Page 338 of The Edge of Darkness

She met his stare with one just as fierce. “I didn’t need to. You used nearly all your power on the battlefield, and I knew the moment you were stabbed with Skadi’s poisoned blade, that you wouldn’t have enough to heal, and the poison would kill you. I just didn’t expect her to bring you back!”

A small crack splintered my heart, and hurt and betrayal seeped in. Torin was perfectly fine with Niall’s death. She didn’t care that it would have wrecked me. But then again, why would she? It wasn’t her mate who had given his all and sacrificed everything so the realms could finally be rid of Lyceius’s evil.

I couldn’t fathom her reasoning, and I didn’t want to. I slapped a smattering of light over that fissure in my heart, and lifted my chin, willing my voice to be as unyielding as possible as I said, “My mate and I will handle this from here.”

Torin’s blue eyes dimmed, worry and despair settling into her features. She shook her head as she slowly backed away. “Then I am sorry, Auren.”

Her words rattled me. Their implication dug under my skin.

She wasn’t sorry for what she’d said.

She was sorry for what was about to unfold.

You know where to find me, her otherworldly whisper said in my mind. And then, as a single tear streaked down her war-painted cheek, she gripped onto Corinne’s arm, and the two of them vanished.

I wanted to cry because, suddenly, all of this felt wrong. It felt tainted, marred by someone else’s failed agenda.

We had defeated Lyceius. We wiped evil from this world. But some sinking feeling that I couldn’t ignore seemed to murmur in the back of my mind, But at what cost?

No.

I was letting too many things tear apart this victory. This moment was supposed to be a celebration. We’d prevailed. I had dodged the reality where Niall and I would one day lose each other. I was now a goddess, and he was a god at my side. We had eternity to spend together.

So, why did I feel like, somehow, we didn’t?

A few steps away, Karios had summoned the amulet again and stared at it, as if recalling a memory. “I want you both to know that I used this as a means to provide the fae and the humans with something that might help them defend themselves against evil. It was meant to be a reprieve, a force that might stand against Lyceius and his corruption.” He looked up at Niall. “Your ancestor could not handle the ability and the force that existed behind it, but then it surfaced again in your blood. You were able to wield it as I’d originally hoped. I knew you would use it to protect the realms, until one of my own emerged with a kernel of my power—someone descended from Lyceius, but made anew at my command.”

He then turned to me. “Your path, and his, were similar, as were your purposes in this world. It was only natural that you would be fated to each other, and that you would intercept one another when the time was right. It is my wish that every living being and creature know the joy of love, however long or brief it may be. And though his ascension was not planned . . . it comforts me to know that you will have each other.”

I turned and found Niall already looking at me.

If he hadn’t followed that strange tugging and attended Lumeri in Elandrew, if he hadn’t stayed behind and offered to train me, I would have stumbled into this realm and been held captive by Killian. I would have probably been compelled against my will, and exploited, never knowing or seeing the true goodness and kindness that the fae possessed. Never finding friendship or family in the beings I was taught to fear and hate.

My bond with Niall was fated, our love destined, predetermined by the hand of Karios and the fates, for the betterment of the world. Without it, without Niall, there would have been no bridge between the realms, nothing to incite me to fight on behalf of the humans and the fae.

“I only planned to shroud one today,” Karios said. “But seeing as things have taken a turn . . . Both of you, remove your armor, and kneel.”

Niall unclasped and unbound his leathers and armor, letting it all fall to the ground behind him like he was shedding his former self. He removed everything from his upper body, baring his heart and soul as much as his shoulders and chest. Then he turned to me.

“May I?” he asked.

I nodded, still piecing together what was about to happen.

He worked at the clasps and buckles, undoing the armor on my upper body. Then he gently tore the neckline of my shirt, just enough to slide the fabric down my shoulders, exposing them and my upper chest, but still leaving my breasts covered.

We sank to our knees before the god-king.

Karios approached us, and a flicker of golden light twinkled to life before him. It spread through the air, taking the form of a delicate cloth, glowing like the sun. The golden shroud, as foretold in the prophecy.

He lifted his free hand and the garment drifted on his silent command, coming to a halt above our heads. His voice rose, and as he spoke, it echoed across the valley, loud enough for all those watching to hear.

“I shroud you, Niall, god of darkness, and you, Auren, goddess of light, for you have brought peace to the realms. Never before has a golden shroud been given. So, today, let all who bear witness be of testament to this monumental achievement, and may you both receive every blessing.”

The shroud’s warmth kissed our skin as it draped over both our bare shoulders like a delicate shawl, pulsing brightly before dissolving away. It left my skin peppered with golden, star-like markings, strewn along my collarbone and shoulders like a mirror of the night sky. On Niall, it became an outline to his previous shroud, filling in the gaps and spaces in between the black markings he already bore—a reminder of his deeds in the past, and an honoring of the sacrifice he’d made today.

Karios lifted his hand, signaling for us to rise. Once we were standing, he placed a chaste kiss on my forehead, the way a father would upon his child. “Be blessed, daughter,” he said.

He moved to Niall, laying a hand on his shoulder. “Be blessed,” he repeated, inclining his head to him. When he looked between us, taking in what we had become, there was something like pride in his face. Pride, regardless of all the unknowns. Pride, despite the hint of uncertainty that loomed like an unfamiliar shadow in the corner, watching.