Page 147 of Crown of Wrath

“Good,” he says as he pulls away. “Then go take care of your kingdom, Queen Maeve. We’ll be fine. And remember to spend time with your husband occasionally. He’s a good man.”

Cole can’t help but grin at that comment, and Da turns away to walk back to my mother. He takes her arm in his, and they walk toward Blackgrove, smiling the whole way.

“It’s everything she ever wanted,” I say. “My Da with none of the responsibilities of her Throne. She’s tired, just like your father. Maybe when it’s time for us to give up our Thrones, we can become human, and you’ll get the chance to struggle to make a fire for once.”

Cole’s chuckle warms me. “That’d be terrible. No, I think I’d rather just go to the void than have to use flint and steel.”

I slap him on the arm playfully, and he takes my hand in his. But instead of walking toward the peace and serenity of Blackgrove, we walk away from it. Back to a world that’s about to change. Back to the fear of death and destruction. Back toThrones and Crowns and a world that needs our strength and guidance.

I look up at the sky and frown. Standing at the top of Skycrest, I am at the top of the world, but even now, I don’t know what I’m seeing. A fog of some sort blots out just a little bit of the sunlight. Everything else seems normal, and I don’t even know if anyone else has noticed the difference. I hadn’t until Zephyra told me something had changed.

Now I’m worried. Cole stands beside me, his hand in mine, and he sighs. “This is just the beginning of the changes, isn’t it?”

I nod. “I think it’s what Calyr did. I think it’s how he’s hiding us. Or maybe it’s something the gods are doing.”

“That makes sense. But if it’s blocking the sun, is it affecting anything else? Is it going to affect the plants or animals?”

I shrug. There’s no way to know what something that major could do. “It has to be Calyr, and I doubt he’d do anything that would disrupt the world quite to that extent. He had to have looked into the future to see what would happen.”

Cole presses himself against me, and that’s when I realize I was shivering. Not because I’m cold or even because I’m afraid. No, there’s nothing to fear, because the only thing that scares me is losing Cole. But I feel a little helpless, and just like the night that I fought the harpies in Blackgrove, I’m realizing that I’m not as strong as I thought I was.

Cole isn’t shivering, though. “It’s going to be okay,” he says confidently. “I know it is. We’ve done so many impossible things. Maybe that’s just the theme of our lives. I have no idea how we’ll deal with the problems that wrap around us in the future,but there is one thing I’m sure of. You’re with me, and that’s all that matters. The worst thing that could happen is that we die. I’ve already done that, and the only thing terrible about it was that you weren’t there with me. So instead of worrying, let’s go into this new era of Nyth with smiles on our faces and a new appreciation for the things that matter.”

Just like the very first time I met Cole, when he smiled after I’d nearly died in the fight with those harpies, I feel a warmth flow through me I hadn’t known was possible. It warms me and protects against the fear and worry that have plagued me since I stood up against Calyr. I feel like I can stand tall against whatever comes our way as long as that warmth flows through my body, and I smile up at the man that I love.

“I think you’re right. You know that this is going to hurt, though, don’t you?”

And that makes an even bigger grin cross his face. “That’s my line!”

I let him pick me up, and I wrap my legs around his waist as he does so. The world seems to pause as we stand at the top of the world, above even the clouds, and we stare into each other’s eyes.

We both know that this is a turning point. The world around us is changing, but it doesn’t matter. We learned to embrace the pain of flames and the coldness of exhaustion. We’ve already fought against insurmountable odds, and each time, we’ve come out stronger.

This is no different.

Except that this time, no one is going to push us apart. Until the end, we’ll fight side by side, and in a world where love used to be a weakness, that’s all either of us would ever want. We were never meant to live a life of peace in the forest. We weren’t meant to spend thousands of years watching sunsets and taking walks.

We were given the power to fight for this world, and we’ve both found our greatest joy doing exactly that. We can rest when we go back to the void, but until then, we’ll fight. Together. And we’ll show the world that love is the greatest strength anyone could hope for.

Epilogue

In every moment of transition, a handful of souls will rise to the forefront of history. They are the ones who will bear the torch through the darkness. They will choose the road, and all we can do is hope that the path they lead us down is one that leads to salvation rather than destruction. It is far easier to lay down the torch and become another monster. Yet, all we can do is put our faith in these light-bearers, in the ones who bring the dawn.

Without them, we are lost in the darkness.

~Sia, the first free djinn, The Future of Magic and Dragons

50 years later

Today is a day of celebration, a day of respite from the battles waged across Nyth. Today is a day of true peace, the first since the world changed. Everyone is gathered in the courtyard of the Keep of Earth.

It is said that a hard life creates hard men. It is said that only flames can strengthen the sword, and only battle can truly teach men to become warriors. Nyth has become that battleground, that flame to strengthen the steel in all the creatures that prepare for the coming storm.

It is no longer the world that Maeve and Cole fought so hard to protect. It has become a world meant for a single purpose: to strengthen the heart, the arm, and the blade of its population. The enemy comes, and only through this single-minded pursuit of strength will the inhabitants of Nyth survive.

But on this day, everyone has agreed to stop fighting in celebration of a child’s birth. Azric Cyrus, the son of Maeve and Cole, is being presented to the world for the first time, and everyone was invited. Save one.

In a cradle made of moss agate lays a child resting on a bed of shadows, a smile on his face. Maeve and Cole never stray from the cradle, but also do not interfere when guests come to see the baby, as has been the custom of the nobility of Draenyth for millennia.

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