“From blood and ash,” I shouted, lifting the hand joined with Poppy’s. People echoed the words through the town and the valley.
Poppy looked up at me and then faced the crowd as she lifted the hand that held Kieran’s. “We have risen!”
Remember what we told you in Evaemon?”
I shook my head, my thoughts racing far too much to even begin to recall what he could possibly be referencing.
His eyes caught mine, the gold glimmering in the starlight. “You have faced Craven and vamprys, men wearing masks of mortal flesh. Stared down Atlantians who’ve wanted to harm you, seized cities, and freed me,” he said, touching my cheek. “You’re more than a Queen. More than a goddess on the verge of becoming a Primal. You’re Penellaphe Da’Neer, and you’re fearless.”
My breath snagged in my chest.
Kieran touched the other side of my cheek, turning my gaze to his. He smiled. “And you run from no one and nothing.”
Emotion clogged my throat, and as it had in Evaemon, their words were as powerful as the eather thrumming in my chest.
They were right.
I was brave.
Strong.
And I wasn’t afraid.
Nodding, I faced forward as Delano brushed my
“Whether she ruled over all the lands and seas or was the Queen of nothing but a pile of ashes and bones, she would—will—always be my Queen. Love is too weak an emotion to describe how she consumes me and what I feel for her. She is my everything.”