Page 89 of Stitches
“You’re not so scary for a demon,” Kenner said. “Brax was the scary one.”
Ashmedai hugged the boy back, overwhelmed by his response.
The others swarmed closer, and though Kenner eventually ran back to his parents, the overall look of acceptance on everyone’s faces didn’t change.
“It was my fault,” Ashmedai said, the mantra he’d told himself for a thousand years.
“Really? Didn’t sound that way to me.” Daedlys floated out of thecrowd with a smirk on his translucent face. “Kenner said it right. You only looked frightening all those years ago because we didn’t yet know what a real monster looked like. Even if Brax hadn’t interfered, sounds like the curse started as a misunderstanding and poor choices all around. You think we’d blame you for that after all this time?”
Another laugh left Levi, drawing Ashmedai to look at him, still close at his side. Levi’s smile was somber, but he spoke plainly as he faced Ashmedai. “You loved someone, that’s all. You loved this place and its people. All these years, you’ve taken responsibility for something that wasn’t within your control, but knowing the truth doesn’t change who you are or how we feel about you.”
“You are our king,” Yentriss affirmed, standing beside Grillo. She rustled her son’s hair, and then stepped forward to drop to one knee with her head bowed.
Grillo and Kenner followed, and like a ripple starting from the front of the crowd and spreading backward, everyone began to kneel, revealing just how many people filled the length of the road, all willing to believe in Ashmedai still.
Something similar had happened once, all those years ago, when Ashmedai carried Braxton from the wood. It hadn’t felt earned then. Ashmedai didn’t know if he’d ever feel like he’d earned it, but he bowed back in acceptance of the heartwarming gesture.
“Thank you. All of you.”
As the people began to rise, Klarent, up front by his husband, suddenly said, “Oh dear, my gift was in terribly poor taste, wasn’t it?”
Daedlys laughed, and Ashmedai finally had to laugh too.
“My friend,” Ashmedai called to Klarent, “I think I can forgive you.”
Before anything more could be said, the clouds that had blocked out the sun proved to be only clouds, just as the barrier had proven to still be crossable.
Snow began to fall, at first only a few lazily drifting flakes, and thenmore, bringing everyone’s attention toward the sky, and turning what easily could have been renewed mourning back to celebration.
The people started heading down the path toward home, enjoying the new snowfall as much as they had the sun.
“Ash.” Levi stopped him from following and held Ashmedai’s hands between them. “There’s one more thing I need to say. Please don’t think my love for you isn’t real. I stopped taking the draught days ago, and my love only grew stronger. I love you because of our time together, because of everything I learned of you, because ofyou. I refuse to second-guess that just because of what Braxton said.
“Please tell me you won’t either. You found my soul and knew my heart even when I was nothing but a dying light. And I reached out to you….” He raised one hand to hold Ashmedai’s face. “Because I love you.”
“I know,” Ashmedai said without an ounce of doubt. Everything Levi had spoken was how Ashmedai felt too. His only regret was that the lessons he’d learned from loving and losing Cullen, and then loving and being loved by Levi, hadn’t been something Braxton could learn too. “Never doubt, my darling, that I also love you,” he asserted and kissed Levi soundly.
Chapter 12
Levi
Levihadnoneedto hide his face with a hood as he headed toward the market. After all, he didn’t think himself ugly, even if, compared to everyone else in the Shadow Lands, he was almost… ordinary.
Especially without his stitches.
Although he was very fond of the permanent ink he’d had etched around his neck, mimicking the way the stitches there had once looked. It honored his past life, because he wasn’t Leander anymore, though the memories remained. He was Levi, and he felt more fulfilled and complete in the Shadow Lands than he had ever been allowed to be in Emerald.
Of course, it helped that Levi was walking through town with the Shadow King’s hand clasped in his own, having left from the castle instead of his once-home in the tower.
One consequence of the Onyx gemstone’s destruction was that the rest of Braxton’s black crystals no longer worked. Levi could only hope that meant all the souls captured over the years had been freed, even if they didn’t have living bodies to return to like he had.
When the time was right, Levi did plan to visit his mother and inquire after his brother, Leslie. Maybe he would even visit the Diamond Kingdom to find out what had become of his father. At the very least, he wanted to give Leslie the music box, but the life he would live from now on would still be this one—with Ashmedai.
The usual crowd had gathered in the area before the market steps, waiting at the end of the long road that led out of their lands. Today was delivery day, when the carriages from Emerald would arrive.
The festival stalls had all been taken down, their lumber added to other structures or put away to be used again next year. Some remnants of the festival remained, like a string or two of crystal lights, but for the most part, the festivities were complete.
Everyone had already agreed that the tradition would continue, however. They knew the full story now, but the impact that night had had on all their lives was the same.
