Total pages in book: 85
Estimated words: 81261 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 406(@200wpm)___ 325(@250wpm)___ 271(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 81261 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 406(@200wpm)___ 325(@250wpm)___ 271(@300wpm)
My gaze drops, but he doesn’t let it stay there. A hand comes under my chin, and he forces it up. “I’ve given those words to one other person in my life, and that was my daughter. And while I love Thalia dearly and would sacrifice anything for her, if I had to go the rest of my life banished in the Underworld to never see her again, I could handle it. I can’t, however, handle another fucking day without you. I am begging you to give me another chance to prove it to you.”
“Another chance?” I ask, confused as to what that means. I’m alive again. Zora gave me a new body. “Would I have to die?”
“No,” he says on a long sigh, what I think is relief that I’m even entertaining this. “You would travel to the Underworld as any human would travel to another dimension.”
“But I’d age—”
Amell shakes his head. “No. If you let me, I can make you immortal. There’s strong enough magic to do it. There’s even a dimension called Semper Terra where they use stone magic to stop the aging process.”
“Oh… wow,” I mumble, mind spinning. I mean, he’s apologized. He said he loves me. He’s asking me to return to the Underworld.
Do I forgive him? I accepted his apology, and he’s said all the right words, but… I still feel the pain he caused.
“If you don’t want to come with me,” Amell says, and my eyes fly back to him. “If you’re happy here, especially since you’re near your brother, I’ve petitioned the gods to grant me mortality. To free me from my obligation to the Underworld and let me live out a short but what I know will be a very satisfying life with you.”
My eyes flare, my mouth falling open. “You’d do that for me?”
“I’d do anything, Nyssa. Anything you could imagine in that beautiful head of yours, I’ll do it, if it means you’ll come back to me. Say you forgive me.”
“I do,” I say without hesitation. Because his willingness to give up his life to be here with me tells me all I need to know.
“And do you love me?” he whispers, dipping his face close to mine.
I take stock of my feelings, surprised to find that deep cut of pain is gone. I reach to see if it’s hiding in some recess of my heart, but I don’t feel anything except unwavering love for this man.
I only know I want to spend the rest of my life with him.
“Yes,” I whisper back, locking my hands around his wrists. “If I didn’t love you, you’d have never been able to crush me the way you did.”
“I’m so fucking sorry,” he mutters, resting his forehead against mine. “I’ll never, ever hurt you again. I swear it.”
“I believe you,” I murmur, lifting my face so my lips brush against his.
And then, he’s kissing me hard. His arms wrap around me, and I sink into him, tears springing to my eyes at the familiarity of his taste and touch. Gratitude for finding something I’d lost and for the first time since leaving the Underworld, nothing but pure happiness coursing through me.
Amell lifts his mouth and peers at me solemnly. “Now… where do you want to live? My world or yours?”
Hmmm… that’s something I need to think about.
EPILOGUE
Amell
Nyssa struts down the Bridge of Judgment, and while I know she’s not exactly comfortable in her outfit, she is indeed smoking hot. While she prefers the relaxed ease of her First Dimension jeans and T-shirts, she doesn’t mind the theatrics of head-to-toe black leather with stiletto boots, and she looks positively wicked. In her effort to win over the Dark Fae in this realm, she decided to play their game. Knowing how much they love to watch a judgment, cheering as each person is pushed over the edge, she decided to give them a better show than Calix ever did.
She twists her wrist—compliments of basic stone magic gifted to her and powered by the pendant hanging between her cleavage under the black leather bustier—and a scroll appears with the information about the recently departed.
“Listen, one and all, it is Judgment Day. Sitting before you is His Magnificence, King Amell, anointed by Zora, the god of Death. I am his wife, Queen Nyssa, and I shall reap you individually for the king’s consideration.”
That’s right.
My wife.
I married her in an elaborate Underworld ceremony the likes of which no one will ever see again. Marriages aren’t done here, and ours wasn’t performed with any nod toward religion. We don’t have legal marriage licenses in Hell. But I wanted a ceremony—held on the bridge for all of Otaxis to watch—so that everyone would know Nyssa is beyond special to me.
We didn’t exchange rings, as custom dictates in her dimension, but rather words.