Page 73 of November Reign
Everyone, coven members, my family, our friends, witch, demon, and shifter alike, took up the chant. Three times they called it bringing tears to my eyes.
“Long may he reign!”
Epilogue
Thyme
Three Months Later
Having solved the bruisingissue with our healing spells and tonics and accidentally inventing a new anti-inflammatory by using arnica in the working, I’d managed to improve life for my witches as well as humans.
Poppy stocked the new tonics in her store, which was open again under new management. Our new arrangement gave me half the takings of the store because the potions were so successful and we were in charge of overseeing the place while she and her family remained in Abrocaelum.
Mori, with his incredible business sense, had brokered a deal to have the potions made to be shipped worldwide. This, of course, meant hiring witches to run a factory, performing the spell work to ensure each batch worked as it should. It took very little power to create a lot, soDamon took care of that. He had witches come to the factory in the demon realm, his permanent home, to work for a few days at a time. They would stay with him and Mori at their house or in one of Mori’s hotels. The ambient magic in the air helped reduce the drain on their magical wells and made their magic refill faster.
My brother-son, yeah still awkward, most of the time I called him my son, had really come into his own with potion and tonic making. He was inventing new things all the time using the unique plants of the demon realm to solve their issues. He was quite popular there. They called him the Witch Prince, which really was apt. Although he had given me around half his magic, he was still a decently powered witch. His loss at home was really felt because he was a great fighter, too.
Things for the coven were quieter, just not completely silent. We had a duty to our shifter friends to help them with their situation. The fight between the Northarbor aviary and the Sweetwater pack was growing more and more intense everyday. Sweetwater at least had more allies now, having formed new alliances with another pack and with the elves of Abrocaelum who we were friendly with since Poppy, Zinna, and Sage lived there most of the time. They even went to the prince’s wedding!
We were also supporting the Northarbor pride. They had come to our aid to help with training, so I felt like we owed them. Everything Sweetwater was finding out about the beta sickness was rocking the foundations of the pride. They had more betas come down with the sickness, but at least they knew why and the purpose of it. Rather than see it as this terrible thing, they saw it as a gift for helping us and Sweetwater.
A couple of our witches had paired up with elves and one a shifter. I was happy to encourage this. As supernaturals, we should be supporting and loving each other instead of sticking to our type. Witch, shifter, demon, elf, it didn’t matter as long as the person you loved treated you well and loved you in return.
While I figured out the bruising, Oak had his own research task. Along with some demons, mainly Barr, Cody since he wanted to focus on his demon side, and Jorgoth, he raided their archives for any clue how to end their curse.
On the day he figured it out, I went down on one knee in front of our gathered friends and family and proposed.
“Oak, we’ve been through a lot together. Hell, just getting together was something I didn’t think would happen!”
Everyone around us laughed. Oak’s grin grew.
“From the start you made me feel like anything was possible. Now here we are, months down the line, months into me running the coven, and you’ve done what no witch before you thought to do: break the curse on the demons. I’ve been waiting for the best chance to ask you to marry me, to become my husband, but what better time is there than when you are about to embark on an adventure? Will you marry me and let me come on all your adventures with you?”
“Yes.” Oak’s eyes were filled with love and joy. “I’d go anywhere, do anything, as long as I had you by my side.”
I slipped the simple silver band with the black hematite inlay onto his ring finger. The stone was grounding, good for mental clarity. It would protect Oak against negative energies. Great for when he slipped into thoughts of the past.
“Let us see the ring!” I heard someone shout, probably Damon. Zinna had helped pick the ring on one of their many visits to Northarbor.
Our friends and family crowded around, everyone asking questions.
“So when’s the wedding?” Mori asked.
“How about now? We’re all here,” Oak suggested. “Can’t let Thyme get away.”
He wanted to get married right away? Hell, yes! I would move heaven and earth to make that man mine permanently.
“Someone call City Hall!” I demanded.
Oak
A simple handfasting ceremony in the grounds of the mansion was the perfect way to marry Thyme. I was just glad he liked my suggestion of doing it right away. We rushed to City Hall right after the vows overseen by Poppy so we could do the legal bit.
I had to admit I was suspicious of the mayor himself doing the legal ceremony, but if it meant we had a rubber stamped legal marriage, then I didn’t really care.
The ring I’d picked out for Thyme came out of its hiding spot to where it belonged: on his finger, for the legal wedding. It was a silver band like mine with a lapis lazuli inlay. I thought it would look spectacular with his eyes. The stone also represented universal truth. It was powerful in helping alleviate stress,something Thyme needed as Head Witch of a large coven!
He agreed to a subtle collar in a stolen moment alone, one we’d pick out together. I spent the car ride home thinking of what would look best around his slender throat.
