Chapter Thirty
Nothing but a blackened sheet of glass remained on the beach, the only evidence of the fire that had rendered Meri’s body to ash. The immense heat of the dragon fire that made it penetrated far into the earth, and the glass extended down for several feet. It possessed a subtle inner glow, retaining some of the magic the dragons had flooded it with to destroy Meri’s corpse.
Aodh, Gavra, and Ked worked together in their dragon forms to excavate what remained of their enemy, which was no more than the faint shadow of her ashes suspended in that dense block of glass. While they were certain she was dead, her spirit overtaken by the god’s power and cremated with the blood that had bound her, they didn’t want to take chances that any remnant of her remained. The glass would be shattered, each shard kept under guard by trusted members of the higher races.
Other piles of ashes littered the beach, the destroyed remains of the other soldiers who had not been freed from Meri’s influence. Once they had retrieved the bodies of their fallen, all that remained were the remnants of dried blood scattered across the beach and throughout the Haven. Even those signs faded to nothing with one good rain.
Yet a shadow of the final confrontation still remained, and Nikhil stared at the black patch of sand beneath his feet, wondering if it was merely his own vision playing tricks on him—some remnant of Meri’s control lingering like a bruise upon his psyche. The once shining white sand remained darker in this spot, though there had been several rainy days since the battle had ended.
“There is no sign of her,” Belah said. “Even my brother who was the first to fall under her spell reports a profound sense of ease, and once we cleared the rubble blocking the Diviner’s cave, she confirmed as much. Meri’s taint has been burned away from this world. She can no longer haunt us.”
“I know. I expect this feeling will fade in time. It’s as though a splinter has been removed from my flesh after ages of enduring it. I’d grown used to its constant pressure, and the wound is still so tender I can’t help but prod it to remind myself that it’s gone.”
“We have everything to look forward to now, my love,” Belah said, pulling him around to look at her. “Our family is whole again, or will be when your daughter returns.”
Nikhil pulled her into his arms, closing his eyes and savoring her warmth and the slight pressure of her round, pregnant stomach against his abdomen. Another child was coming—a son or daughter he ached to meet. Nieces and nephews abounded, more dragon pregnancies being reported each day.
He was not used to such abundant joy, but it was still tempered by worry. The things Meri had said of his and Neela’s daughter troubled him. Despite all Meri’s lies, he believed those words to be true—that the child would be cursed due to her origins. Her lack of a soul would be a burden no child should have to bear.
He was consoled by Belah’s eagerness to be a mother again. Deva would not want for loving parents—not with seven fathers who would claim her as their daughter, and three mothers eager to nurture her. He almost felt sorry for the girl and worried for her independence with such a doting family and collection of overprotective males prepared to watch over her. But the one parent she would not lack for was thankfully gone and would never return.
“What of the other … pregnancy?” he said, hesitating to call the last creature Meri had attempted to create a child.
Belah’s expression darkened with pain. “Nyx couldn’t counteract the curse Meri put on it, and she refused to let it grow inside her. She destroyed it.”
Nikhil’s throat constricted. “That means she can’t…”
Belah responded with a grim look and a brief shake of her head. “She says she is happy enough to have Nereus back. Assana and Calder are well and happy too. Nyx is more than happy to be a grandmother and leave the honor of having babies to the younger generations.”
But he didn’t miss the sheen in her eyes when she pressed her hands over her own pregnant belly.
“She’s right, I think,” Nikhil said. “The one thing I wanted most was to have a child with you. I know this baby you carry is not my blood, but Iszak and Lukas deserve the chance to know that love as well. I have Asha, who is more than I could have hoped for in a daughter. If we could never have another, I would not regret it.”
“You have Deva too. She’ll come back to us as soon as Dion’s able to retrieve her.”
There was more to be done, but the rest could wait. As he gazed down into Belah’s eyes, that empty ache left behind by the absence of his quest for vengeance slowly eased and filled with his love for her. With it, his old desire surged again and his body heated, his skin tingling beneath the lazy scrape of her nails along the base of his skull.
Her lips spread into a smile and he knew she’d seen inside his mind, felt the need return strong enough to obliterate all his other worries. As though responding to her unspoken desire, Lukas and Iszak appeared, crossing the sand with easy, yet purposeful strides.
The two Princes of the North Wind glanced between Nikhil and Belah. Lukas smirked, and Iszak’s eyes sparked with desire, but they both sobered by the time they reached the couple.
“I wish like hell I could tell you two we have time to ourselves for once, but that is sadly not the case,” Iszak said. “Dion is awake. We need you to come back to the palace.”