Page 81 of Soulbound Shadows: Part 2

“It will dissipate.” He shrugged. “Her magic will become wild and join back with the wild magic that flows around all of us. Part of something greater until it is called upon again.”

The globe was already getting fainter, a little fuzzy around the edges. Soon, it would be impossible to spot where its barriers had been at all.

“Not everything Morgana left behind will be so straightforward to deal with,” Gabriel said. “There were the people who followed her, but we don’t know how many of them were there of their own free will. Trying to untangle the willing participants from those who were blackmailed or brainwashed into it will be a complicated mess.”

I sighed, dragging a hand through my curls. “And the prisoners. Some of them have probably been in cells for so long, the world they were used to is totally gone. Tracking them down will be tricky, not to mention getting them up to speed and helping them figure out how to set up new lives.”

“And the hideouts to track down, artifacts to neutralize, records to dig through…” Marcus added. “I suspect we’re going to have a lot on our hands for some time.”

“Those are problems for tomorrow,” I decided. Right now, I couldn’t care about any of that. “Is Damien…?” My voice caught.

Gabriel took my hand and led me along the mountain slope, glaring at any uneven stones as though that would make them smooth out under my feet. “He’s here,” he said softly.

“Oh,” I said quietly as we drew to a stop. Someone—I didn’t ask who—had gotten Damien’s body out of Morgana’s lair while I was passed out and laid it out on the sun-bleached rock of the mountaintop. In life, Damien had always kept himself under control, shifting his body language and posture so people would see what they expected to see. It had been a constant, careful performance. Seeing his body so slack and limp on the stone seemed wrong. I swallowed hard around the lump in my throat. The stake had been removed, and someone had draped a cloth over his chest, so the wound was hidden. His eyes were still open. Gingerly, I closed them and sat down next to him.

Gabriel gave me some space, moving a little distance away. He wasn’t ready to let me out of his sight after what had happened. He sent a warm brush of comfort through the bond, and I sent back reassurance. I was going to be upset but the kind of upset that you had to let yourself feel. He understood.

I cleared my throat, looking down the mountain at the landscape below. I could see Eldoria in the distance, and the mountain where my birth parents had lived.

“I’m still not sure if I liked you,” I found myself saying. “I know that’s a horrible thing to say about a dead man. Especially one who sacrificed himself for something so important. But… I don’t know. I didn’t know who you were. I’m not sure you even knew who you were. I just have facts, and they’re not great facts. You were a liar and a torturer. You spent a decade kissing a bigot’s ass to get closer to revenge. You justified a hell of a lot of stuff. I don’t know if you were a good person. You weren’t a good brother, but it seems like you were a really fucking good son.

“I think I’m jealous of you. Like, really, extremely jealous, eat you up inside jealous. You got to know them. My birth parents—our parents, I guess. They were part of your life for way longer than they were part of mine. I mean, I don’t even remember them. It’s this weird nebulous thing, and I’ve never felt like I was the right amount of upset about it.” I scrubbed a hand through my hair.

“You got to love them,” I said. “And I think that’s harder to get over than you torturing me. I wish… I wish we could have argued about it. I wish I’d gotten to hear more of your stories about our parents. And I wish you could’ve had a softer life. That you could’ve found something other than revenge. And I’m glad you reminded me that there’s more out there as long as I’m willing to let myself have it.”

I let that sit in the air for a long moment. A hawk wheeled through the sky above the forest, and I watched it swoop around, dodging the streaks of magic floating back toward the city. I hadn’t been overstating things; I’d always felt like I was bad at grief somehow. Like I was doing it wrong. There was no manual for any of it, especially not for this. I watched the birds as, around me, the people who’d become part of my life started to pick up the pieces. I could sit with this for now. I could let someone else deal with the lair, the guards, and everything else.

Later, there would be a grave dug next to the remains of a burned-down home. When I moved the soil with my magic, the magic my birth parents had given me would be part of it. They would be part of it. There would be a signet ring marked with a crescent moon and polished to a shine from decades of being worn, tracked down in one of the now-empty prisons and buried with the body.

For now, there was a clear, sunny day. Gabriel curled a question into my mind, not in words, but in a mixture of feelings and impressions I realized meant that he was asking if I wanted company. I sent back a reply that roughly meant yes please, but I might cry on you. Through our bond, I felt wry amusement, affection, and adoration. It was enough to get a smile out of me, although it was definitely on the small and watery side.

Gabriel sat next to me, and I leaned against him. When I rested my cheek on his shoulder, he pressed a kiss to my hair, then settled his head against mine and wrapped an arm around my shoulders. Together, we watched the clouds of freed magic drift back to where they belonged.

EVANGELINE

Iwoke up to the scent of coffee and a solid, purring weight on my chest. When I flung an arm out, I discovered the other side of the bed was empty, although that was probably for the best, because if Gabriel had still been in the bed, that maneuver would have landed a smack in his face.

The smell of fresh dark roast was almost enough to make up for it. I cracked open my eyes and came face to face with Pothos sprawled across my torso, kneading the blankets. I scratched him between the ears, and the purring ratcheted up a couple more decibels.

The side of the bed dipped under Gabriel’s weight. He was already dressed, and when I angled my face up for a kiss, he obliged happily.

“Here, darling,” Gabriel said, pressing a mug into my hand.

“I love you,” I mumbled fervently, pushing myself upright enough to drink. The coffee was the perfect temperature, exactly the way I liked it.

“It worries me that I’m not sure if you’re talking to me or the coffee.”

“Oh, you know which one I’m talking to,” I said, looking meaningfully down at the mug.

Gabriel nodded, giving his best tragically noble and long-suffering look. He was getting good at it. I laughed and kissed him again. Pothos, absolutely revolted by the lack of attention he was getting, hopped off the bed and wandered off to find breakfast.

“You’re up early,” I said.

Gabriel shrugged. “I wanted to finalize a few things before the council meeting today.”

“You redid that chart again, didn’t you?”

“The new color-coding makes much more sense,” he replied in mock defense.

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