There will always be a place inside me that aches with longing and grief for the sister I lost, but there is also so much more room now.
For love, passion, and hope.
Hope is such a simple concept, but a world-shattering one.
With hope, anything can be accomplished.
When my monsters appear and pull me into their embraces under the moon, I give into their love and find my hope once more.
For our future.
For what is to come.
Together, I know we will have a brilliant life and that Kai will live on in all of us.
She will be remembered forever in the fractured pieces of our memories.
As the magic that once guided me here wraps around us all, I realize something else.
I am whole.
I am loved.
I am strong.
And together, we are capable of anything.
ChapterFifty-Three
“I’m nervous,” I admit, staring at the effigies of the king and queen that grace the tops of their sarcophagi. I’ve come here often to speak to them in the weeks that have passed since the wall came down.
Everyone seems to look to us for answers, and I happily oblige.
I lose myself in mundane daily tasks to forget, and every night, my monsters blind me with pleasure until I fall into a dreamless sleep.
But today?
Today is different.
“I wonder if you were,” I murmur.
“He was terrified,” Razcorr calls out. I smile, feeling him behind me. “If I remember correctly, he asked me to run away with him.”
Chuckling, I turn as his arms wrap around me, his smile softening as he meets my eyes. “You will be incredible, mate, and we will all be there with you.”
“Promise?” I ask.
“Always, my love, now and forever.” Taking my hand, he steps back. “But it is time. Your people await their new queen.”
Swallowing, I take one last look back at the king and queen, pressing my fingers to my lips in a sign of respect before following him up the stairs. My coronation gown flows behind me. The train holds our story, stitched by a kind fey who turned up at the castle the day after the wall fell and proclaimed herself as my new modiste, even though Nero fights with her sometimes.
The bodice hugs my breasts and then flares out, infused with magic to make it shine and move with our story. The fur cape that sits on my shoulders stops at my hips, my hair is coiled back for the crown, and my makeup is artfully done.
When we reach the throne room, I spy Grim already waiting there. He looks uncomfortable in front of all of our people.
Humans and monsters gather in the black castle to watch the coronation, and there are so many, they stretch into what was once the Dead Lands.
No one protested when Grim declared his lineage, and as for me, well, it was obvious, apparently, that we would become the next king and queen. Even the humans didn’t seem to have issues with the declaration.
