Page 173 of Her Blood Revenge

One that we are all paying.

Earth magic is gone. The earth covens are now nothing more than strange humans clinging to odd customs and rituals. The fire coven is no more than a handful of witches living with the water coven. And the air coven has chosen to relocate to the mountains in the north, where the cold keeps most others away.

I hear they have settled well and enjoy the solitude. Leo sent us a letter. He and Thalia got married.

I roll onto my side, feeling the gentle sway of the ship I have called home for the last three months. The wood of the hull groans as it gently rocks me to sleep.

Please. Please come to me tonight.

My dreams start as they always do. In that endless field. In the rolling hills and clear blue skies, sat beneath the old oak.

I stand and look all around.

I’m alone.

But I know he has put me here. Nightmares should plague me.

But I haven’t had a single nightmare since that day.

‘Dream Walker!’ I call out. As I always do. As I always will. ‘SHAW! Are you here?!’

Only a gentle breeze answers.

So I walk. I walk, and I walk, seeking him out.

I awake in the bed, the ship slowly rocking me as I return to the land of the living. To my right, Archie is fast asleep,lying on his back with his mouth open and a light snore coming from his nose.

I sit, rubbing the sleep from my eyes, chuckling as he gives a little whine and kicks out his legs.

I tiptoe from the room and head up to the ship's deck. It’s a beautiful vessel with black sails.

When I reach my favourite place, the very front of the ship, where a mast of a woman peers out to the endless ocean before us, I stop and smile. The sea spray meets my skin and the air is so fresh, it fills my lungs with life.

I throw my legs over the side and sit, enjoying the vast freedom set before me.

A pair of arms wrap around my middle, and a face sinks into my neck.

‘Morning, Shadow Daddy,’ I greet.

‘Morning, Poppet Doll. Any luck last night?’

I shake my head.

Dorian’s back in his mortal body. Not trapped, just wearing it. We went back to get it after I decimated a good chunk of forest to heal myself. He can discard it at any time and become his shadow self.

All the souls he claimed in his time as Neve’s prisoner were released when he died. And he has not claimed a single life since that day.

He’s at peace. Tamed by love and a lust for life that he never had before.

And a bonus? He can choose to be his shadow form any time he likes.

And my oh my. The things he can do have me unable to walk for several days.

In a very good way.

‘He’ll return soon,’ he says. ‘Bepatient.’

His words offer little comfort. He’s said the same thing every day for six months.

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