Page 159 of Treasured

Then, the queen’s body split apart into ash. A brisk wind blew, and her body… disappeared.

The enormity of the situation slammed into me. She was dead. Gone. After all these years, she just… died.

I stared at the gray stain that had been the queen seconds before.

A life reduced to nothing.

“Sebastian—”

Luna’s next words never came.

The ground shook. Magic rippled, and an enormous wave of power washed over me. I stumbled back from the force of it. Our fighting leathers stitched themselves together, and the dirt and grime covering us vanished. My power was replenished.

When the magic was gone, there wasn’t a single mark of the battle we’d just fought.

Although Luna had no physical markings of the fight, her hands clenched and unclenched at her sides. Small tremors ran through her, growing in strength until she was shaking uncontrollably.

Luna raised wide eyes to me. “She’s… I… the queen…”

I shadowed over to Luna and gathered her in my arms. “I’ve got you.” And I would never let her go.

She continued to tremble. “Did you see… I just… the light.”

“I saw.” I kissed her forehead, her nose, her mouth. “You did it.”

“I did it,” Luna echoed, her voice tinged with disbelief. “She’s dead?”

“Yes, darling.” My arms tightened around her. “The queen is dead.”

Eleyta’s throne was empty.

But not for long.

There was one thing left to do before the challenge could officially be declared complete. But we wouldn’t go yet. Not until Luna was ready. Rules be damned. My wife was more important.

She pressed her head against my chest. “I didn’t think… When I fell… I thought…”

“I know.” At that moment, when the dagger had pierced her chest, I’d known true fear. “But you did it. You killed her.”

I rubbed her back slowly, murmuring nothing in particular, until Luna’s tremors slowed.

Lifting my wrist, I brought it to her mouth. “Drink.”

She looked up from my tunic, raising her own wrist in a silent demand. I took it without arguing. This wasn’t the time for a fight, and I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t hungry. Together we replenished our strength. Once we were full and the shadows’ song had returned louder than ever, I held Luna close.

I was drawing on my shadows, preparing to return to Castle Sanguis, when the ground shook again. The snow beneath our feet cracked, and the strangest thing happened.

A stem poked through the snow. Two. Twenty. Hundreds. In the space that it took to draw breath, Hoarfrost Hollow was covered in them. They defied the laws of nature, blooming as soon as buds grew.

Within minutes, crimson roses filled Hoarfrost Hollow. They stretched as far as I could see in all directions.

They were… beautiful.

Strange.

New.

Luna’s hand dug into my side. “What does it mean?”