by Mandy Rosko
Her last vision was of Nyx, his face broken and swelling all over until he resembled a squished prune with eyes.
Dagda stood before him, passing on his sentencing to the servant.
“You have poisoned the prince's goblet and witnesses claim you set a spell upon him. The deaths of Mab's daughters rests on your shoulders.”
In between this memory, something else came to her. Not another memory, but knowledge, Nyx's knowledge.
Mab had survived Azoth's attack, and so did one of Diana's sister's, but the latter had been so wounded that no one expected her to survive another night, and Mab stayed at the girl's bedside constantly, not bothering to even come down to question the servant who supposedly had been the cause for all her grief.
She would make sure to go to war against the dragons, however, Diana already knew that.
Dagda was only taking control as the brother of a mourning queen might be expected to do during such a crisis, and he was doing a splendid job.
“How do you plead?” Dagda demanded, already perfectly in command, his voice strong and loud.
“Not guilty.” Nyx said through his swollen mouth and broken teeth.
The counsel room where the trial was being handled consisted of mostly empty seats, likely because those intended to sit in them had been murdered. For those in attendance, they glared and screamed at the prisoner below, shouting to Dagda to exact vengeance upon him for what he had done to their families.
Diana inhaled a sharp gasp, fighting the urge to cry as she understood.
Dagda never wanted the dowry money. It had never been about that. He wanted his sister and nieces out of the way so that he could rule his own grassy kingdom, and the forest lands belonging to his sister.
Mab's daughters were all dead, and soon Mab would be killed in the war against the dragons. But she was still here, Diana lived, which meant Dagda had one more task to accomplish before he could be the true ruler of his sister's lands.
Dagda silenced the counsel with a raised palm. It took a moment, but eventually, everyone's blood lust calmed enough that, when he approached the prisoner, his shoes clicked noisily on the stone floor.
Dagda knelt down to be at eye level with the poor man. Nyx flinched in his chains and wouldn't look him in the eyes.
Dagda leaned close, and Diana expected to have to strain her ears to hear what was being whispered, but her uncle's words were as clear as though he were whispering in her own ear.
“Where is she?”
Nyx jerked back, his purple face darkening in his rage, and he spat a heavy glob of blood in Dagda's eye.
The counsel went insane.
Diana was pulled out of the vision just as several guards rushed forth to violently beat him for the offense, and she was glad. She didn't want to watch her best friend being beaten to death.
She came out of her vision, still looking in Nyx's direction.
You saved me. She thought.
He nodded, and she felt his love warming her, swelling within her, filling her lungs with the air she couldn't take in before.
As her body responded, the worst sort of guilt took hold of her, and she was still paralyzed with it.
What had happened to him was her fault.
The emotion was lifted away as quickly as it had come, and Nyx shook his head at her. Had he taken her guilt away?
Yes, he had.
Now do something, he commanded inside her head.
Like what? she replied in the same manner. She was no warrior and had no strength to do anything. The whipping hand of the oak above was readying to come down on Azoth's back again, slowly, slowly. His eyes were screwed shut as he braced himself for the coming pain. Her anger came again, and her insides flared.
Do something.
She did. A flood of twittering and shrieking creatures emerged from the woods, wings flapping and tails twitching as every form of bird, squirrel, and insect flew at and crawled on the attacking tree with all the speed of a rushing waterfall.
Azoth looked over his shoulder to better see.
At first the onslaught it was only enough to make the great tree bat at the swarming creatures, attempting to frighten them away as one would swat at a group of attacking bees, but then the sheer number of creatures became too much.
Claws gripped on the bark, teeth gnawed into the branches, and the insects burrowed into the heart of the tree itself, eating away at it until they found the heart of the monster and it weakened and fell, but even then the creatures did not stop their attacking until the spell fell away and the tree stopped flailing.
“Your doing?” Azoth asked. His body was warm with sweat, his heart pounding.
“Yes,” Diana answered, her breath coming out in tiny gasps. Her fingers felt along Azoth's back, and the warm wetness she found there was enough to make her chin tremble and her eyes burn. The tree had struck him so forcefully that his protective scales had ripped away, leaving him bleeding and freshly scarred.
“Nothing I have not had to go through before,” Azoth assured her, rising with a wince to stand. “I will live.”
Dagda roared then, reminding them that he was still there, and still wanted them dead.
Azoth spun around, and Diana had to take hold of his arm to keep him from toppling over as the blood loss took its toll on him. Diana never wished for a sword more in her entire life.
Dagda continued to scream, but it was not a war cry, and he was not about to attack, or send another small army of creatures to do his bidding.
Azoth's rust colored eyes widened as he looked over Dagda's shoulders, the man falling to his stomach in agony as he fought and struggled against that which he could not touch.
“You,” he said.
“You can see him?” Diana asked.
Nyx stood behind the pretender king, face contorted with rage, and his hands gripping tightly against the stems of Dagda's fragile, papery wings. The king kicked his legs, thrashed his body, and dug his fingernails into the soft earth, but he could not shake off a ghost.
