It takes two days for my heart to start beating again. In that time, I am guarded by my closest allies. I wake to Isadora’s scowling face.

“You stabbed me,” she growls.

“I took a sword to the heart,” I say, as if it is a competition.

“Not from me, but I have every intention of correcting that fact.”

“What are you complaining about?” I grouse. “You, at least, didn't feel a thing. Strynchos Toxifera given in enough quantities can paralyse the recipient…”

“Victim.”

“…so completely they do not feel any pain.”

“You. Stabbed. Me.”

I do not think it is the act that Isadora objects to, but rather the thought at the time of my betrayal. I understand how she feels. Melita betrayed me. Twice. My father, the man who I thought was my father, betrayed me repeatedly since I was old enough to hold a sword and made him have to fight to win our clashes.

“Pyrkagia?” I manage to say.

“Eagerly awaiting their King,” Isadora offers.

“Will this be before or after you seek your revenge?” I enquire.

“Before. I have every intention of striking when you least expect it. You’ll be looking over your shoulder for years to come and then…bam! I’ll stab you through the heart.”

“Somehow I don't think that’s how a loyal subject behaves.”

“Who said I was loyal?” she demands.

But we both know she has not left my side in two days.

She helps me sit up. I’m still weak. But I’m alive. And then she pulls a satellite phone out of her pocket and hands it to me. I stare at the phone for a second and then look at Isadora’s face.

“She’s been a pain in arse,” she grumbles. “Demanding updates every half hour. As if I didn't have enough on my hands nursing you.”

“Then why didn’t you give the phone to Aktor or Nico?” I ask.

She glares at me and then gets up and leaves the room.

I notice it’s the room I was in when Pisces had been my nursemaid. I shudder. Despite Isadora’s prickly side, I’d gladly take her wiping my brow over the Nero monster any day.

I stare down at the satellite phone. A part of me simply wants to go there. To go directly to the Amazon and hold Casey and never let her go again. But there will be much to accomplish in Pyrkagia before I can be permanently at my Thisavros’ side. I still have to deal with the Council. With Mikkos in particular. With my mother; the woman who raised me but whose blood does not flow in my veins.

The thought unsettles me.

I dial Casey’s satellite phone and wait to hear her sweet voice. The line clicks, I hear yelling and screaming in the background. I am on my feet in an instant, the room spinning hazily around me, my thigh aching, my chest hurting for more than one reason.

“Casey!” I shout.

“No!” I hear her yelling. “That one stays. Chop the other one down! Are you freaking insane? That took me three days to grow. It’s not going anywhere for at least another day.”

“Casey?” I say at a more reasonable volume.

“Theo! Oh my God! Theo, you’re awake.”

“And you sound like you’re in a battle. What in Aetheros’ name is going on over there?”

“Oh, that,” she says, laughing. “That’s a negotiation. These freaking Gi want to cut down every tree I regrow and make treehouses. I guess I’m a little protective of my babies.”

I smile and slowly lower myself back to the bed.

“Nothing wrong with that,” I say.

“How are you?” she asks, the sounds of axes chopping and people yelling diminishes; she must be walking away.

“Good, Oraia,” I say. “I am good. And you and the baby?”

“Missing you,” she whispers.

“I will visit soon, I promise. But there is much to get in order here first.”

“I know. I know. I just…”

“For eternity, Cassandra.

“Always,” she says.

We talk of nothing and everything and then eventually we have to say our farewells as one of the Gi starts hacking a tree Casey has not yet stopped thinking of as her baby.

I tuck the satellite phone away and walk out into the main room.

Aktor is at the fire pit, Sonya beside him. Nico is talking to Hippolytos on a sofa that hadn’t been here when I was last conscious. Pisces is playing a game of cards with Isadora; the sight so surprising that for a moment I am speechless. It is Noah who approaches, the rest of my family too busy living to see me.

“Your Majesty,” he says and bows low.

“Alchemist,” I offer, but there is no longer any sting to the name. I have changed. The battle with Gallus has changed me. We are all Ekmetalleftis in a way.

“How are you feeling?” the doctor asks.

I place a hand on my chest, over my heart. Where the former Rigas stabbed me. But I do not feel the remembered pain. I feel only the love I have for my people. For Casey.

“I feel great,” I say.

Noah smiles and then walks away.

Aktor leaves the stew in the capable hands of Sonya then, and walks towards me with such a look of pride on his face.

He bows. I scoff. Tears are forming in both of our eyes as we embrace.

“I am so proud of you, son,” he says.

I force myself to release the man who has cared for me as a father should and take a step back to look down at his wizened features. He looks younger, though. As if the weight of the world has been lifted off his shoulders.

“There is still much to do,” I tell him.

“The Council has been detained; including the former Queen,” he advises. “The Alchemists offered their camp as neutral ground for their imprisonment. They await your instructions.”

“We are working with the Alchemists now?” I ask.

Aktor smiles serenely at me. “They do have effective chains,” he says.

I grin back at him and then let the smile fade.

“This will require a delicate hand,” I muse.

“Yes. There are still those who support the mad king.” We have a name for my uncle, it seems. “There will have to be trials. And they can only occur after your coronation. Isadora and Nico have been organising that, so we can proceed as soon as you are strong enough.”

“I am healthy.” I do not wish to delay accepting the crown. Pyrkagia needs to recover, and this will take time, but more importantly, I need to be with Casey. And I can only achieve that when I have dealt with my responsibilities here in New Zealand.

It chafes. I want so much to leave, right now. To use the Aeras and their lightning before they go back to Machu Picchu. To have them take us all to the Amazon.

But I can not. Pyrkagia must come first. I am Rigas. My people must be cared for. My own needs must wait.

For this I will need patience. A steady hand and warm heart. Forgiveness may be essential but it will also not be absolute. I won’t have a member of the former Council near my Thisavros and baby. And as much as integration is the way of the future for our kind, Queen Leda and her cronies must be banished; segregated.

I may be a benevolent King but I will not be a weak one.

No one will harm my family ever again.

I nod my head to Aktor. He nods his head back gravely.

We have work to do. It will take time. Months maybe. But we will recover. We will recreate ourselves in the old ways. And we will do it with the Aeras and the Nero and the Gi. We’ll even work with the Alchemists.

Because balance must be maintained. And I will do everything in my formidable power to ensure that it is.

For Casey and the baby.

For everyone.

I am Aether’s sword; my blade is sharp and it is precise. I am the eternal edge of Aether and no one and no thing shall be free of my justice.

“May Aetheros be with you,” I murmur to no one and everyone.

And with you, I hear my god say.