Tale of the Heart Queen (Artefacts of Ouranos #4)

Chapter 76

C HAPTER 76

NADIR

T HE A URORA

I stand outside the gates of Nostraza, staring up at the forbidding entrance that was the beginning of the end for so many people. I regret everything about this place. Even if Lor hadn’t found her way into my life, I’d still regret everything. I’m just grateful she helped open my eyes before any more found their way into the jaws of this beast.

“Nadir,” Amya says, and my attention moves to her. She gestures me to the opening, where Mael, Willow, and Tristan wait with her. “Come on.”

I inhale a deep breath and enter, thinking about the last time I was here when I’d been sent to investigate Lor’s disappearance. I remember dropping into that hole where they’d left her and picking up her scent. I hadn’t met her yet, but she was already a memory I couldn’t touch. Though I can’t say why, I think I knew even then that everything was about to change. I had no idea just how much.

Willow and Amya clasp hands and walk ahead of us. The rest of us follow behind as our footsteps echo in the hollow silence.

When we returned to The Aurora, we announced my father’s death. The reaction was mixed, but he didn’t have many friends, and it felt more like a sigh of relief than one of mourning. I went straight to my mother’s wing in the Keep, and as I expected, she was gone. Only a memory left. I stood in the silence of her room, staring out across the view that was her only companion for so many years. With my forehead pressed to the cool glass, I allowed myself a moment to grieve. To remember that final conversation we had when she found the strength to talk to us for the last time.

Our relationship was far from ideal, but I refuse to blame her for any of it. I’m now an ascended king and one day, I will see her again. Anemone suspects that because my father was lost to the Underworld, there’s a good chance he did not make it to the Evanescence, and I like the idea of her being free of him forever.

That moment when he helped us might have been his lowest point. Something drove him to dig into the recesses of his compassion, and I’ll have to live with never knowing what. But despite that, he never deserved the Evanescence. He never deserved any of us.

I stop in the middle of the large foyer where prisoners were admitted into Nostraza’s walls. I see the hall where I was taken to search the records for prisoner 3342. My gaze meets my sister’s, and we hold it before we look away.

Also on our return, Amya ascended, and I couldn’t have been prouder as I watched her hold the Torch while it welcomed her as the new queen. Wearing a long black dress, the skirt slashed with bright colors to mimic the streaks in her hair, she looked exactly the part.

After it was official, Amya’s first order of business was to close down Nostraza. The cells were cleared out of every inmate, and they were moved to housing in the districts where they’re being set up with programs to help them rehabilitate and start new lives. Never again will we abandon our people when they need us.

Each of the guards that worked here has been sequestered and will be tried for their actions. Those found guilty of inhumane conduct will be executed without mercy. I’ll never forgive myself for what they did to Lor, her siblings, or anyone else they hurt. I think of the warden who showed me the prison records and the way I took his life. I refuse to feel bad about that either.

We continue walking, surrounded by dark stone, the drip of water echoing in the distance. I remember the screams and the torment that used to fill these halls.

Lor had planned to be here too before we tore it down but claimed her duties in Heart were keeping her there for an extra few days. Thanks to a generous infusion of gold from The Aurora, as well as the other realms, we’ve been hard at work putting the pieces of our queendom back together.

Even though she didn’t come out and say it, I think she didn’t really want to see it again .

She’s told me enough times that she never wants to see this place again.

“You okay?” Amya gently asks Willow, who looks around the empty space.

“I . . . think so,” she answers, and Amya draws her closer as Willow’s head rests on her shoulder.

After discovering she has a powerful vein of healing magic, Willow has also been charting her own path, setting up sites inside Heart and throughout the rest of Ouranos where anyone can come for healing whenever they need. Her goal is to make sure every person on the continent can access help. She’s also very close to discovering a cure for the Withering.

Tristan and I share a look. After the events with Herric and the Empyrium, he forgave me for everything that happened. I’ve gained a second brother alongside Mael, and I couldn’t be happier about it.

“I wondered how I’d feel seeing it again,” Tristan says as Amya and Willow look back at him. He stares around us, his expression contemplative.

“And?” Willow asks.

He pulls his gaze away from the high stone ceiling.

“I feel strangely at peace,” he says. “The man responsible is gone. We saw our parents one more time, and I forgave them for everything. Plus, all of us are destined for so much more. I never thought we were ever getting out of here.”

Willow nods. “I feel the same.”

“This place will no longer define who we are, and I think we can leave it behind once and for all.”

“I wish Lor were here,” Willow says. “ But I understand why she isn’t. I know we all lived in misery, but I think it nearly broke her the most.”

She looks at me, and I nod in understanding. Lor is a force that was never meant to be contained.

“Then let’s leave it behind,” Amya says. “They’ll start the demolition immediately, and we’ll allow the forest to reclaim this land.”

Over the past few months, Amya has made other changes, including closing down the Savahell Mine. She freed every low fae from conscription with outrageous amounts of gold in compensation. She also ordered new protections for every worker, including restrictions on hours, proper healthcare, and increased pay. The Aurora will continue to rely on its remaining mines for trade, but our security will not come at the cost of blood.

The virulence caves are currently being sealed up and hopefully forgotten forever. Beyond the trouble it caused, we also need to protect Tyr from its effects. We owe him so much.

