Eros’ brows lifted, but he looked at Psyche, to see if she was okay with it. It hurt me but I also understood why, and it was right that he should seek his wife’s opinions on the matter. Despite her rearing of him, Aphrodite had managed to raise amazingly well behaved children.
“I…I, yes,” Psyche suddenly said, before standing.
Eros and Hephy stood too, nodding at us both.
I stood, kissed Hephy’s cheek and then I turned. “Come with me, daughter,” I said, “I wish to show you my gardens.”
Neither Psyche nor I spoke a word until we’d exited into the dewy, night. My gardens were blooming with softly glowing flowers and lightning bugs.
We still hadn’t spoken, but after a turnabout the gardens she finally said, “First time I met Eros, he fashioned a garden for me almost exactly like this one.”
My shoulders drooped and I finally turned toward my daughter-in-law. I captured her gaze with mine. “First, I owe you an apology, Psyche.”
She frowned. “But Eros told me that it was not you that left me stranded on that island.”
“It doesn’t matter,” I said softly. “In this world, I wear her face, and she has done so much harm to those she claimed to love. Her burdens are mine to bear because of it.” I wiggled my fingers and a writhing vine shot up from the ground, creating a bench for us to sit on.
We sat, deep in contemplative silence for a while.
“Do you love him?” I asked, moments later.
I felt her looking at me. When I looked, I noted the confused expression on her face. “You are the goddess of the heart, surely you know the answer to that?”
I nodded. “True. But sometimes the words need to be spoken into existence. Do you love him, Psyche?”
“With all my heart,” she said, and the weight of her truth slammed into my soul like a ten ton brick.
I squeezed my eyes shut, placing my fist against my heart and nodding. “Good. That is so good. Because he loves you as he’s never loved anyone or anything else in the whole of his life. You will be the best of us all, Psyche. You and Eros. You will create a perfect union, one envied by us all.”
As I spoke her smile grew wider and wider. “Really?”
“Oh yes,” I nodded. “My son has a capacity for loving that I’m not even sure I possess. But should you ever have need of me, do know that I now see as you my daughter too. I will always be here for you, Psyche. Whenever you need me.”
“Can you really mean that? Because, the other version of you, I thought she meant to kill me.”
“And she succeeded, didn’t she?” I said softly. “And in the process destroyed the affections forever of the one being she actually did care for in her own warped and twisted way. She gained nothing by her hate. I for one am glad that she is gone. She was a cancer in this pantheon, I never want to be that to you. Or to anyone else. Ever again. Thank you for loving him. Most of all, thank you for bringing him back to me. Without you, I would never have gotten Eros back. But I have him now and I owe you an eternal debt of gratitude for it.”
“No,” she whispered, “it was not me that did it, Goddess of Love, it was the heart that you showed him. The same one you’ve shown me this night. “I can see why he loves you so much now. All he ever wanted was your affection and now that he’s got it, it’s like I’m married to a completely different man.”
We laughed together.
We cried together.
And there on that bench, we healed together.
And I knew with all my heart the curse that’d befallen Kingdom and even my own Pantheon was weakening. That something, not just good, but great was being birthed from all that pain. And I was grateful for it.
My heart was full. And my drive to fix everyone else’s happily ever afters had only grown stronger.
This was not the end. It was only just the beginning and I was so excited for the ride…
THE END (Make sure to turn the page for a comprehensive reading order list and a bibliography of all my other works! Also, please consider leaving a review, those are so helpful.)
Untitled
Love my stories? Want more Kingdom news updates? Then make sure to sign up for my newsletter! I’m also very active on FB and constantly post updates, teasers to upcoming books, and do cover reveals. I also have an online readers group for fans of all my series called The Harem. So, there are lots of ways for you to keep up with what I’m doing.
* * *
And if this is your first foray into my world of Kingdom, I highly suggest starting at the beginning with my Bad Boys collection I wrote as Marie Hall, the first three books: The Kingdom Collection. The stories include Alice and Hatter, Gerard and Betty (my beauty and the beast spinoff), and Red and His Wolf. So, if you love twisted fairy tales, you’ll probably enjoy those.
* * *
And please, if you enjoyed this book, write a review for it, reviews let me know which books my readers are most interested in reading next and I always adjust my writing schedule based on the series with the most active and engaged readers. On the next page I’ll list all of my works. Make sure to turn the page!
Kingdom Books written as Marie Hall
(The Kingdom Collection: 1-3)
Her Mad Hatter
Gerard’s Beauty
Red and Her Wolf
Jinni’s Wish, Book 4
Hook’s Pan, Book 5
Moon’s Flower, Book 6
The Huntsman’s Prey, Book 7
Rumpel’s Prize, Book 8
Hood’s Obsession, Book 9
Her One Wish, Book 10
A Pirate’s Dream, Book 11
* * *
Book Listing for Dark Kings and Queens (Kingdom spinoff series) written as Jovee Winters:
Sea Queen, Book 1 (Caly and Hades)
The Passionate Queen, Book 2 (Queen of Hearts)
The Ice Queen, Book 3
The Magic Queen, Book 4 (Baba Yaga)
The Dark Queen, Book 5 (The Evil Queen)
The Fairy Queen, Book 6 (Galeta)
The Centaur Queen, Book 7
The Bewitching Queen, Book 8 (The Pied Piper)
The Stone Queen, Book 9
The Fire Queen, Book 10
* * *
The Mad King, Book 1 (The Mad Hatter)
The Jaded King, Book 2 (Beauty and the Beast)
The Magic King, Book 3 (Rumple)
The Wolf King, Book 4 (Big Bad Wolf)
The Death King, Book 5 (Hades)
The Forge King, Book 6 (Hephaestus and Dite)
The War King, Book 7(Ares and Medusa part 2)
The Pirate King, Book 8 (Captain Hook and Trishelle)
The King of Hearts, Book 9 (Eros and Psyche)
* * *
Chronological reading order:
All of Marie Hall’s books
Sea queen
Passionate queen
Ice queen
Magic queen
Dark queen
Fairy queen
Mad king
Centaur Queen
Jaded King
Magic king
Wolf king
Death king
Forge king
Bewitching Queen
The Stone Queen
The War King
The Fire Queen