The Touch of Demise │18+

53: THE END

GRACE

It's been three years since the fall of Ophir. The relationship between the two species was the most agreeable it had ever been. Often, the rulers of the Wolf kingdom would travel to Arden, and the Regents would come to visit them. Regent Caspian stayed true to his word and fixed the canyon in their lands.

Her abilities grew somewhat. She could now will plants to grow at her whim, but only for a period of time before she became exhausted. She trained, at times, with other mages of Arden as well as Demise, but truthfully...Demise and Grace were blissfully happy. They didn't feel the need to seek out excessive training for their faerie abilities.

Grace remained unpregnant. Although it truly seemed as if her CF had been somehow cured, she still feared the gene would be passed on to her children. Demise had never brought it up again. It ate at her, however. She knew that he longed for a child, and she wanted nothing more than to give him one, but... she knew how hard her life had been. She couldn't do that to her child.

Goliath...withered. He performed his duties in the highest esteem and never failed to offer valuable advice, but he threw himself into his work. He went off on long-winded assignments for months at a time, collected information, and then returned where he trained day in and day out with his gammas.

He rarely spoke to the others, and when he did it was in short sentences. He could put on the best of facades that he was alright, but he didn't smile anymore. He didn't sing. Didn't play.

Grace had never heard him sing before but Demise said he had the voice of an angel. People had many names for herself and for Demise. Grace became The Mother of Wolves, Mother Nature, The Freer of Fae. Demise became the Angel of Death, the King of Demise, and the Father of Wolves.

Goliath grew a name for himself as well. The Lord of Shadows. The Shadow Knight. The Broken.

While Grace had seen Adalind many times over the years, they rarely conversed. Adalind never asked about Goliath. Goliath never asked about Adalind.

Adalind was treated as a woman that led, not as a leader that was a woman. She was quiet most often at their gatherings, but when she did speak, she spoke with confidence and care. All the Regents regarded her as simply existing. No one necessarily cared for her, but no one necessarily saw her as an enemy. She was just there.

Grace wondered what game she was playing. She didn't necessarily care to find out as long as her lands were safe.

Unlike previously, Adalind did not seem aggressive. She did not seem as though she wanted any more land than she already had. But Adalind had killed their wolves, had murdered a child, and fell in love with a tyrant.

How could Grace forgive those grievances? How could Goliath?

"I want to show you something."

Grace closed her book as her mate entered their bedroom.

Demise smiled at her book. "Is that book from Arden?"

She grinned. "Of course."

"How should I feel that you enjoy reading faerie porn?"

"Excited," she said as she climbed onto his lap. "Because I get to bring everything I learn back to you." Biting her lip, she put her book aside. "What did you want to show me?"

His smile faded but did not pass. He closed his eyes and then the world around her faded into black and white. Darkness surrounded her similar to when they entered House Nyght. This time, however, a person did not come to see Demise but her. She removed herself from his lap and turned. Her breath caught in her chest.