Page 143 of The Prince's Mage

“Just making sure he knows her new brother is still in the room and until they are properly married by a priest, he has no intentions of leaving the two of them alone together,” Konstantin said.

Marcella laughed, shaking her head while Gavril couldn’t help his disgruntled growl. He reached up and brushed his fingers over the gold lily pin in her hair and said, “The sooner I get to take these pins off you the better. The pins and—”

“Again, I’m right here. I can still retract my approval,” Konstantin said.

Marcella’s face was flushed bright red and she buried her head into Gavril’s shoulder and said, “Gavril, please.”

He sighed and just shot Konstantin a dark look from over Marcella’s head and said, “I trust if you can arrange an adoption ceremony on short notice, you can do the same for a wedding. Not being married to my wife is starting to be really inconvenient.”

Konstantin snorted. “Considering the fact that it seems impossible to keep the two of you away from each other, I have little choice.”

Aimilia brightened at this and said in the clan language, “Perfect beginning to peace.”

Marcella lifted her head, her blush having faded to a pretty pink, and she beamed up at Gavril as she rested her left hand on his heart. He reached up and traced the lines on her skin and the band with his name on it as she spoke, “Yes. I can think of no better peace than this.”

Gavril pressed a chaste kiss to her temple, mostly for Konstantin’s benefit, and whispered, “It is good to know Asentai is out there answering prayers. For there is no other way I could be so blessed to have both the peace I dedicated my life to and you.”

Marcella said, “Quite. I’ve never been so glad as to have my prayers answered with a resounding ‘no.’ That your desire for peace was attained. Nor did I ever think I would be so blessed as to be your desire. Or that you could be mine. And so much less that we could have both.”

The fight wasn’t over. It would never be over. Life was fighting. But now it was a fight to defend and preserve what they had fought so hard for. Fighting wasn’t tired of them. It wasn’t done with them. But they weren’t fighting alone, and really… that made all the difference.

Gavril squeezed her waist. “Mea spes,you have fulfilled.”

Yes. His hope. His prayers. His love.

All of it fulfilled in his beautiful wife.

Pax Marcella.

Epilogue

NIKIAS

If Nikias had to determine what was worse, the agony Hypatia had put him through or trying to reason with his father… it was close.

But the longer he spent bedridden in the Runai army camp, arguing with his father—when his father was well enough to argue—that was slowly creeping up past Hypatia’s trial. At least Hypatia had let him go after a night.

It was worse because Nikias was under strict orders not to get up since he refused any magical healing. It was part of the treaty, and it was a matter of honor. It was the same reason he had suffered through the slow, painful natural method of healing for his broken arm until he’d discovered the ravens from the demon and had his arm healed so he could catch Marcella off guard.

And even if Nikias decided to sacrifice his honor since the demon clearly didn’t have any, he couldn’t risk it. The demon had some strange aberration of magic called Sight. He could not be certain anything he said or did was beyond her knowledge.

She’d proven quite well the things she could discover with her abilities.

And even if she didn’t have that wretched ability, he didn’t want anyone to see the few visible marks that she’d left. If even one person saw them, there was the chance it would spread. Nikias hated nothing more than being the subject of gossip.

Or worse. Pity.

He slept most of the time—too sore and exhausted for anything else—but at least he slept less than his father. Which meant Nikias was still able to overrule him as regent. At least enough to ensure Gavril’s orders were followed by the other commanders.

That was all he could do since he wasn’t entirely sure everything he saw and heard were real as opposed to a dream. But it was enough to make sure the camp didn’t fall apart and that he got his way on the important things.

It was precisely how Nikias was going to a Sordes temple three weeks after the treaty had been finalized.

He couldn’t even say it had been finalized with his blood like he’d anticipated. He hadn’t bled a drop.

No. That would have been too kind for the Desero demon.

He and Gavril had argued about whether or not Nikias would travel with the entourage until Nikias had passed out. Still, he’d won.

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