Page 83 of The Second Sight
Seven knelt beside me, his cool hand on my shoulder offering silent support. Brooklyn approached cautiously, her face streaked with tears and dirt, and knelt at my other side. No one spoke. There were no words for this moment. This loss that cut across worlds and realms.
In the distance, sirens wailed, human authorities responding to what they would never understand. Around us, the battlefield grew still, leaving only the dead, and those who mourned them.
I held my mother as the fairy death song washed over us all, binding us together in grief and forever changing what I understood about family, about sacrifice, and about love.
Epilogue
SEVEN
Iwatched the flames consume Theia’s body. After four centuries of existence, I’d attended more funerals than I cared to count, but this one cut deeper than most. Not because I mourned Theia, a fairy I’d barely known, but because her death had carved such visible pain into the face of the woman I loved. Kasi stood before the pyre, her fingers intertwined with her half-sister’s, their matching profiles illuminated by the fire that reduced their mother to ash.
The crematorium was silent except for the crackling flames and occasional sob from Kei’Mani. Kasi and Kei’Mani stood shoulder to shoulder before the pyre, a study in mirrored grief. I noticed how their bodies unconsciously leaned toward each other, as if the shared blood flowing through their veins created a magnetic pull that not even tragedy could disrupt. In those matching tear-streaked faces, I saw reflections of Theia.
“We should give them some privacy,” murmured Zander Valentine from beside me. He was one of the few vampires I respected. “Come, friend.”
I nodded, reluctant to take my eyes from Kasi yet understanding the need for distance. We moved silently across the floor to the far side of the crematorium.
“You’ve entangled yourself deeply this time,” Zander observed once we were out of earshot of the mourning sisters. “A half-fae mate, her fairy relatives demanding access to your territory, and your first wife returned from the dead. Most would consider that... complicated.”
I smiled grimly, my eyes still fixed on Kasi’s profile across the room. “When has my existence ever been simple? Four hundred years of complications, each century bringing new ones.”
“True enough,” Zander conceded. “But these particular complications concern me. The Bambara Brotherhood will return. Desmond Moreau won’t forgive the death of his son or the escape of his prisoner.” He referred to Basirah, of course. My wife. My first love. The woman I’d believed dead for over a century.
“Let them come,” I said, my voice hardening. “Next time, I’ll be ready. Next time, I’ll finish what I started.” The hatred I felt for Desmond Moreau had only deepened after discovering what he’d done to Basirah, the decades of torture and experimentation she’d endured while I mourned and sought vengeance for a death that never happened.
“And what of the half-fae girl? The Yumboe will want to claim her, especially now that her wings are emerging.”
My gaze returned to Kasi, studying her form with possessive intensity.
“Kasi will make her own choice,” I replied, knowing with certainty that she would choose me. Our blood bond, formed in passion and strengthened in battle, created a connection that transcended the physical realm. “The yumboe can advise, but they cannot command her.”
I studied her across the crematorium, noting the subtle changes that had transformed her since our first meeting. Her posture was straighter now, more confident despite the weight of grief. Her eyes, even swollen with tears, held a focus andclarity that spoke of newfound purpose. She no longer moved with the hesitant steps of someone uncertain of her place in the world.
The fire reached its zenith, momentarily flaring brighter as it consumed the last of Theia’s physical form. The flames reflected in Kasi’s tears, turning them to liquid gold that matched the color of her eyes. I remembered how those eyes had widened in shock when she saw me feeding on a human in the FOY nightclub restroom.
“The woman has changed you,” Zander observed quietly.
I didn’t deny it. How could I? Kasi had awakened something in me I’d thought long dead. She awakened a capacity for hope beyond the endless cycle of feeding, fighting, and surviving that had defined my immortal existence. Even with Basirah returned from her living death, even with the complications of fairy politics and vampire alliances, I found myself looking forward to each night rather than merely enduring the passage of time.
“She carries the face of your first love,” Zander continued, watching me closely. “Does that not trouble you? The resemblance between them?”
I shook my head slightly. “They share blood, yes. And features. Kasi is Basirah’s long-lost relative, a true doppelgänger. But Kasi is... different. More human in the ways that matter, despite her fairy heritage.”
I turned back to Zander, aware that dawn was fully upon us now, the sunlight growing stronger through the stained glass. “We should conclude this ceremony. The sun rises, and there are arrangements to be made.”
The vampire who longed to be king nodded, understanding all that remained unspoken between us. As the last of Theia’s ashes cooled, I moved back toward Kasi, ready to support her through the next phase of her grief and her transformation.
