His gaze rose sharply. Daric’s eyes narrowed. “Rain?”
Focusing on the starflower, Rain gathered all her power and barreled toward the Cauldron. Painfully hot flames shot up to deter her. She fought and dodged them. She had to save the carving. It belonged to her and Daric.
Pressing downward like a tornado, she blew out and crushed Braylian’s fire with her own formidable weather. Rain was just one season compared to the mighty goddess of all the elements, but she was determined.
The two ancient and savage forces clashed in the Cauldron. Rain doubled her efforts, drawing strength and courage not from knowing she was a deity but from the stubborn resolve she’d learned from humans, that boldness of spirit that embodied fight and sacrifice and hard, unwavering purpose.
Smoke and ash suddenly took the place of violent struggles—a war turned silent. She’d done it. She’d overcome Braylian. Extinguished her fire!
Rain took form in the center of the Cauldron. She stood on trembling legs and stared at Daric. He was so close, so close she could almost touch him.
He stared back. Then he roared and leaped for her. Rain bent and snatched up the starflower just as Braylian fought back, hard and fast, her flames surging high to reclaim her daughter.
Rain dove out of the Cauldron, fire licking her feet. Daric caught her and raced away, his broad back shielding her naked skin from the inferno Braylian hurled at them.
He set her on her feet at the edge of the clearing. Rain wobbled, unused to legs and the need for balance. Daric steadied her. He gripped her arms, his blue eyes wild and haunted. “You’re real.”
“I…think so,” Rain answered.
“I love you. So much.” His voice cracked, and Rain let out a sob. He held her face in his hands and kissed her. The kiss was hard but tender, heartbroken and unsteady. “Don’t leave me again. I won’t survive it.”
“I love you. I’ve been miserable without you.” The words trembled out of her, as shaky as her new limbs.
“These years without you…” Daric shook his head, his breath shuddering violently.
Rain wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him. Their lips collided, and warmth bloomed inside her, the heat of home and life and love, and she realized more than ever how cold and lonely she’d been without Daric.
She drew back to look at him, still shaking, her hands in his hair. She couldn’t stop touching him. “You threw away my starflower.”
“It was yours. I didn’t know how else to give it back to you.” He took off his cloak and wrapped it around her bare shoulders.
Fire popped, and they both looked at the Cauldron. As they did, the flames settled. The blaze turned into something resembling softness, and Rain instinctively knew that Braylian had forgiven her for rebelling. The goddess wasn’t angry. She understood that her daughter wasn’t hers anymore, and that Rain’s heart and spirit had belonged with Daric’s since the day they’d danced as children.
A triumphant, last sunbeam of the day hit the clearing at the same time as a wisp of fog. A rainbow shot through the moisture, and Rain threw her head back and laughed, happiness bursting out of her.
“Are you doing that?” Daric grinned along with her. It was the first time she’d seen him smile since the day she’d left him.
Rain shook her head, her heart healing as she gazed at him. “That’s my little sister, claiming Leathen before she sleeps for the next three seasons.”
“Spring will still see us? This hasn’t changed anything?”
“Spring will come to Leathen when she should,” Rain answered, trailing her fingers through the dark beard she would enjoy feeling all over her body as soon as she could. “And I have no doubt the little imp will split clouds over my head whenever she can. I probably won’t be able to leave the castle between the winter and summer months.”
Daric gazed at her in confusion.
“We fought violently over Leathen,” Rain explained. “I took it, of course.”
“Of course,” he murmured, his expression saying he believed she could do anything.
“My prince.” Rain held out the starflower to Daric, now cool marble again.
He took it, and she angled her head for him. Daric slid the starflower into her hair, pinning it back the way he had the morning of her birthday. It was the symbol of their love, and the sight of it disappearing into the Cauldron had given Rain the strength she needed to fight her way back to him.
“You’re several years late for your wedding.” Daric’s rusty attempt at humor tangled in his throat.
