Page 165 of Of Serpents and Ruins
I also loved how she looked. She’d cleaned up and put on a fresh dress, pale lavender with a violet belt. Her rich-blue hair hung down to her shoulders, loose and soft. Her smell was more natural now, only hints of the smoke, ash, and sulfur of the volcano with a bit of salt and the faintest whiff of soap and grapefruit. Her golden-tan skin with gold fern-like patterns was exactly as it had once been. If I hadn’t had to live through the past horrific fifty years, I might have believed she never left at all.
She quirked her mouth at me. Her golden eyes flecked with amber sparkled. "Well, yes. You know, you mocha me crazy."
"What’s a mocha?" I cocked my eyebrow at her as I placed my hands on her waist. Now that I no longer had to fear murdering her, all I wanted to do was touch and hold her. My thumbs stroked circles along her sides.
"Something delicious that I’m going to make for you at some point. Once we trade with someone to get chocolate. Do we grow cacao beans? I think we do." Her expression pinched, her eyebrow arching playfully to mirror my own. She leaned against me, her soft breasts pressing to my torso. "Anyway, it’s going to happen. Now that I know what chocolate is, we’re going to be having it more often."
My mouth twisted into a crooked smile. How had she gotten more perfect in her time away? The softness in her gaze as she stared up at me, the gentleness in her manner, the sharpness of her wit. She was perfection. I had fallen in love with her over and over again in the time I courted and then married her. And I had the chance to fall in love with her over and over again now and for the rest of our days.
The burn of tears against the backs of my eyes intensified. "You are so beautiful."
Her breath sharpened. Her tongue flicked at her lips. "And you are incredibly, remarkably, wondrously handsome."
My arm tightened around her waist, pulling her closer. "Do you know what happens next?"
She nodded, biting her tongue as her eyebrows flicked upward. "Oh…do tell."
"I’m going to finish cleaning up from the battle. Then I’m going to make sweet love to you until you can’t walk. Or we reach Castle Serpentfire. In which case, we’ll retire to our bedchambers where I’ll resume my attentions so you cannot walk." The excitement that surged through me was enough to counter the fatigue.
"Big talk." She grinned. "I’ll assume you know where to go clean up. And I’ll be waiting for you."
I kissed her once more, savoring her warmth and her sweetness. Then I went to clean up. My limbs grew heavier. The peacefulness of success merged with contentment as I scrubbed the ash and soot and blood away. And when I returned to the cabin, I beheld my beloved. She lay on her side, snoring with her arm thrown over her eyes to block the light from the curtains. Her rounded nose was pushed up, and a little bit of drool moistened the pillow.
She was perfect.
Gently, I climbed onto the bed beside her. Her heat reached me, seeping into my muscles as I pulled her close and brought her butt against my groin. She grunted, her snore gurgling a moment. Then she tucked her head down and pushed her butt harder against me. Oh. I was…I was so aroused and exhausted.
I wrapped my arms around her and held her close. She tucked her icy feet in between my legs. Abyssal damnation, that hadn’t taken her long. How could her feet be this cold this fast? I grunted at her in protest but didn’t even try to shift away.
It was so peaceful. I’d just give her a little bit to rest. Then I’d wake her with a kiss. My eyelids slid shut. I held her close. Just a little rest and…
STELLA
A FEW WEEKS LATER
Drums beat a rapid rhythm to prepare for my entrance. I stood beneath an obsidian archway over a pressed white stone path that led to a dais on the edge of the jagged red cliffs. Brandt waited for me at the end, framed by the burnished bronze sunset.
Oh, yes. That was my Brandt. Stance broad, chin lifted high, a faint smile tugged at the corners of his mouth.
Behind him, poles affixed with black, red, and gold scarves stood, the wind tugging at the fabric. Two large pots—one black, red, and gold and another blue, white, and gold—sat on either side of the dais.
I leaned forward on Buttercup’s crest to peer into the crowd from my hidden vantage point at the back of the path, recognizing so many friends and loved ones. People I had once forgotten. People who were as dear to me as life.
The past days had been full of meetings and reunions. My people welcomed me back with open arms, though some chafed at the fact I had not come to them or a Kropelkian household for aid. Some of the factions remained uncertain. Proof regarding my identity required performing multiple rituals and tremendous patience. And the memorials for those who hadfallen for Sepeazia wearied and grieved me. But all of that was worth it, and far better than the alternative of not being here at all.
Now was the time to celebrate and mark the opening of a new chapter in our lives. Tomorrow the hard work began anew, including plans to restore Taivren from the depths. Soon we would also travel to meet with the other royals who had sacrificed themselves and returned from death. And Brandt had promised me we would go to meet his two friends, Hadeon of the Elves and Kieran of the Winter Fae.
Even more wonderful, I’d discovered that Evera, my dear, sweet, beautiful friend, was one of the eight sacrifices just like me. She too had returned, alive and was thrust into the middle of danger and struggle. But all was well now. In fact, she’d told me through the water mirror that she was expecting! Soon we’d get together and she’d tell me all about her harrowing adventures and wolfish love, and I’d tell her all I had been through as well.
We all had so much to look forward to.
"Stop shifting forward like that," Kine scolded lightly as he smoothed the long train down and kept it from getting tangled or caught on Buttercup’s foreleg.
I glanced back at him and then sat sidesaddle on Buttercup’s neck once more. "So bossy," I muttered. "Don’t you know I’m about to be a queen?"
"You already are a queen," he chuckled. "And you look every inch of one."
I blushed a little. Though I could have had many servants to help me, I’d wanted to do it myself. Kine, however, insisted on being there, and he fussed over me more than I had expected.
