The sound of feet slapping dirt echoed down the corridor. ‘You must go,’ Brushenta waved her hands at us. ‘They will not be happy if they know you were here.’
‘Quick,’ I said. ‘Through the gate.’ I didn’t want to shed blood in Brushenta’s house.
My friends dashed through the gateway and I followed them. I spun, raising my arms to close it, and a goblin warrior burst into the room. I pressed the two sides of the gate together as he roared and hefted a spear.
I wasn’t fast enough.
It hit me like a truck. Slamming into me. Through me.
I looked down at the quivering shaft of wood where it extended from my stomach. I heard Sabby’s scream and Aethan calling my name.
There wasn’t much blood. Not considering the width of the spear. And how far it had gone in. The blood would no doubt start soon.
‘Isla.’ I held my hand up.
‘Shhhhh.’ She took it. ‘Don’t talk. Sabby is going to heal you.’
‘Will you take me back with you?’
‘You’re not going to die.’
‘Really?’ It felt like it. The pain had taken a few more seconds to get there than the spear had, but it was operating in full force now.
Hands under my arms lowered me to my knees. I looked up into Aethan’s face. So glorious. So worried.
‘Don’t frown,’ I slurred. ‘You’ll get a line.’ I rubbed at the skin between my eyebrows. ‘Right here.’
‘We have to get the spear out before I can heal her.’ Sabby sounded like she was just managing to remain calm. Little skips of hysteria tainted her syllables.
‘I’ll do it.’
Turos. Dear Turos. I would have been happy with him if it weren’t for Aethan. But having known Aethan, I could never have been happy with anybody else.
It was a moot point now. I was dying. I knew it. Already I was starting to feel myself disconnecting from my body.
‘Isla.’ The pain wasn’t so bad any more. And the fact that Isla was there meant I wasn’t scared. She would take me home.
‘Izzy,’ Grams’ voice barked at me. ‘You stay with us. Don’t you go getting any stupid ideas about going off on an adventure by yourself.’
‘Lie her on her side.’
Strong arms lay me down.
‘Now brace her.’
Hands held my shoulders and hips.
I looked up at Aethan. I wanted my last vision to be of him. What a shame I wasn’t going to get to marry him. It seemed so stupid now to have been so against it. I mean all I had ever wanted was to be with him. Why had I been so stubborn? Because it hadn’t been my idea?
‘Love you,’ I whispered. I tried to reach a hand towards him but I had no control over my limbs.
‘Now.’ Sabby’s voice was like a whip cracking, and all of a sudden the pain was back.
It ripped through me, tearing a scream from deep within. Blood gushed out of the hole the spear had exited.
I drew a ragged breath, trying to bring in more air so I could scream it back out. But I couldn’t get any. My lungs were full, but not with air. I coughed and blood flowed from my mouth.
I scrabbled at my mouth, trying to force air in. The blood flowed freely. There was no room for air.
And then the healing began. Fire raked me from the inside, arching my body back like a bow. I wanted to beg her to stop. This was not how I wanted to die. Drowning in a pool of my own blood. I wanted time to perfect my memory of Aethan’s face.
My eyes closed. I struggled to open them. To see Aethan one last time.
‘Izzy.’ There was a stinging slap on my face. Just one more pain. Not a bad one. More like an insect bite. An annoyance. ‘Stay with me Izzy.’
I wanted to. I really did. But even his voice was getting faint. An echo. Not real. Just a memory.
Then light. Sparkly lights dancing before me. They spun as they lifted into the air. A whirlpool. I followed them up. Chasing after them. If I could just catch them. Just see what they were. Fireflies? Sparks?
‘Isadora.’ This time the blow to my face hurt.
‘Owwwww.’ I rubbed at my cheek as I opened my eyes. ‘What did you do that for?’
‘If you had touched one of them, I wouldn’t have been able to bring you back.’ Isla laid her palm on my cheek.
‘Don’t follow the lights,’ Wilfred said.
‘I died?’ I sat up. ‘You brought me back? So I’m, what, like Wilfred now?’
‘You wish.’ Wilfred let out a laugh.
‘Sabby saved you.’ Aethan’s eyes were wet as he squatted in front of me.
‘Hey,’ I reached out a hand and took his. ‘Aren’t you meant to be kissing me?’
He smiled his crooked smile as he said, ‘I would, but I don’t like the taste of blood.’
‘Oh.’ I pulled my hand from his and put it over my mouth. I must have looked hideous.
‘Stop moving.’ Sabby’s hands moved over my back. ‘I’m checking I got everything.’
‘Thank you.’ I turned my head toward her.
‘I said stop moving.’ I could hear the smile in her voice. ‘You’re welcome. Aren’t you glad you brought me with you?’
‘Yes.’ My voice was rough from trying to scream. ‘Never going anywhere without you again.’
She chuckled. ‘You’re healed. Can you stand?’