Rain slipped her arm through his and tugged Daric toward the shelter he’d built, already eyeing the furs she could see piled up inside as bedding with great interest. “The wedding can wait until after I’ve had my way with you.”
A spark found its way into Daric’s eyes again—the first in a long time. “I’m at your service, my lady.”
Epilogue
One year later
* * *
“Were you aware that an infant can squall louder than one of your sister’s storms?” Daric asked, placing the little silver-haired bundle into his wife’s outstretched arms.
Princess Cassia Starflower Ash immediately began rooting around for her mother’s breast.
“My goodness, I’ve only just fed her.” Rain looked in concern at her perfectly red-faced, grunting daughter.
“She’s voracious,” Daric said, feeling slightly less harried now that Rain was done with her bath and could nurse their daughter. He’d tried everything. Singing. Bouncing. Swinging. Cuddling. Cassia had wanted nothing but her mother.
He understood. He’d felt that way for years.
“Voracious.” Rain glanced up with a sly smile after Cassia had found what she was looking for. “Like her father.”
The teasing heat behind her words sent an instant bolt of desire through him. “I’ll show you voracious,” he teased back with a low growl. “As soon as Cassia is asleep, and my hearing goes back to normal.”
Rain chuckled. The sound would never cease to amaze him, not only because it was beautiful, like dewdrops on spring flowers, but because he’d once thought he’d never hear it again. His heart still exploded with joy and relief each morning he woke up next to his stunning, powerful wife. The only woman he’d ever wanted.
“My parents have promised to take her out for a stroll after her nap and let us collapse from exhaustion.”
Cocking her head to one side, Rain gazed down at their infant daughter. Cassia was two moons old, incredibly demanding, and growing like a weed in summer. “It’s odd, wanting a respite and yet not wanting to let her out of my sight.”
“They’ll take good care of her,” Daric assured her, smoothing Rain’s damp hair back when it slid forward. “I’ve never seen more proud and doting grandparents.”
She looked up again. “They’re wonderful with her.” Rain bit her lip, her lake-blue eyes roaming over him with blatant interest. “And I’m not all that exhausted,” she added.
If Cassia hadn’t been between them, Daric would have pounced. He was still the Hallerhound Prince, after all, not quite tamed and definitely not placid, even though he’d started looking and acting more civilized again. Their time apart had given them both an edge that would never disappear entirely. Desperation had left its mark on him, and he still woke some nights in a sweat, his heart pounding a hole through his ribs and his voice raw from shouting for Rain.
But she was there now when he woke from his nightmares, right next to him, soothing his fear and anguish with soft words and hot touches. They’d twine together like vines, and he’d make love to her with an intensity that bordered on broken. But every day that went by, he felt less like he might shatter, and more like everything in his life was whole again, including him.
“She’s asleep,” Rain whispered. “That didn’t take long.”
Daric took Cassia and gently laid her in her cradle. He went back to his wife and pulled her into his arms. “She just needed you to comfort
her.”
Just as he did. As he always would.
Rain smiled, and when she did, no matter where they were, inside or out, day or night, it was as though the sun came out to shine upon him.
* * *
The End
About the Author
* * *
USA Today bestselling author Amanda Bouchet grew up in New England where she spent much of her time tromping around in the woods and making up grand adventures in her head. It was inevitable that one day she would start writing them down. Amanda writes fantasy romance and sci-fi romance and was a Goodreads Choice Awards top ten finalist for Best Debut in 2016 with her first novel, A Promise of Fire.
For more about Amanda and her writing, please visit her website at https://amandabouchet.com/.
Other Titles by Amanda Bouchet
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The Kingmaker Chronicles
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A Promise of Fire (Book 1)
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Breath of Fire (Book 2)
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Heart on Fire (Book 3)
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Nightchaser
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Nightchaser (Book 1)
* * *
Starbreaker (Book 2)
* * *
For more information about Amanda and her books, please visit amandabouchet.com. You can also connect with her on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Goodreads, and BookBub.
* * *
Thank you for reading!
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