If anything, it might have been strengthened.
As the blood seeped into Knox’s clothing and flesh, the ground around him once again began to rumble. A bright, ethereal tendril of magic wrapped around his arms and legs, then extended toward the pack. Foust’s, Brunton’s, and Liam’s ankles were soon entwined, their bodies connected with the now-glowing aura. The energy pulsed from Knox to them, and everyone nearby stepped back as whatever magic or life-force the alpha—the Original imbued with the fey king’s power—had possessed transferred from his body to theirs.
“What’s happening?” Jagger asked, panic in his eyes at the thought of losing them as well. But before he could lunge for them, Grizz wrapped his arm around Jagger’s shoulders and hauled him back.
“Just wait,” Kat said, her eyes fixed on Foust, Liam, and Brunton.
As quickly as the transfer had started, it stopped. The magical tendril that had connected them slithered away and was absorbed again into the ground.
“What the fuck was that?” Brunton asked.
“I don’t know…” Judging by the confusion in Foust’s voice, he really didn’t.
But Liam did. He turned to them and smiled. “The magic—both his and the fey king’s—has shared itself with us,” he explained, even though it didn’t really make any sense. “All that made him Knox—made him the heir to the fey king, a cunning detector of lies, and the powerful alpha you knew him to be—has been given to us.”
“But how can you know that?” Foust asked, stepping toward Liam.
“Simple. I can feel it.”
Brunton’s eyes went wide. “Truth…”
Liam’s smile widened. “So, Brunton has received his truth-detecting gift. Can you not feel the call of the alpha coursing through you now, Foust? That strength and desire to lead and protect those in your pack?”
“I’ve always felt that,” he replied with an edge to his tone.
“And that is why the magic has chosen you to replace Knox in that role.” Liam turned to me. “As it has chosen me to be a ruler of Faerie,” he said with a small bow, “should its queen agree.”
“Wait,” I said as confusion settled in, “you want to rule Faerie?”
“If the queen wishes it.”
“You are Larken’s successor,” Merc reminded me.
“As I am the king’s,” Liam added. “But now that the fey world is no longer divided, my role may not be necessary.”
“But I…I don’t want to be the queen of Faerie,” I stammered. “I don’t want to live there. This is my home.”
“Then perhaps you should appoint Liam to rule in your stead,” Reinhardt suggested. “To be your right hand, as he once was for the king.”
Liam stepped closer to me, then took a knee. “I pledge my loyalty to you, Piper, Queen of Faerie. I do this to honor Knox. I do this to bring peace to our land.”
“Um...okay,” I said, the shock of everything making me too numb to process any of it. “Do it.”
“Then with your permission, I shall take my leave to begin the restoration of your kingdom.”
“Sure—”
“She will require a nightly report from you and you alone,” Merc said, stepping to my side. “You will give us the fey queen’s beloved mirror to enable such communications.”
Liam gave a respectful nod. “Consider it done.” Then he turned to the remaining Originals. “I shall see you soon.” His eyes drifted down to Knox’s corpse, and his voice dropped to a whisper. “And I will serve Piper as you would have.”
With that, he opened a portal and walked through, prepared to rule a world I couldn’t even wrap my head around. I was glad the magic had chosen him. I thought Knox would have been, too.
Foust bent down and picked up Knox’s body with the reverence due a fallen alpha. The pack parted, and he started off in the direction of the mansion. One by one, they filed in behind him with Kat, Jagger, and Grizz at the rear. The witches and warlocks who’d survived the battle paid their respects, then disappeared in a puff of smoke. The enforcers looked to Merc, who nodded once, allowing them to take their leave.
Jase and Dean walked over to me and crushed me in one of their patented double hugs. Had it not been for Merc eventually forcing them apart, I might have been the final casualty of the war that night. They waved before disappearing around the corner of the mansion, leaving Reinhardt and Merc behind with me.
“I could go to Faerie with Liam to ensure that your interests there are being honored,” my father offered, but I waved off his concern.
“You have your warlocks to deal with,” I said, “and I have to trust Liam until he gives me reason not to. His actions since he escaped the fey king’s grasp speak volumes. He was never really the enemy. His maker was.”
“And his maker is dead,” Merc added, “as is his kingdom. All that twisted Liam into the creature he’d become is gone. He could not betray Piper even if he tried. He does not have her strength—or her allies.”
“This is true.” Reinhardt smiled at the thought of his daughter being such a force to be reckoned with. “I’ll have to keep that in mind in the future.”
“See that you do,” was Merc’s only response. Then he reached his hand to me, an offering I could accept or refuse. A soft gesture in a complicated time of mourning. “Shall we help the others prepare Knox’s body?”
Sorrow swept through me. “I don’t think I can. I want this to not be real. Tell me it isn’t real...”
“I wish I could, Piper, but that isn’t our reality.”
I choked back a sob. “He’s really gone, isn’t he?”
Merc took my face in his hands and wiped away the tears streaming down my cheeks. “He really is, but I'm still here, and together, we will get through this. We will face this harsh truth hand-in-hand. You will learn to live a life without Knox, and I will do all I can to ease your pain.”
I looked into his dark eyes and took a deep breath. “I don’t know anyone better at taking pain away than you.” I pulled away from his hold, and when his hands fell to his sides, I slipped mine into his. “I’ll gladly assign the task to you—but don’t tell Dean. He’ll be heartbroken at the thought of his goofiness not being enough to cheer me up.”
The vampire king pulled me closer. “Your secret is safe with me.”
I stifled a small, sad laugh as he led the way to the mansion. I didn’t know what life would hold for us now, but I knew that, with him and the others around me, nothing could defeat us.
I, alone, wasn’t the force of nature.
We were.
Chapter Twenty-Nine
We stood outside the remains of the pack’s former home in Alaska, the cool wind biting at our cheeks. The brass urn weighed heavy in my arms as I took in the place where I had been taken in by Knox and his boys. The place where our story had begun.
It seemed the proper place for it to conclude.
Foust took the urn from me and opened the lid so he could remove the ashes. “If this bag breaks, I’m not going to be happy,” he said as he carefully removed his former alpha’s remains.