Page 140 of Rage

Chapter Twelve

Reverie

The sight of my sister nearly buckles my knees.

She walks in from the hallway, her beautiful form normal and unscathed.

We embrace each other fiercely for a long while and cry together, Steele sitting back and giving us space.

The sound of soft, shuffling steps interrupts our embrace, and I turn to see a person exuding familiarity.

Edmund, who’s not Edmund, walks in, a beautiful woman in a flowing gown moving over to me. I know it’s him by the white hair and steel gray eyes.

“Edmund?” I ask, my brows notched together at the top of my nose. “Is that you?”

“Yes, m’lady,” she says, her steel gray eyes piercing into mine with familiarity. “In your curse, you knew me as grief and rage and anger or any of the feelings you chose to discard. Now I’m love and life and happiness. I’ll always exist within you; I’m the living embodiment of the emotion you choose to feed.”

“So you’re not grief and anger and rage?”

“I am, but I just changed clothes. I’m love now.”

“And what was the answer to your riddle you told me the day Steele arrived, dear sister? It’s been plaguing me for months now.”

“It’s a secret.” She winks.

First I think she means the answer is a secret she’s not willing to tell.

But then I realize the answer issecretand I smile.

“What happened to mother?” she asks Edmund.

“The queen has died with the curse,” Edmund states, a tray of refreshments suddenly in his dainty hands. “She belonged to the curse, sadness, desperation, and despair. Because you broke that curse, m’lady, it means you’re the new queen.”

Another mirror appears in the center of the room, projecting the castle and surrounding villages. The deep, dark, dying forest blooms into green, lush, and revitalized trees. The clouds looming over the village dissipate to a crystal blue sky, and the fields and crops blossom before our eyes. Happiness and laughter return to the people, and the blight that was the Great Hunger is lifted.

“So, what does this mean?” Steele asks again, accepting the ale offered by Edmund.

“It means,” Edmund replies, offering a mug to Seraphine next, “that Reverie and Seraphine are now the reigning queens of the kingdom. And they may choose to rule however they see fit.”

I look to my sister, the strong, fierce, loyal, and loving girl.

She was always the best of us.

“You rule the kingdom, Sera,” I say softly, grasping her hands in mine.

She looks at me with disbelief. “What? Why me?”

“Because you are better for the job,” I tell her. “We both know that you will rule the kingdom with love and light and bring usinto the new era of lovely things. You’ve always been meant for the throne. Not me.”

“What will you do?” she asks, her eyes filling with tears.

I look at Steele, whose molten stare singes me to my bones. “I don’t know, maybe write a book.”

He smiles, and something dislodges within me. I don’t know what kind of life lies ahead. But I do know that meeting this man has changed me somehow. And while I learn to dislodge the ghosts from my heart, I intend to try and make room for him.

I’m blazing ice, and he’s fractured fire. Together, we create steam and chaos, fated to unravel each other’s shadows. His molten stare warms my fractured soul, and I know I’ll burn beneath him, dissolving our demons, until the world crumbles around us. I’ll willingly melt beneath him, even as the world collapses around us. And when it does, I’ll rise from the ashes as I always have. But this time, I won’t rise alone.

Steele reaches for my hand, his touch grounding me in a way I’ve never known. My sister’s tearful smile assures me I’m making the right choice.

The kingdom will flourish under her reign, and I’ll find my own path, one not dictated by curses or despair.

“Hecate Manor is home,” he says. “Our home.”

He impales me with another stare that promises me everything I want.

And for the first time, I’m free.

THE END

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