I sighed, both overjoyed and distraught.
Because I wasn’t sure which news I wanted to break to her less—that her mother was alive and causing chaos or that Claire had awoken a fae circle so powerful that it proved all the prophecies about her correct.
My precious Halfling was no longer a princess.
No.
Soon, she would be crowned Elemental Fae Queen.
She just didn’t know it yet.
Epilogue
Claire
A warmth caressed my heart, causing me to stir among the heavy limbs in my bed. Or was it our bed? I really didn’t know anymore. We all had our own rooms, including Titus, but he never slept in his quarters, only mine. So it felt like a shared space. And now it was littered with male limbs.
Vox in front of me, Sol yet again at my back, and Titus between my legs using my thigh as a pillow.
I can’t move, I thought.
A chuckle ran through my mind, the sound adoring and so very missed. Exos.
I’m here.
I sighed, my lips curling. I miss you.
Then come get me, he murmured. I’m in the hallway.
I shot upright, causing Sol to grumble and Vox’s eyes to fly open. “What is it?”
Titus nuzzled into my leg, then shifted a little to release me. “Exos is back,” he said, his voice deep with sleep. “Go ahead, Claire. We’ll be here.”
Sol’s hand moved from my upper thigh to his own leg, his nonverbal way of granting approval to move. And Vox rolled to his back. I tried to slide over him to get out of the bed, but he caught me by the hip. His fingers threaded through my hair as his mouth captured mine in a mind-bending kiss reminiscent of the hours we spent in bed.
How is this my life? I wondered, awed.
When he finally released me, I almost forgot what I wanted to do. Then I felt Exos’s tug again, a patient presence underlined in authority.
“I’ll be back,” I whispered.
“I know,” Vox replied, nipping my bottom lip. “I’ll be here.”
He kissed me again, gentler this time, his tongue lazily stroking mine, before helping me to stand. Titus and Sol had already passed out again, completely at ease. Vox shifted to his side, tucking his arm under his head, as he watched me pad to the door.
I slipped into Titus’s robe—an item I really needed to procure for myself—and met Exos in the hallway. He wore one of his elegant suits, his blond hair stylishly gelled, as if he were about to attend a meeting of some kind.
Yet the clock on the wall said it was just after four in the morning.
“There are some formal ceremonies I need to attend,” he explained, sensing my confusion. He cupped my cheek and brushed his thumb over my bottom lip. “Will you come with me?”
“Are you… Is everything okay?” I asked, leaning into his touch.
He nodded. “Cyrus destroyed the essence in my mind.”
Yes. I’d felt as much when he reached out to me. He felt clean. Like my Exos. And now that I saw him, I could see he was completely back to normal. Fae certainly healed quickly. “What was it?” I wondered out loud.
“Something I want to talk to you about,” he admitted. “Which is why I want you to come with me today.”