I pulled my feet up underneath me and pushed myself up. A small bundle of fur leapt at me, scrabbling up my body to my arms. I scratched Scruffy under the chin. ‘It’s okay boy. I’m okay.’
You sure know how to make an entrance. I could feel the relief in Emerald’s voice.
I concentrated on putting one foot in front of the other as we made our way up the path. The healing process had sucked my energy from me.
‘How did it go?’ The scent of lemon cake accompanied Mum’s voice from the kitchen as we opened the front door.
‘Successful mission,’ Grams yelled back. ‘Go and get cleaned up,’ she hissed at me. ‘She’ll have kittens if she sees you like that.’
‘I’ll help her.’ Isla took my arm and led me up to my room.
She chatted to me as I sat on the floor in the shower, watching the blood run off me. Then she handed me a towel and watched as I dried myself and dressed.
‘Feeling better?’ she asked me.
‘Getting there.’
‘Good. ‘Cause you have a conversation to finish.’ She gave me a cheeky grin as she danced from the bathroom.
By the time I followed her she was gone. But my bedroom wasn’t empty. Aethan stood near the foot of my bed. He looked nervous as he played with the lid of the ring box. When he noticed me, he slammed the lid shut.
‘Yes,’ I said.
‘Yes, what?’ His face was still strained.
I crossed to stand before him. ‘Yes, I will marry you.’ I held my hand out and wiggled my fingers.
His face relaxed, but he didn’t open the box. ‘You sure? I don’t want you making any rash decisions just ‘cause you had a near-death experience.’
‘I can be a bit thick,’ I said. ‘Apparently it takes a near-death experience to make me see sense.’
He still didn’t open the box.
‘Oh, Aethan.’ I stepped into his arms. ‘I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to make you doubt this. I love you. I want to be with you. I want to marry you.’
‘You’re sure?’
‘I’m totally sure.’ I smiled up at him. ‘Now kiss me before I get mad. It is my birthday after all.’
Finally, a true smile graced his lips. He pulled me into his arms and gave me the kiss I was craving. But better still, I heard the sound of the ring box opening and then felt the cool metal band being slipped over the fourth finger of my left hand.
‘Mine.’ I breathed against his mouth. ‘You are mine.’
‘Forever,’ he murmured. ‘I am yours, forever.’
18
Happily Ever After
The bride looked radiant in a full-length dress of sunset orange. Cyri
l, draped around her shoulders like a smooth feather boa, as her new husband spun and dipped her on the dance floor.
I rubbed my thumb against the inside of the ring that adorned the fourth finger of my left hand. My finger ached but I couldn’t complain about its ridiculous weight without risking offence to my future mother-in-law. Not that the thought of Eloise not talking to me worried me that much, it actually sounded quite nice, but I didn’t want to make things any more difficult for Aethan than they had been. She hadn’t warmed to me at all.
Anyway, wearing the Gabrielle House ring was not something one complained about. Not even when its massive diamond got in the way of one’s swordplay.
I looked down at it and sighed.
‘Having second thoughts?’ Aethan’s voice sent a thrill running down my spine.
‘Never.’ I looked up at him through my lashes. He looked divine in a black suit and bow tie. His hair, even though he had tried to tame it, was ruffled up on top, and for a second I remembered the night before and flames burst into my cheeks.
Aethan’s pupils widened as his midnight-blue eyes met mine. ‘Dance with me.’ His voice was husky.
I didn’t answer. I didn’t protest that I didn’t know how to dance, even though it was true. His eyes held me in a trance as I placed my hand in his.
Garden faeries drifted through the trees surrounding the dance floor, little lights that bobbed and glowed in time with the music. Aethan had generously let Grams and Lionel have their wedding at the castle, and between that, and the fact that a deity had married them, Grams was satisfied that all her friends were green with envy.
I relaxed into Aethan’s arms, trying not to concentrate too much on the feel of him, lest I wrestle him off into the trees to have my wicked way with him. Instead, I examined the faces of the people dancing around us.
Grams and Lionel – well ecstatic, that went without saying.
Radismus and Mum rocked on the spot, their eyes closed, bliss on their faces. Radismus had moved in as soon as they had gotten back from London and it was nice to have a male around the house. Not that I was there that much. Although Aethan and I did split our time between Isilvitania, the barracks, and home.
I was pleased when Turos had turned up to the wedding with a leggy, blonde faery called Priscilla. Watching him mourn me had been almost more than I could bear. She seemed perfect, and if the look he was giving her as they swept past on the dance floor was any indication, she was going to be around long enough for me to get to know her. There was that look, and the fact that while Mia sat on Turos’s neck, Rupert, her baby, sat on Priscilla’s.
Turos’s mother, Gladaline, danced with exuberance, her head thrown back and her arms in the air while Bladimir struggled to catch her. The two of them had moved into a cottage near the castle and Bladimir seemed to feel that the trade-off of his crown for his wife was worth it.
