Page 350 of A Flame of the Phoenix

Faythe carried the Phoenix egg into the castle, right to the library. The glass case that had once held the large Phoenix feather of Atherius was gone, but the velvet bed for it was still there. It was Reylan who approached, bringing the new feather Atherius had left behind and placing it over the velvet. The first glimpse of restoring all that was tarnished.

She would replace the glass and add an extra measure of protection with her magick, but for now, she was content to leave it.

Dusk was falling by the time Faythe visited the Glass Garden. To her relief, most of it was intact. She’d prepared herself to find it destroyed by Malin’s bitter wrath, but the perfect blooms of the white roses shone bright like a hundred moons under the falling night.

Her fingers skimmed the soft petals. Reylan’s presence hung nearby, but he let her have a moment of reflective silence. This was her mother’s garden, and her father had preserved it for decades in her memory. Faythe looked up at the darkening sky awakening with stars, and warmth spilled over her as though they were watching her, their spirits strongest in this shared space.

“Your Majesty,” a castle guard interrupted.

Faythe turned to him, giving a nod to speak.

“I was wondering what you would like us to do with the body of Malin Ashfyre.”

She tensed at his name for just a second, but then it dissolved into…sorrow.

“He will be commemorated in the catacombs with his royal ancestors,” Faythe said.

She felt the guard’s hesitation to question her about it. Most knew what he’d done, but Faythe was certain about where to place him.

“Of course, Your Majesty.” The guard bowed and left.

Reylan approached her from behind. His arms slipped around her, and she leaned back into him. “Your heart is too golden for this world,” he murmured.

“Malin did unspeakable things. I will never forgive it and I plan to forget him in my own history. He’s been lain to rest because of Nyte. Though he didn’t get to know his half-brother, he understood his spiral into evil in a way none of us could. So in Nyte’s memory, I did it for him.”

Reylan’s lips pressed to the top of her head. “I think you made the right decision.”

Faythe turned in his arms, taken by the picturesque sight of him as he always looked mesmerizing in moonlight. It turned his hair a brilliant white and lightened his sapphire eyes to shine more brilliantly that any diamond.

She ran her hands up his chest. “You really are stuck with me now, Reylan Arrowood Ashfyre.”

His unguarded smile was a token of treasure.

“You’re really so impatient,” he mused.

Faythe was about to question what he meant, but he produced something from the inside of his jacket, and she gasped.

Reylan took her hand, slipping the cool metal around her marital finger. Faythe admired the ring: a gold band cradled a ruby diamond, simple but triumphant. “It was your mother’s.She left it behind, and Agalhor kept it all this time. He wanted me to give it to you.”

Tears welled in her eyes. “It’s perfect.”

“But I wanted you to have something that was just ours as well.”

He took her hand again, slipping a second ring onto her marital finger. Her tears spilled over this time when she saw the delicate gold butterfly. Somehow, the bottom wings fanned perfectly around the ruby diamond behind it, as if the two rings were always meant to exist as a pair. It wasn’t the same as the one she’d had before, but that was what made it even more special. It was a tribute to their past, but a hope for their future.

Faythe met his eyes with blurry vision. “You’re perfect,” she whispered.

Reylan took her face in her hands and kissed her with fierce promise. “I’m yours, Faythe Arrowood Ashfyre. Your best friend, your mate, your consort, your husband. This day…until the very end of days.”

The End.

EPILOGUE ONE

Faythe sat in the presence of everyone she held dear at the grand round council table in Dalrune. Without a royal family, a year following their victory in the Darkest Hour War, the rulers of Ungardia had come to the unanimous decision that it would be a free land; a neutral ground. A lot of dark fae left without a home after the collapse of the Mortus Mountains had chosen to reside here. It would be a place for fae, dark fae, and humans to coexist under a governing body appointed by each of the rulers from the six surrounding kingdoms.

Their annual meetings to discuss kingdom and continent matters would be held right here, at this table, where they all sat as equals, on land that belonged to all of them and none of them.

At least…it hadalmostbeen unanimous. They were missing one ruling vote.

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