Page 170 of Wrath

I brought my hands to my stomach, which had just started to show. A tiny, barely noticeable bump pushed at my dress.

“I should probably start heading down,” Atta said, flicking her gaze towards the clock on my bedroom wall.

As one of the shifter representatives—elected only a few days prior—Atta was required to oversee the coronation, along with the others. I didn’t know all of the representatives, but I knew some. Atta, for example, but also Phineas, the mermaid whose boat we traveled on and who joined the resistance. Jolene, the sweet, elderly shifter and healer. Dair’s sister, Angelica, who finally felt comfortable leaving her underwater territory and venturing to the capital. Stefan, the human who helped lead the resistance, and B, my oldest friend and mentor.

None of the original representatives were elected back into office.

Things were changing, and I could only hope it was for the better.

“Let’s go,” I said to Mali, clutching the edges of my dress.

Then, without another word, I stepped out of my room, prepared to face my destiny head-on.

SIXTY-FIVE

Z

Eight Months Later

My wedding was a small affair, though I knew the council would’ve preferred it be large and grand as a way to boost morale. However, that wasn’t what my mates and I wanted. We were already connected in every way that mattered. A wedding was just a formality.

Only our closest friends and family members attended.

There were no nerves in my stomach as I pledged myself to my mates. I knew that they were my forever.

Once the wedding ended, all of us moved to our house to celebrate.

We chose to live close to the capitol building, in a home with ten bedrooms. We wanted the option to have our own space, if necessary, though the majority of the time, my mates stayed in my room, in a bed that went from wall to wall. I liked having them close. Feeling their arms around me. Breathing in their distinct scents.

For the wedding’s after-party, Mali and Atta had transformed the basement. Fairy lights dangled from rafters, and they’d set up a large table, boasting an assortment of tiny foods and desserts. A live orchestra performed in the corner on a slightly raised stage.

Mali and Atta had truly outdone themselves.

After the wedding, I’d changed out of my white dress and into something a little more comfortable. This particular dress stopped just below my knees and rippled like water when I moved, the color more silver than white, sparkling like the stars themselves had been plucked from the sky. I’d wanted to wear my usual fighting leathers, but Mali insisted.

Besides, the dress felt amazing against my skin.

“You look beautiful, my love.” Dair wrapped his arms around my waist from behind and pulled me flush against his chest.

His lips teased my earlobe, and warmth flared low in my belly.

“And you look dashing, husband.” I turned in his arms, biting my lower lip as I surveyed him from head to toe.

His gray suit clung to his muscular frame in a way I was almost jealous of. A blue tie—the color almost the exact same shade as his aquamarine eyes—had come slightly undone, hanging loose around his neck.

And he was walking.

After the kings’ execution, we retrieved the bones from their bodies—along with the bones of a deceased shadow king. Bash and Paco worked together to create a mixture that would enable Dair to walk permanently.

I knew that Dair didn’t need to have two working legs for me to love him, but I also understood that this wasn’t about me. It wasn’t even about him. He had come to accept himself as he was, yet a part of him still craved what he’d lost. What his malicious father and brothers had taken away from him.

And finally, he’d gotten it back.

“I’ll never get tired of hearing you say that,” Dair murmured, planting a chaste kiss to the tip of my nose.

“Hearing her say what?” Ryland materialized in a horde of shadows directly over the mermaid’s shoulders.

Slowly, his features began to pop into existence—first his piercing blue eyes, then his slightly crooked nose, then the scars marring the skin of his cheek, then his shoulders, and finally the rest of him.

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