Wilfred spun Isla under his arm and out to the extent of his reach before snatching her back into the safety of his embrace. He held her as tightly as he could considering her expanding girth. She only had three months left till their triplets were born. Well, she told me she was having triplets, two boys and a girl, and whatever Isla said, I believed. She was the Goddess after all.
Thomas led Sabina in an awkward march across the floor. She rolled her eyes at me and smiled. She didn’t care if he could dance or not, he was always going to be her hero. He had joined the Millenium fighting force for real and she had become one of their healers. Emerald and Lance were expecting another egg soon and we were hoping that it would choose Thomas.
A puff of flame drew my eyes out past the dance floor. Arthur was there, sitting with Tiny. I could see a dot of white on Tiny’s leg. Scruffy. I should have known he would be with them. The three were inseparable when they were all in the same plane of existence.
‘Do you think it was right?’
I started at Isla’s voice in my ear. ‘You two getting married without us there to witness it?’ I waved my finger between her and Wilfred. ‘How was that ever going to be right?’
She pulled a face at me. ‘I told you, Gods only.’
‘Oh please. Like rules ever stopped you before.’
She let out a laugh. ‘I wasn’t talking about that.’ She nodded her head toward Tiny.
‘Oh…that.’ The giant now wore tattoos that wound their way up his arms and across his shoulders. ‘Making him your disciple?’
She nodded, a frown of uncertainty creasing her brow.
‘Honestly, Isla. It was perfect.’
‘Really?’
I shook my head. For a Goddess she sure was uncertain sometimes. I was putting it down to the pregnancy hormones. ‘He was peopleless. You gave him a home, but more importantly, you gave him a purpose.’
Her face switched from forlorn to radiant. Yep, it was the hormones for sure.
‘Thank you,’ she said.
‘You’re welcome, your Deity.’ I poked my tongue out at her.
‘I love you sister,’ Aethan said, ‘but if you don’t mind, I’d like some alone time with my soon-to-be wife.’
My stomach did a flip at his words.
Wife. Eeekkkkk. I was still getting used to the weight of the engagement ring, let alone the word wife.
He spun me around and danced me backwards across the floor. And all the time his gaze mesmerised me so I was unaware of what my feet were doing. We could have been floating for all I knew.
Suddenly, there were trees around us and just the light from the garden faeries to guide our way. He backed me up a few more steps till my back was against an oak.
‘Isadora Scrumpleton,’ he growled, ‘you are far too ravishing to appear in public. If I’d had to fight every man looking at you inappropriately, well, I wouldn’t have had time to do this to you.’
My knees went weak as he traced the length of my neck with his lips, the warmth of his breath caressing my skin. I tightened my arms around him, pulling his lips towards mine.
I stopped when his lips were mere millimetres away. ‘Do you think it was worth it?’
He looked out amongst the trees to where our friends and family danced. ‘Definitely,’ he said. ‘This was worth fighting for.’ He grazed my lips with his and whispered against my mouth, ‘I can’t wait to grow old with you.’
The right to love, the right to live, the right to grow old together, this is what we had fought for. This is what we had all fought for.
We knew they might come again one day. We knew that war might once again shadow the land. And we would be ready. But until that day, we would rejoice in our love and live every day as if it were our last.
I smiled against his lips as I wrapped my arms around him, letting his kiss carry me far, far, away.
THE END
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About Me
Hi there, I’m Donna Joy Usher. I started writing my first novel when I was seven. With no idea about plot or character development (I mean I was only seven) my storyline quickly disintegrated into a muddled jumble of boring dialogue between two horses. Disillusioned, I gave up writing stories for quite a while after that. Instead, I concentrated on my studies, eventually graduating as a dentist.
After many years of ‘drilling and filling’ I turned to writing in an effort to escape the seriousness of my day job. During that time I created my first book, The Seven Steps to Closure, and discovered that I love nothing more than making other people laugh. Well that, and my husband and two miniature schnauzers, Chloe and Xena.
I currently live near t
he Swan River in the beautiful city of Perth. When I am not working or writing, I love to kayak, ride my bicycle, and sip chai lattes at the local cafe.
You can connect with me on Facebook and Goodreads.
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Also by Donna Joy Usher
The Chanel Series
Cocoa and Chanel
Goons 'n' Roses
Tess's Tale
Billy
Goons 'n' Roses PLUS Tess's Tale - Books Two and Three in The Chanel Series
The Chanel Series: Books 1-3 (The Chanel Series Box Set One)
Two Weddings and a Fugitive
Two Weddings and a Fugitive (Book 4 in The Chanel Series) Plus The Seven Steps to Closure
The War Faery Trilogy
Faery Born
Faery Forged
Faery Revenge
The War Faery Trilogy: Books 2-3
The War Faery Trilogy: Books 1-3
Standalone
The Seven Steps to Closure
Faery Revenge Page 44