We also cleared out the forest of my father’s unnatural creations. It didn’t take long to realize these creatures could still remember who they had been, all of them living in misery in their mutilated bodies. Though we tried, we couldn’t turn them back, and in the end, their deaths were the only mercy we could offer.

“Then let’s go,” Amya says.

My sister, the queen, who should have been the one from the very start.

We all walk out of Nostraza for the last time, vowing never to make the same mistakes again .

Two days later, we sit at a pub in the Violet District. It’s the same one where we all gathered when Lor and I were trying to find the Heart Crown. Tristan is telling us a story about the Heart siblings’ childhood when someone covers my eyes with their hands.

“Lor,” I say, immediately recognizing her scent, my magic reacting to her presence. She loops her arms around my neck and kisses me on the cheek. “Miss me?”

“Every moment,” I say, looking up at her, and she smiles. Gods, she takes my breath away every fucking time. Sometimes I lay awake at night thinking of how close I came to losing her. But then I open my eyes and reach for her, feeling her soft skin and hearing her soft breaths, reminding myself that she’s mine forever.

Etienne and Rhiannon are with her, having all just arrived from Heart. They settle around the table, and we chat for hours, toasting every single thing we can think of until we’re finally kicked out.

We trek back to the Keep with the lights dancing overhead and Lor’s arm looped through mine. We pass the square where we danced that night during Frostfire, and we both stop, staring at the space still bustling with people out for an evening of drinks and dancing.

“I think that was the moment everything changed for me,” she says. “When I realized you weren’t the villain.” I look down at her and smile. “Even if it took me a little while to accept that.”

I lean over and kiss her on the cheek before we follow the others.

Once we arrive back at the Keep, we all say goodbye to Tristan, who’s leaving tomorrow for The Woodlands to get to know Cedar and Elswyth and to prepare for his inevitable future.

Rhiannon and Etienne are staying for a few days before returning to Heart to help continue with the rebuilding. They’ve been invaluable assets to Lor and me, and we’ve been dreaming up ways to thank them.

We also say goodnight to Mael, who’s taking some time off to be with his family.

Willow and Amya bid us all farewell, and I watch them disappear around the corner. Amya has been hinting at a bonding, and I’m sure it’s only a matter of time.

When they’re all gone, Lor and I stand together in the hall of the Keep.

“I have a surprise for you,” I say, and she breaks into a smile.

“What is it?”

“We’ll have to fly there.”

“I’m ready whenever you are.” Her expression is open and full of trust. I worked so hard to earn it, and I’ll never take it for granted.

We head back outside, and then I fly us across the frozen tundra. She wraps her arms around my neck and buries her face against me.

I had the cabin where she prepared for our bonding ceremony cleaned up and renovated so we have somewhere to stay when we visit The Aurora. We still have the manor house, but this place will be only for the two of us.

We land gently in the snow, and her eyes widen in delight.

“What did you do?” she asks as I take her hand and lead her inside .

She looks around the space, and I have to admit, I’m pretty impressed with myself. It’s small, just one room with a kitchen and bathroom, but three whole sides are floor-to-ceiling windows, offering a view of snow-capped mountains and the wide Aurora sky. Tonight the lights ripple with their full brightness, dancing overhead.

Most of the room is taken up by a massive bed covered in crisp white sheets and a mountain of furs. My plan for the next several days is for us to never leave it unless absolutely necessary.

Lor expels a soft breath and walks over to the window, laying her hand against it. I watch her stare up at the sky, the lights gilding her nose and mouth in a rainbow of color. I hang my coat on a hook and lean against the wall with my hands in my pockets, just enjoying the sight of her. My mate. My heart. The woman I went to hell and back for.

“What are you doing over there?” she asks, looking over at me with an eyebrow raised.

Walking over, I circle my arms around her waist, resting my chin on her shoulder as we stare out the window. Staring at the vast mountains and the endless stretch of snow, it’s easy to feel like a tiny speck in an infinite cosmos, but with Lor, I never feel that way.

After a moment, she turns around and kisses me. “So, is our plan to never leave that bed?” she asks, and I grin.

“Well, we do have to get started on making that heir.”

She laughs, and then we kiss again. My hands slide into her hair, and I devour her mouth, our tongues slicking together. The kiss is slow and decadent, a luxury to be cherished now that we finally have the time .

Slowly, I undo the button on her black wool coat, and it falls to the floor with a thump. Her hands slide under my shirt, her fingers tracing over the lines of my chest and stomach. She tugs at the hem and pulls it over my head before she stands back to admire me, her gaze traveling over me in a way that makes my dick stir.

She bites her lip and then carefully undresses, peeling off her clinging black sweater and leather pants, leaving her in a pair of lacy red underwear that makes my heart stop for five entire seconds.

Her breasts swell above the fabric, her dark nipples visible through the lace. She slides a hand down the smooth plane of her stomach, stopping just short of the apex of her thighs. Gods, I can’t wait to get my tongue inside her.

“Fuck,” I growl as she prowls over and presses me against the wall.

“Turn around,” she orders, and I do as she says as she flattens herself against me, the feel of her breasts and her soft curves making me shiver with want. I grip the wall as she stretches onto her tiptoes and pushes my hair to the side before licking the back of my neck. My entire body exhales at the contact of her warm, wet mouth.

She gently bites my shoulder as her hands explore my torso and slide lower, palming my already hard cock through my pants.

“Hold still, Heart King,” she whispers in my ear before she nips my earlobe with her teeth. “I’m going to ruin you.”