Eva plunged the dagger into the demon’s back. As his body crumbled to dust, I managed to stand, my body aching as I ran toward the woman I loved.

I drew her into my arms and held her as her body trembled with sobs. Together, we fell to our knees on the marble floor, locked in an embrace.

“I’m so sorry I let this happen,” I said. “I promised to keep you safe, Eva, and I almost lost you. I never want to lose you again. I love you.”

She looked up into my eyes, and I felt my entire world shift as she repeated those words back to me. “I love you, too, Nik,” she said. “I think I’ve loved you from the moment I first laid eyes on you.”

I pulled her into a kiss, pouring all my love into that one connection that meant more to me than any words could ever express. Before she had come into my life, I was hopeless and alone. I was a shell of the triton I used to be.

But she had brought me back to life and made me realize that my true worth, my true happiness was not tied to my powers or the shape of my body. I kissed her with the passion of ten years’ worth of sunsets, and when we finally pulled away from each other, I knew there was no force on earth that could ever keep us apart again.

The silver shackle on my wrist opened and fell to the floor with a clang. In an instant, I felt my powers returned to me. The magic I’d known as a child flowed through my veins again.

Eva and I both looked over to see Selena standing near the pile of dust on the floor, her eyes locked on the two of us.

“All these years, I’ve taken joy in building my collection,” she said. “I thought controlling so many men made me powerful, but after tonight, after knowing what it feels like to be at the mercy of someone else, I realize my collection was my greatest weakness. My greatest shame.”

Shimmering tears streamed down her face as she looked at Eva.

“You could have left me there alone and run away with Nik the moment he dropped that potion,” she said. “Why didn’t you?”

Eva stood and walked over to the siren, taking her by the hand.

“Because I know what it’s like to be his prisoner,” she said. “And no matter what you’ve done in the past, no one deserves that. Not even you.”

“Thank you for what you did for me,” she said. “I know I can never truly make up for what I’ve done, but I hope that by giving you your freedom, Nik, in time you can learn to forgive me.”

I got to my feet and went to join them both.

“Set them all free,” I said to her. “Stop running drugs and trying to find your worth in the pain and misery of others. If you do that, maybe in time, you’ll learn to forgive yourself.”

Outside, Nathan, Cole, and the other hunters had arrived to take care of Dominic’s lesser demons. When they joined us inside, Nathan stared at the dagger and the demon’s dust on the floor.

“I thought I told you to wait for us, Nik,” he said, a hint of a smile on his face. “But I’m glad you didn’t. Nice work taking care of that demon, though.”

I laughed. “It wasn’t me,” I said. “It was a joint effort between these two ladies.”

Nathan raised an eyebrow and nodded in approval. “If either of you ever wanted to think about training to be hunters, you know where to find us,” he said with a laugh.

As they continued the cleanup efforts, Eva and I started to walk away when something hidden inside the dust glimmered in the light. I paused and crouched down to take a closer look. Using the dagger, I sifted through the dust and lifted out a beautiful gold and emerald bracelet.

Eva gasped and reached for it, clutching it against her chest.

“My mother’s bracelet,” she said.

“It was stolen from The Dragon’s Hoard tonight,” I said. “That’s how I knew the demon had found you, but by the time I realized it, you were already gone. He must have tracked you from there.”

“It’s all I have left of her,” she said. “She spent most of my young life moving me around and trying to keep me safe, but I wish she was here now to see that finally, after all this time, I’ve found a home I can truly call my own.”

Eva wrapped her arms around my neck and pressed her body close to mine.

“I’m finally free,” she said.

Together, we walked out of the castle at the edge of town and out into the night, toward our destiny.