Page 165 of Treasured
Luna blinked. “Didn’t I tell you?”
“No, love.” I shook my head. “You didn’t tell me that.”
I certainly would have remembered something so monumental.
She frowned. “Oh, I thought… I must have gotten lost in my head. They’re gone, Sebastian. I didn’t realize it at first, having just killed the queen and all, but I haven’t heard them since the night of the red moon.”
I blew out a breath. “That’s amazing.” I’d always hated that the voices bothered her.
“It is.” Luna started to pace. “We have so much to do, Sebastian. We need to find a new home for them.”
Sometimes it was hard to keep up with Luna when she was like this because it felt like her mind was working three steps ahead of our conversation.
“The Favorites?”
“The humans,” she corrected softly. “We need to deal with all of them, not just the ones the queen abused. I don’t want anyone in Castle Sanguis to feel like they have to stay here against their will. Any humans who want to leave should be allowed to leave at will.”
That sounded reasonable.
“Is this your first official law as queen, darling?”
She canted her head. “It is, isn’t it?” She tapped a finger on her bottom lip. “It won’t be my last, though. There’s so much we need to do. We need to free the humans, and then…”
* * *
Luna was a natural-born leader. She took to being queen like she was always meant to be in charge. By the end of the night, she had three lists started.
“One for immediate changes.” She pointed to the shortest list, which already had over twenty items. “These are items we can implement immediately. The second is for short-term projects, and the third will take us the longest.”
At the top of her list was summoning Phyrra and Marius to Castle Sanguis. That, at least, would be easy. Other items included finding new lodgings for the Favorites while we tried to track down their families. We made plans to interview all the non-vampiric servants individually to determine if they wanted to stay in Castle Sanguis.
While Luna worked on that, I conferred with the royal treasurers. It quickly became apparent that Queen Marguerite had drained the country’s coffers dry. Multiple advisors informed us that the situation with Ithenmyr was far worse than I had originally thought.
The former queen might have been unnaturally obsessed with the darkness, but there was no doubting that it was real, and the effects of the dying land would be here for a long time. I had already penned missives and sent trusted vampires to the Koln Mountains to assess the situation. One thing was certain: the Dragon Queen in Ithenmyr was brutal and would need to be stopped. Sooner or later, we’d have to deal with her.
On top of all that, I intended to have Phyrra search for any remaining members of the People of the Night. Justice would be implemented in Eleyta, and we would bring order to this country, one wayward vampire at a time.
By the time dawn was on the horizon, both Luna and I had enough tasks to last us for weeks. I wasn’t upset about it, though. On the contrary, I felt better than I had in years. We could do this. We could bring peace and stability to Eleyta, making it into the country it was always meant to be. Together, we could do anything.
We were husband and wife. Bound and Tethered partners. King and Queen of Eleyta. The Wielder of Shadows and the Sunwalker.
Two beings sharing one soul.
No one could tear us apart.
Not now.
Not ever.
First Epilogue
LUNA
A few weeks later…
A heavy arm pressed me down into the bed, and I groaned. “Sebastian, you’re pushing me into the mattress again.”
This was the fourth time I’d woken up in this position this week. Being king meant even Sebastian was more tired than normal. Running a country was not easy, and we were keeping long hours trying to sort out the mess Queen Marguerite had left in her wake.