His beautiful mouth hitched at the side. Those dimples winked. “Yes, murderous Aveen. You did.”
More pieces locked into place, but not the one I felt missing deep inside of me. “I used the dagger. I shouldn’t be here.”
“The curse was ravaging your body, but I figured out a way to stop it.”
On any other day, I would’ve been afraid to ask. But not today. Today, I didn’t feel afraid of anything. “How did you stop the curse?”
Clear cerulean eyes tangled with mine. “I took your heart.”
Slowly, my gaze fell to the front of my shift. My hand did not tremble as I drew down the lace at my throat. More poisoned veins surrounded a fresh scar across my breast.
I had no heart.
The same darkness that had lived inside the Phantom Queen now lived within me.
Was I destined to become a monster like the Queen? Were my friends and family scared ofme?
Rían leaned over to collect a golden box from the bedside table and place it in my lap. There was no need to open it when I could hear the steady thump of what was kept inside.
“This belongs to you,” he said.
“And so does this, my Queen.” Tadhg held something between his hands. The Phantom Queen’s onyx crown.
“I don’t want that.” Turned out Icouldfeel something: contempt. The thought of putting something on my head that had belonged to that wretched witch made me want to kill her all over again.
Rían’s soft chuckle fanned against my cheek. “You slayed the Phantom Queen. Her throne and her crown are yours, whether you want them or not.”
“But that thing is hideous.”
“Then we shall find you one that suits,” he promised.
Her throne and her crown are yours…
“Are we certain it’s a good idea for another heartless murderer to take the throne?” I asked. “Wouldn’t someone like Keelynn be better suited?” At least she had her heart. And as far as hearts went, hers was one of the best.
Tadhg set the crown on the bed beside my heart. “First, it’s the law. Second, the fact that you are concerned with your own suitability despite being a ‘heartless murderer’ makes me confident that you’ll be just fine.”
Perhaps he had a point. The guilt over killing all those people no longer weighed me down. I’d done what was necessary to save my family and the Danú. If I had a chance to do it all over again, I wouldn’t change a thing.
Was this to be my fate for the rest of eternity? This emptiness? Was I to never know the joy of finally defeating the Queen? Of finally being free to live and love the man sitting next to me?
I reached for Rían’s fingers. “Is this how you felt without your heart?” I asked him. “Hollow. Empty. Devoid of life.”
His eyes softened as he took my hand once more. “For a long time, yes. But only because it was easier. The Queen stole a piece of me, but it was my choice to let darkness take root. Until you came into my life with your tiny shovel and weeded that shite right out.”
“So there’s hope that I will learn to love once more?”
His forehead dropped to mine. “My Queen, if there’s one thing you have taught me, it’s that there is always hope.”
EPILOGUE
TADHG
I’d always been taughtthat true happiness was a fantasy. Considering I myself was a creature of legend, I’d hoped the authority on life was wrong. Nine months after defeating the Phantom Queen, I could say with my entire being that happinesswasattainable…if you were patient. For a man who’d spent most of his life cursed, that lesson had been hard earned. But as I sat at this table, I could think of nothing else in this world that I needed. Hell, that I wanted.
Mitchell Geara, the newly appointed Vellanian Ambassador, chuckled at something Ruairi said. As far as Vellanians went, he wasn’t the worst. And the fact that my brother approved of his appointment was a miracle in and of itself. Then again, they both owned the same pair of fancy boots, so perhaps Rían hadn’t been completely impartial.
“Are you pleased with the trials, sire?” Mitchell asked.