Azoth's previous words came back to her as she watched the scene. “A ghost has many powers, sometimes more than they had in life. It's not wise to cross one.”
No shit, she thought.
Dagda's screams brought a shiver to Diana's spine, and she curled into Azoth's side, sometimes hiding her face into his chest, but unable to stop herself from glancing over from time to time to look at the bloody progress it took to rip a set of limbs out of a man's back.
Nyx threw down the wings when finished, disgusted, and he looked up at the both of them.
“He's all yours,” he said, speaking for the first time through his mouth and not with his mind. He motioned down to the bleeding man on the damp leaves and pine needles, as though they could have missed him.
Then he began to disappear.
Diana reached for him, quickly before Azoth could pull her back. “Don't go!”
She grabbed him by the arms, shocked that she was even able to touch him. She'd half expected to run right through him, but he was as solid and real as herself.
He smiled at her, the smile reaching his formerly sad, purple eyes, and he smoothed a lock of hair behind her ear. “I am free. Do not mourn me.”
Like that was even remotely possible.
His hand was behind her neck, pulling her closer, and before she could put together what was happening, he was kissing her.
It was a chaste, simple sort of thing, like the respectful kiss Azoth had given to her when they said their marriage vows.
Just as quickly, it was over, and Azoth was next to her, bristling like an affronted hedgehog.
“I suppose a kiss is not unjust payment for our lives,” he said between his teeth, then he relaxed a bit. “And I do owe you my apologies for my suspicions all these years.”
Nyx laughed again, releasing Diana's arms. “I have always loved you, and now I can be happy knowing you are finally as free as I.”
“Nyx...” Tears were freely running dow
n her face. She didn't know what she would have said to him in return. She didn't get the chance to say anything because he vanished completely from sight.
Azoth took her into his arms then and allowed her to cry into his chest.
He gave her less than a moment to do so, as Dagda's groaning pulled them both out of their thoughts.
Azoth gently pulled the both of them away to a nearby tree. A small sapling that hadn't been one of the ones to attack them. He carefully pried her loose and set her down to sit in the pine needles.
“You do not want to witness this, sakkra,” he said. “Turn away.”
Eyes wide with the knowledge of what he planned to do, Diana nodded, lifted her knees and hugged them close, putting her head down and hiding her eyes. At the last second, she thought to cover her ears, but of course, that barely did anything, and she still heard everything that happened.
“I do not enjoy having to carry out a sentence on a member of the royal house, especially as helpless as you are, but,” Azoth trailed off, and the sickening crunch of bones followed. Dagda didn't even scream.
Epilogue
A couple of weeks later.
Diana hugged the comforter around her shoulders. The morning air was chilly, and even more so when she was outside in her bare feet, wearing nothing more than her pajama bottoms and a flimsy little tank top.
She'd enjoyed their flimsiness when Azoth took them off her last night, but now she wished she were wearing a sweater or something as the cold air hit her feet and wafted under and up the blanket.
She'd done this at least three times before, woken up in the early dawn's light to find the other side of her shared bed cold and empty.
With all the gold from Azoth's cavern, they were both living like, well, royalty, and she'd done as she'd promised and bought a remote cabin (okay, it was a mini mansion) away from cities, noise, and just about anything that would stun a man-dragon from a thousand years ago. The road leading to their new home wasn't even paved, their nearest neighbor was five miles away, and the closest town had less than two thousand people in it.
Sometimes she missed malls and shopping, but there would be time for those later. Azoth was still getting used to her car, and was still a nervous passenger whenever she managed to coax him inside it. At least there was a nice art supply store to keep them busy whenever they got too antsy to stay inside the house.
For Azoth, that was most of the time. After living for so many years confined, walls all around, regardless of how well spaced, now that the option to enter to outside was finally upon him, he did it as often as possible.
Though he did manage to keep himself preoccupied on the property itself. He hunted in the woods surrounding the house and lake, swam, fished, flew in his dragon form—Diana had warned him to be cautious of that last one—and at night, sometimes he stole away while Diana slept to stargaze. Usually this ended with him falling asleep out in the cold, and Diana waking to go and search for him.
Those other times, just like now, she would come to him at dawn, and they would both settle with her comforter to watch the rising sun.
It seemed only fitting for a man who hadn't see the sky in so long to adore everything about it. Diana had trouble keeping him indoors half the time.
She knelt down, smiling as he slept, mouth open a crack and softly snoring. She shook her head and nudged his shoulder. “Hey,”
He awoke with a startled jerk. Then his eyes found hers, and he settled again. “Good morn, my love.”
“Good morning,” she allowed him to put his large hands around her waist and pull her down with him. She would never get over how small she felt in comparison to his size. He didn't seem to mind that she was still clutching their dampening comforter, leaving none for him as he snuggled into her, kissing her neck.
“I was thinking we'll have to move the bedroom into the sun room if you keep on doing this.”
“As I suggested before, hm?”
“Don't be a smart ass,” she said, pinching him just under the little dragon tattoo on his shoulder.
