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He snorted. “They were fine with Blessed Nightmare of the Endless Dark.”
“Where are we going?” she asked, giggling.
Brand pulled her close, cheek-to-cheek, and pointed out towards the sparkling Serpent Sea. “Do you see the gap in the distant range?”
She followed the line of his finger, to the spot where Solyrian settled every night and the mountains of the Montrealm were so tiny they were barely perceived. “I do. I think?”
Brand chuckled. “Take the coast, all the way around the corona to the Northern Dread Falls.”
Lunara grinned and misted again. Leap after leap through crimson sand and over sienna ranges to the next furthest spot she could see. Until, at last, they reached the roaring waters almost an hour later.
On the opposite side of the colossal cascade, a cottage was nestled against the towering, evergreen tree line. It rose up from the rock in the same variegated tones as all of Straelon, with arched lintels and carved adornments, Solyrian’s light reflecting off the glass windows and warming its wooden shingles.
“A simple life, waiting right there whenever we need it, little moon.”
Her heart turned over, fluttering. “How in the realms did it get here?”
“Lyriat’s grandfather built it for his mate and her sisters, so they could escape from their duties once in a while. He said it was the first place he thought of when you made your request—so similar to the very thing they’d been seeking, the view and all. Especially since he…doesn’t care for it himself.”
There was something strange in his voice, mirroring a twinge in the bond.
“Are you alright?” she asked.
He hiked her up higher, breathing deep in the crook of her neck. “Stennyx’s mate—my grandmother, Gildat—was one of those sisters. It almost feels like she’d want us to have it. Like it was meant to be, all along.”
“Oh, Brand.” Lunara ran her fingers through his auburn waves. “It was.”
Galaxies flowed above, the roaring tumble of the Dread Falls accompanying their celestial dance.
Whatever lay beyond Bordoroth’s outermost borders, wherever the Serpent Sea’s waters landed, was swallowed whole by an endless abyss of writhing shadow, stretching all the way to the dark, northern horizon. But here, on a jutting platform of warm stone at the base of their new sanctuary…
Brand knelt in worship beneath his writhing Luna, the twin moons painting her bare skin in shades of silver. Like a cosmic flame of opals, that wild mane of waves and curls crowning her, she glowed under their attentions and his. Every inch the Star Goddess he adored.
She’d wanted a clear, unobstructed view of the night sky, and she got it.
The sight paled in comparison to her.
Brand flattened his palm against her spine, dragged it up, up, up and gripped her nape. Pulled her closer. Drove himself deeper. Luna gasped and he devoured the sound, drinking it in, tongue dancing with hers until he broke away to lock his gaze on those sea glass eyes.
“Thank you, little moon,” he whispered against her lips.
Brand didn’t need to explain. Not out loud. His peace, the ease in his spirit, was shimmering in their infinite bond. And when he drew the scent of amber and spice and moonlight into his unfettered lungs, he was more.
Luna gripped his horns and pressed her forehead to his. “I am yours and you are mine.”
She didn’t need words either. He was her peace. Her ease. The deep breath of pine and salt and sunlight that was carved in blood upon her soul. That made her more.
He laid a kiss to his glowing mating marks on her breast. “I am yours, and you are mine.”
This. This was where their life finally began.
Brand and Lunara were home.
“See? I told you they’d find peace. Over and over and over and…” Endellion crooned into the darkness. “Maybe now, you’ll start listening.”
She sucked in a fortifying breath, ribs and lungs fighting against her chains as saliva flooded her mouth. Another, and another, trying to convince her mind and body to relax, her stomach to behave.
“They’ll be needed again soon enough, but these are the days for their blooming.” A heaving wrench, and she peeled herself away. “These are the days meant for others.”
