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His consideration doused my anger like pouring water over a burning blaze.
“The Demons offered it up willingly for you after they heard what happened,” Zuriel added, and Liliana nodded her confirmation.
It was then that I realized I hadn’t addressed my best friend. “You stayed.” My voice cracked in time with her stoic facade, and she pushed past Ruslan to embrace me. A soft chuckle vibrated against my backside as he witnessed our reunion.
“Of course I stayed. You’re my best friend, and someone with a brain needed to take care of you. You can’t trust these males to know anything about female care. I washed your hair and trimmed your nails, even painted them when I was bored.” I glanced down at my hands to find a black varnish there.
“Thank you,” I whispered, hugging her back even tighter.
When she pulled away, she swiped at her seafoam green eyes, clearing them of salty tears.
“You haven’t been alone for a second these last six months,” Ruslan told me, and I understood then the meaning of the extra chairs, pillows, and blankets. “Drazen has been here too.”
“Where is he now?” I asked, wanting to see the half-Dragon as much as my cousin, best friend, and mate.
“Surveying our army. We’re preparing our empire for an attack from the Night Realm,” Ruslan explained.
“Empire?” My brows dipped together.
I felt him smile against my back. “The Északi Empire belongs to us. You, my mate, will be its empress. We united the Iron, Crystal, and Day realms.”
The world swayed around me as I spun to face my mate in my excitement. Staring into those smoky grays that had captivated me since the moment I laid eyes on him, I saw the truth of his words, and a wide grin stretched across his lips. “Without bloodshed?”
“Without bloodshed,” he confirmed, hands moving to either side of my face as he pulled me in for a deep, bruising kiss. I moaned into his mouth, my body coming alight under his touch – a touch I had been deprived of for half a year.
He broke our kiss, leaning his forehead against mine, and the ache down our bond eased with our reunion. “After the other monarchs heard what happened to you, it wasn’t hard to convince them to band together. We’d already made it clear that the Iron Realm had enough power to overthrow them, and when I sweetened the deal with offers of access to those innovations they saw during Béke, they came willingly into the empire.”
My stomach rumbled again, and before anyone opened their mouth to speak, Zuriel was trotting off, no doubt in search of more food.
“Do you want to try to get out of bed? The sooner we get you moving around, the better,” Ruslan asked me.
“Surely I didn’t sleep for six months because of a knife to the chest,” I said by way of answer.
“No. Rares said you almost broke your spine. It took him a long time to heal it properly so you wouldn’t be paralyzed.”
The memory hit me like a punch to the gut, and I was suddenly transported to the moment I’d broken my bond withKazimir. The explosion of magic that had knocked me backward. The snow scattering in a thousand directions. The boulder that knocked the air from my lungs and sent pain ricocheting through my body. Using every drop of magic in me to heal myself and try to save my mate. Closing in on burnout.
“Yes,” I managed to say as a tremble wracked my frame.
I was in Ruslan’s arms. I was safe.
Queen Immonen had been right – the moment I broke the bond with Kazimir, everything went dark. Her words were no mere metaphor; instead, they had been my reality since that fateful day.
Ruslan sensed the turmoil rising within me through our mating bond and pulled me to his chest, cradling me like I was the most precious gemstone in the world.
“First the cave, now this. How will you ever forgive me for not protecting you?” he murmured, rocking me.
“There is nothing to forgive. You were right there, and Kazimir managed to kidnap me from under your nose. All of this is his fault,” I swore, lips pressing into a line as more memories returned to me – how my necklace had fallen off and how I’d gone to fetch it from beneath the stands where we’d watched the parade.
Had he been the cause of the broken chain?
Zuriel returned with a healthier selection of food – a rainbow of fruit, chicken, cured meats, cheese, and some bread – and my stomach growled with the ferocity of a cat at the sight. Liliana crawled onto the end of the bed after he arranged the tray, stealing a handful of fat grapes for herself. I patted a spot on the bed across from me, indicating Zuriel should join us in it. My cousin kicked off his shoes and scooted around Liliana, the four of us forming a haphazard circle around the food I perused with gusto.
“Eat the chicken,” Ruslan encouraged, pinching the seasoned slice between his fingers and bringing it to my lips. I opened my mouth and allowed him to place the meat inside, savoring the herbs coating the skin.
“So what else has happened in the last six months?” I asked around my food, covering my mouth with my hand so I didn’t send crumbs spilling into the blankets.
“Right before Liliana burst into my office, Katrina, the Mage I assigned to the Day Realm, appeared with news of the Day Realm’s new princess,” Ruslan said, reaching around me for a chunk of cheese.