She really loved that tattoo. It seemed to appear right after he became one with his dragon. Azoth said it was a symbol of his status.
“Seeing the sun and stars while I make love to my wife would be nice,” Azoth said, shifting and pulling her away from her thoughts on the little dragon. “But feeling the earth beneath my skin is also nice. I could do this every morning.”
“You won't want to when the winter comes.”
“Let it come. I'll take that too.”
She shook her head and kissed him, letting him enjoy the peace of being outside, the wind gently swaying the stray hairs of his head around his lips and cheeks and closed eyelids. Although it had been chilly and damp, his body heat quickly warmed her, and she found herself also being able to appreciate the cool dewdrops against the back of her neck and fingers along with her husband.
He was the one to break the silence, just as her body and mind were relaxing back into sleep.
“When,” he hesitated. “When did you wish to let the fae world know you live?”
She snuggled closer to him, no longer sleepy, but trying to hide from the question in the comfortable warmth of his chest. “Let's give it another week,” she said.
“We've had more than that already. The Great Lady in heaven only knows what your folk have been doing since Dagda vanished, or even while he ruled.”
“I know, but...” Now she was the one to trail off. “I want us to have our honeymoon. We never got that before, and I want us to have it now.”
He squeezed her tightly. “You fear that once you're given control back of your kingdom that we'll have no alone time together?”
“Not that,” she said, getting up onto one elbow to have a look at him. “I don't want to take over a kingdom at all.”
Not only that, but her memories were still a fresh wound she was dealing with. Sometimes she wouldn't remember her mother or sisters at all until the scent of a flower, or the reflection of the lake at dusk came in through the windows, and then she would cry. Not even Azoth could console her during those times when she was reminded of friends and family that were now gone, and the only thing he could do was let her alone until the pain lessened enough so she could calm herself.
That wasn't exactly the description of a strong leader.
He lifted a single brow, studying her.
“Does that upset you?” She asked.
He shrugged. “No. It is not my kingdom to decide anything with. I suppose I'm just shocked. I was certain you would want to go back.”
Diana bit her lips together, knowing what he meant. Her memories of living in this world, this time, still felt so real, even though she knew that, for the most part, they weren't.
Some of them were real, she knew that much, knew it in her gut, but the real memories didn't even matter anymore. She'd gone back to the school where she worked only a couple of days ago, hesitant and smiling at Claire, the woman who oversaw all appointments, tours, and strange visitors who served no purpose at all.
Claire hadn't known who she was. When Diana had walked up to her desk, smiled and said hello in the same tone, in the same manner, that she always did, Claire just smiled back and returned the greeting in the way one did when greeting a stranger. The whole time, the woman's calculative gray eyes were sharp behind her stylish glasses with the metal leaf frame.
Diana then proceeded to introduce herself and make an inquiry about any possible positions teaching art, still waiting for Clair to recognize her.
“Actually, it's the strangest thing,” Claire said. “Our last teacher suddenly retired, so there is an opening available.”
Claire never remembered her at all, and as the woman whom Diana once considered to be a good friend gave her the website and e-mail where she could send her resume, Diana had fought tears.
It was as if she hadn't existed at all.
“I don't know how to run a kingdom. Mab, Mother, never had to teach me, being th
e youngest of eleven.”
Azoth nodded, understanding. “Nor I. I wouldn't even be able to advise you on the subject.”
Diana traced a finger along the ridges of his chest, playing up to his nipple, and watching as it hardened under the teasing of her finger. “I was thinking, if you wanted, that we would eventually tell them we're here and alive, but then leave all the ruling to whoever the fae people want to put in charge. Something tells me that, princess or no, they won't be too keen on me showing up after a thousand years gone, suddenly wanting to take over. I don't even know if things are different now compared to then.”
The fae people, hadn't been spelled forward through time, like she was.
At least, that's what she and Azoth had figured Nyx had done. It was the only explanation for how she had never aged. Given a somewhat new appearance, new memories, and then shot forward through time. No such thing had happened with the fae or dragons. Their lives had gone on, new generations started and long since grown up, who only knew of Mab and her daughters through stories.
Azoth sighed. “Especially with me on your arm. With their king dead, my hands are now responsible for the deaths of nearly every member of your royal house. Regardless of whether you arrive, alive and well, I doubt there will be much forgiveness or trust for me among the fae.”
Diana wished with everything inside her that he wasn't so goddamn right.
“But I would like to return to the mountains and the dragons some time. If only to visit the land and see if any of my brothers or their descendants still live.”
“Of course,” she agreed, latching onto any idea that would make him happy. “Yes, definitely. I wouldn't want to keep you from your home.”
“Calm your thoughts, I did not think that's what you were doing.” Azoth petted her hair, drawing her back onto his chest.
Warmth spread through her. “Then we can stay here?”
He looked up and around the peaceful scenery. The birds had begun to chirp and twitter their morning song, and the yellow sun was now higher in the sky, still casting long shadows in the blades of grass and trees, but having entirely chased away the night and wet dew.