My heart kicks in my chest at the heat in his eyes. My whole heart. A real beat that sends a wash of starlight all of the way to my toes.
The moments we spend together at the beginning and end of each day are some of the few we have to ourselves. I am awake at night and Nathaniel is awake during the day. Given how early it is, he must have woken up and come straight here. The quiet space in the forest is ours alone. It’s not a law, but the fae and humans don’t come here. They call it my garden. Some fae are even afraid of it because of the magic that thrums through every leaf, flower, and especially the bees.
Nathaniel leans against the nearest tree as he allows Flare to graze in the clearing.
I hide my smile, bending again to the flower, but another bee stops me. They like visiting the flowers each morning. They don’t like me disturbing them.
“Curse the stars,” I whisper, attempting to reach around the creature—which doesn’t budge—before I rise and plant my hands on my hips in defeat.
Nathaniel grins at me. “I can help you,” he says, an echo of his offer to help when we first met and I was trying to carry Evander to his thunderbird.
I smile. “I want to give one to Talsa and Evander as a Spring Pairing gift tonight. So they can grow them around their home in the Grove.”
The silver flowers are unique to this forest, a result of my explosive power on the night of the battle. The silver vines trail between the trees and beyond the forest to cover the flower fields. They quietly twine over the graves that rest there. Every human, hunter, and fae who died in the battle is buried at the western end of the field with a stone to mark their final resting places. Even Imatra and Cyrian. It was Nathaniel’s first act as King to treat all of the dead equally.
Nathaniel prowls toward me, apparently abandoning his intention to give me space—or to help me—but I don’t mind at all. Every moment we snatch together is precious.
With a smile on my lips, I wait for him to reach me.
His arms slide around me, his golden fleece soft against my skin as he draws it around my shoulders and wraps me inside it with him.
It’s still cold in the mornings, but I never notice until I feel the contrast of his warmth. That’s when I remember my human side—the parts of Nathaniel that my heart stole from him. When he first gave me back the sliver of my heart that he carried for all of those years, I thought he was the only one to benefit from my heart. But my encounter with the keepers made me realize how much light magic I control because of Nathaniel. Also how human my heart is.
A month after the battle, I sought out the Vanem Dragon to ask him what would have happened if Nathaniel had died instead of me. The dragon told me that there was nothing already written in the Law of Champions to govern that situation because Imatra had no living family and no clear heir. I would have had to choose the outcome and write that part of the Law myself. The idea horrified me—that I could dictate someone’s life, maybe even their death. Nathaniel once told me that pulling a single thread of the old law could cause the whole web to collapse. As far as I’m concerned, creating a new thread is just as dangerous.
I shake off the memories as I enjoy Nathaniel’s warmth.
His dark eyes were always shadowed, but now my light reveals every inky fleck in his irises.
I reach up to plant a kiss on his lips, inhaling his scent. Comforting. Irritating because I want more of it.
“How was your night?” he asks, capturing me so that his lips brush mine. He asks me the same question every morning. He wants to know how I am, but I focus on what’s happened first.
“Peaceful,” I murmur. “Talsa’s gown is ready for tonight. The feast is going to be huge. No intrigues to report. Oh! Evander gave me a message for you.”
“Hmm?” Nathaniel casts me a questioning look, but the kisses he plants on my cheek and chin tell me he’s more interested in me.
“He says it’s time for you to choose a thunderbird.”
Nathaniel pauses.
I grin as his startled gaze meets mine.
Nathaniel has been riding Flare within Fell country—which we now call New Bright—but flying Treble when he needs to travel long distances, including within Bright itself. He asked me about choosing his own bird, but it was a cautious idea.
“Do the other fae support Evander’s suggestion?” Nathaniel asks. His second act as the King was to form an advisory council made up of elected representatives from each fae class plus an equal number of elected human representatives. He made it very clear that their role is advisory only—he doesn’t always follow their suggestions—but he treads very carefully when it comes to fae traditions and beliefs.
“They support it.”
“Even the Solstice fae?”
“Especially the Solstice fae,” I say. “They value strength, Nathaniel. Imatra manipulated and dominated them. You are forthright, clear about your expectations, and you don’t play favorites.” My smile grows. “You could also kill all of them—even without the light. They respect that.”
I rest my chin against his chest as I look up at him.
He casts me the look of a warrior king. “I’ll climb the peaks tomorrow.”
“Good,” I whisper, pressing a kiss to the underside of his chin.
He groans, his arms tightening around me and his voice lowering like a growling wolf. “I missed you in our bed this morning.”
I give him a sultry smile. “There’s plenty of soft ground here.”
He casts a glance askew at the flower I was trying to pick and the congregation of bees hovering around it. “If we want bee stings in nasty places.”
I laugh, tugging myself out of his arms, but I catch hold of his hand. His right palm still carries the burn marks from my death, the shape of my heart imprinted forever on his hand.
“How about over here, then?” I wrap my fingers around his and draw him toward the nearest tree—and then around it. On the other side, the canopy above us descends like the fronds of whisper willows, creating a much smaller, shadowed clearing that is fully carpeted across the bottom with gleaming silver flowers. Despite the dawn, it could be twilight in this enclosed space.
Nathaniel pauses in the opening, his voice hushed. “When did you do this?”
“In between taking messages for you from Evander and having a long conversation with your sister—”
“Christiana?”
“Unless you have another sister, yes.”
He gives me a quizzical look. He knows I’m deflecting, but what Christiana and I spoke about is between us.
Abandoning his questions, Nathaniel draws me into his arms, the heat in his eyes increasing. “Here is perfect.”
His lips nudge mine briefly before trailing across my jaw and down my neck, exploring the curve at the top of my breasts.
An hour later, even the thick canopy above us can’t stop the increasing brightness of the sun. All of New Bright will wake up soon and there’s no escaping all of the responsibilities Nathaniel has now. I watch over his kingdom at night, but the hardest work is done during the day and also at twilight when both the Sunstream and Eventide fae are awake.
Even so, I pull Nathaniel’s fleece over both of us as we lie on the bed of flowers, tugging the wool up over our heads to block out the growing light. My glow builds, casting across Nathaniel’s broad shoulders and muscled arms. My magic still pulses through him from the time he carried my heart. In time, it might fade, but I don’t think so. Every time I touch him, I give him a little more of my light—and at the same time, he gives me a little of his light too.