Page 205 of Settle Down, Princess

“It’s over now.” Ariel appeared beside me, the girl I’d been ready to marry, not her blackened corpse. Her smile was like sunlight on my face, helping to dispel the cold. “No more pain. No more abuse.”

“Really?”

I felt not like a grown man but a child pleading with his mother and she just nodded.

“It can all be over.” Her hands stroked my face. “All of it. You can come with me, Arik.” Dimly, I could see Magnus moving, the sounds of people’s shouts filling the room, echoing and distorted. “We can be together, forever.”

That was what I wanted, wasn’t it? So why did it feel so wrong? My mind, my body rejected it, Ariel’s touch now ice cold. I went to jerk away from her and that small movement was what saved me, as Magnus staged one last ditch effort to kill me. His knife sliced through the air.

Only to be met by hers.

Jessalyn’s knife struck home in Magnus’ throat, his head hitting the marble with an awful crack, but it wasn’t his wide open stare I met. Her blue eyes examined me with startling swiftness, her hands touching my face, my chest.

“Are you well? Did he harm you? We need a healer. A healer!”

I dragged her down into my lap and held her close, just breathing in her scent. Night blooming jasmine, I would forever love its perfume. My whole body shook which forced me to hold onto her tighter. Too tightly, I feared, but she wrapped her arms around my shoulders just as tight.

“No, I need you,” I croaked out. “I choose you, Princess Jessalyn Pearl Yasmina Tennesley.” I pulled back to stare into her eyes. “You and only you.”

“Damn right.”

Silas slid down onto the ground beside us, as did Roan with Selene and Desiree coming up behind, but Creed? His roar filled the room as he reached down and tore Magnus’ head and spine from his body then went stamping over to the balcony. Soldiers from the royal army and Fallspire, citizens of the capital and wolf shifters alike clustered below. I felt the roar from the crowd as much as I heard it, as he presented his blood trophy to the lot of them. That was when I looked up. The Raven of Khean tipped an imaginary hat in my direction then tapped on a panel in the wall and disappeared through it.

“My king…” the general said, appearing before me. “I realise that this is not the time but—”

“Send the army forth,” I replied. “Do what you must to save Khean.” My voice rose as I considered those that stood before us. “A new treaty will be forged with the elders of the wolf shifter clans, one much more in their favour, but if you will lend us your strength now?”

“We would be proud to, my king,” a wolf man said, bowing low.

People moved everywhere, but some of them weren’t going to get away so easily.

“The entirety of the former king’s court will be placed under house arrest within the palace,” I decreed. “Until such time as their actions can be judged and a decision made about their future. People have stood by and watched, if not participated in too many acts of cruelty in this building. This will not be tolerated anymore, but right now…”

I felt a pang of guilt as I swept Jessalyn into my arms, but all I could do was hold her tight for as long as she allowed me to, the feel of her arm around my neck a gentle benediction. I wasn’t sure if all of the ghosts of the past would ever be laid to rest, but that couldn’t stop me from making the most of what I had here and now.

“I don’t know how to ask for forgiveness when what I did was unforgivable,” I told her as I stared into her eyes. “Jess…” Her hand went to my cheek, her thumb stroking my skin as she nodded in encouragement. “No more of that going forward now, lass. You told me to prove myself worthy of you by becoming king. Well…?”

My voice broke on that.

“Well, it’s a good start,” she replied, shooting me an impish smile, “but your worthiness? I don’t see that so much as a state achieved as a condition that needs to be constantly reviewed.”

“Naked? Can we do it naked?” Roan asked, trying to smile and failing. “I feel like that would make sure everyone would willingly attend such meetings.”

“Find us a room, brother, lest I tear my mate’s dress from her in front of the entire court,” Creed said, having returned to us. “Then I’ll have to pluck out everyone’s eyes for daring to look upon her body.” His wolf receded, leaving the man, who stared down at his bloodied palms with a wince. “And an ewer to wash my hands in.”

“Wearing the blood of my enemies?” Jessalyn said. “It’s not as repellent as you think. Actually, I think this is a good look for you… my mate.”

Creed seemed to swell to almost twice his size at that honorific, but any pleasure he felt quickly faded as he saw the bruises on her wrists.

“The kitchen,” he growled. “Where is the kitchen? Or the infirmary? Somewhere with the proper herbs. I need to make a poultice, brew some tea.”

“This way.” Desiree stood there with her hands on her hips, smiling at our collective attention. “Those medicines are starting to wear off and I’ll need some willow bark tea myself.”

“Willow bark and some angelica,” Creed said, taking Jessalyn from me with all the care one might a girl made of glass not flesh and blood. “Something to dispel the toxins in your system…”

“You did it.” Roan offered me his hand and when he hauled me to my feet, Silas was standing there waiting.

“We did it,” I corrected. “Magnus is dead.” I looked back at his corpse. “He will get no royal funeral. Let his body be tossed on the midden, just like he did the girls he killed.”

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