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“I can’t believe I really saved you.”
His gaze traveled over my head. “Not just me.”
Foalan touched his handsome face—again and again. No matter how many times he did, the fur and snout didn’t come back.
Bradach spun in circles searching for the wings on his back.Gone.
“Eadaoin?” A tall, muscled soldier broke through the pack of joyous, tearful people, and stopped in front of a young woman with smooth skin, a pert nose, and full lips. “Wow,” he breathed. “You are... hideous without fur.”
“What! Keefe!”
Bursting into guffaws, he swept her up, spinning her off her feet. “I jest, my love. You’re the most beautiful creature I’ve ever seen. And you always were.
“Marry me.”
Eadaoin hid her face in his chest. That didn’t stop me seeing her beaming smile. “Maybe,” she purred. “If a better offer doesn’t come along.”
“It worked.” I shrieked in delight, jumping up and down. “And— Wait!” I spun on Shadi. “Do you still have your magic?”
Twinkling, colored sparks burst out of her hand. “I would say so.”
“What about Riordan? Where is he?”
“Don’t worry. True healers came halfway through and took over. They heard someone screaming for help,” she said. “He’s going to be okay.”
“Of course he is.” I threw myself in Alisdair’s arms. “Because nothing can go wrong on such a perfect day. Make it more perfect by telling me everyone, everywhere, is truly free of the beast curse?”
“They are, Calli. All of Elva.” He nipped the tip of my nose—naughty to the last. “I’ve taken so much of her power within me, I gave more power to the beast curse infecting me. I fed it. I helped it spread. But of course, if I was the cause, I was also the solution. Freeing me from the curse freed everyone.”
Happy as I was, I shuddered. “But what about the rose?” I whispered. “Shouldn’t we get rid of it now? It’s still a soul-sucking leech. It’s not safe to keep around, even if it’s locked in a tower.”
“I’ve wanted to every single day,” he returned, keeping his voice low. “But I couldn’t until the binding spell was reversed for every woman in Elva. Until everything she destroyed was put right. I needed her power for such a massive undertaking, and well...” He gazed around. “It’s almost done.
“Almost?”
He captured my chin between two fingers. “Are you unbound?”
I shook my head. “Come to think of it, I don’t know if it freed Meli yet.”
“Then the work isn’t done. The good thing is now we know how to trigger the beast curse, and how to end it. You,” he whispered, stroking my cheek. “As long as your love protects my soul, the snow will always melt. The darkness will forever lift.”
“Alisdair,” I whispered, eyes swimming.
“If any woman out there is still bound, she need only come to us to be freed. We can control the curse now. We can—”
“Make it so no woman in Elva is ever bound again,” I finished. “And if they are, we can give them their life back.” I sighed, eyes drifting to the ceiling. “I just wish we didn’t have to keep that thing around to do it.”
“Constance has done nothing but spread evil and hate since she set foot on our land. Now she’ll finally do good for the people of Elva.” He smirked. “Which is what the deluded, would-be tyrant wanted, so what a fitting way for her to spend eternity.”
I laughed. “Sounds good to me.” I rose on tiptoe, eager for more of his lips on mine.
“Well done, well done.” A voice turned our puckered mouths toward the door. “You did even better than I knew you would, my lady.”
I stared at the woman, having no idea who she was, until six small baby cots floated through the air after her.
“Treasa?” I blurted.
She spun on her heels. “That’s me. I don’t normally acknowledge the part I played, but I have to say, I cried when the curse saved your mother. Life has pulled you all apart so many times, it tore my heart out that Meya should take her from you again.”
