viraxes stood in the center of his prison, his eyes flat and his face pale. Corvus grabbed the bars, then yanked his hands away when his flesh smoked.

Dain chuckled beside me. “Idiot.”

Ezabell turned back to us. A smile curved her lips—sweet and familiar and so utterly her that an ache bloomed in my chest. She walked toward us, and with each step, her radiance dimmed. Not fading, but gentling. Becoming something warmer.

She was still a queen. But now she was our queen. And she’d always been powerful enough to unmake me. I couldn’t think of a better way to unravel.

She reached us, taking our hands and pulling us to our feet.

“Is this your mother’s place?” Dain asked quietly.

She glanced around, her eyes softening. “Yes. This is where I used to come when I was lonely.”

I squeezed her fingers. “You don’t have to feel lonely anymore.”

Dain grunted. “Not with the way Nikolas talks.”

I shot him a look, but new worry wriggled to life inside me. Ezabell wasn’t just a queen. She possessed power beyond my comprehension. And she was immortal. What could she ever want with two ordinary thieves?

She looked down at herself suddenly. Then she looked between Dain and me.

Releasing us and stepping back, she waved a hand.

Light wrapped around us, settling into clothing before I could blink.

Sleeveless gold tunics. Loose trousers that brushed the grass.

Another quick wave of her hand, and a matching golden gown hugged her curves.

“I like these new powers,” she said, studying her hands.

My heart clenched. Worry wormed into fear. She could bend the world to her whim now. Any second, she would thank us for our help and send us on our way.

Ezabell removed her crown and studied it. Gaze thoughtful, she turned the circlet in her hands, setting the sunstone winking. “It was here all along,” she said softly. “But I still had to find it.” She looked up. “And it’s not even what I was looking for.”

My heart thudded in my ears. Somehow, I pushed words past my suddenly dry throat. “What were you looking for?”

Her lips curved. Stepping close, she cupped my jaw. Fondness and exasperation danced in her eyes as she brushed her thumb over my cheek. “You really are slow sometimes, Nikolas Taniakes.”

Dain chuckled.

“Oh,” I said softly, relief loosening my knees. Placing one hand over hers, I used the other to give Dain a rude gesture.

Ezabell sobered. “Do you want to stay in Summer with me? Not just for now, but…forever?”

Everything stilled. The next breath I took caught between my ribs. I searched her face and found no trace of jest. Just honesty and longing. Hope.

She licked her lips. “I couldn’t have done this alone.

I’ve studied the Dokimasi my whole life, preparing for the day when I’d have to complete my quest.” She drew back, her gaze taking in Dain.

“Magic doesn’t bring people together without a reason.

I was meant to find you two. You’re bound to me, and our connection means you can share in my immortality. ” She swallowed hard. “If you want to.”

I didn’t have to look at Dain to know our answer. “Yes,” I rasped, touching her because I had to. I brushed my fingertips over her cheek, my heart beating so fast I felt lightheaded. “Yes, my queen. I would be honored.”

She turned to Dain, a question in her eyes.

His were tender as he murmured, “I would love nothing more than to stand by your side for as long as you’ll have me.”

She stepped close and lay a palm on his chest. “You’ve carried part of my magic since we met. You always felt it. Let me complete it.” She rose on tiptoe and pressed her lips to his.

He slipped an arm around her waist and hauled her close, deepening their kiss. Light started at their feet and then swirled upward, climbing in a twirling arc that finished at their heads. When they broke apart at last, Dain glowed faintly. Tiny suns gleamed on his neck and arms.

Ezabell turned to me.

Fear hit. I wasn’t elfkin. My family tree was bent and gnarled, the branches weighted down by drunkards and thieves. What if the magic rejected me? What if I couldn’t stay in Summer? I’d have to cross the Covenant. I’d return to Saldu alone, a broken man with a broken heart.

Ezabell replaced her crown.

I sucked in a breath. “Maybe this is a bad?—”

“It’s a great idea,” she said, sliding her hands into my hair.

Drawing my head down, she spoke against my lips.

“You were the first to call me queen. The first to kneel. You have a noble heart, Sir Nikolas.” She kissed me, swallowing my gasp of surprise.

Light exploded behind my eyes. It rushed through me, finding all the dark places and burning them away.

Magic sparkled inside me like the bubbling wine I’d tried after a particularly successful heist. But this rush was better. It would last.

I was still catching my breath when Ezabell pulled back, a smile on her lips and love shining in her eyes.

She loved me . She loved me. She loved me.

No matter which way I arranged it, the realization refused to sink in.

Corvus’s voice cut across the Grove. “You’re choosing them ?” He stood inches from the bars of his cage, his fingers twitching at his sides like he longed to seize the light. “Thieves,” he spat. “Mortals.”

Ezabell took my hand, then turned and did the same to Dain.

Facing Corvus, she lifted her chin. “I choose happiness. And they’re better men than you’ll ever be.

” She turned to me, her smile as bright as the sunstone in her crown.

“But you’re right about them being thieves. I’m afraid they’ve stolen my heart.”

I grinned.

Corvus raised his hands, light blazing in his palms. He thrust them toward the bars.

Ezabell didn’t flinch. Didn’t take her eyes off mine. With a flick of her fingers, she sent light streaking across the Grove. It struck the bars of Corvus’s cage, engulfing him in a flash of blinding gold. When the light cleared, only ash remained.

Viraxes stumbled back in his own prison, panic in his eyes. He swung toward Ezabell. “Don’t—!” His plea ended in a flash of light.

Ezabell still held my gaze, but now fury gathered in her eyes. “He hurt you,” she said, her voice low and fierce. “He made you relive a past you should have never suffered. No one will ever hurt you again, Nikolas.”

Dain came to my side, love in his eyes as he gripped my shoulder. “I know,” I told Ezabell through a tight throat.

Voices spilled into the Grove. A second later, men and women in rich clothing rushed through a doorway and onto the grass.

Dozens of elves stopped in their tracks, stunned expressions on their faces as they stared at Ezabell’s crown.

More elves appeared, the crowd rapidly growing.

Murmurs rushed among them, excited voices carrying news of Ezabell’s return.

“…the queen!”

“Has the sunstone, and she…”

“Summer is saved!”

“…two humans.”

Ezabell squeezed our hands. “Don’t worry about that,” she said under her breath.

“Get out of my way!” Helios shoved his way through the crowd, his hair a fiery plume on top of his head.

“She was in Andulum seconds ago and then poof , she was gone, and I’ve never traveled so fast in my—” He stopped at the front of the crowd, and his body brightened as his gaze fell on Ezabell.

“Oh. You found the sunstone.” He flicked his eyes from me to Dain and scowled. “And you brought them with you.”

Ezabell laughed. The sound rippled through the Grove and found its way back to me, nestling under my heart.

She squeezed our hands. “They’re growing on me.”