A Shade of Vampire 77 A Fate of Time - Bella Forrest Page 0,99

see again, since he’s back at his usual Hermessi status, will look after Cerix. I’m not really needed there.”

“We’ve established diplomatic relations with your planet, though,” my mother said. “Surely, you can go visit whenever you want. The witches will set up a portal as soon as this whole mess clears out.”

“Meanwhile, I’m more than happy to help out here and in the other parts of the GASP federation.” Eira sighed. “I’m sure you’ll need all the assistance you can get to rebuild and reassure people everywhere that the danger is over.”

My father nodded. “Plus, there’s the matter of returning the Hermessi children to their worlds. New civilizations to reach out to. We’ll be quite busy in the next few months.”

“You’ve got a kingdom to go back to,” I reminded him. “If anyone needs to reassure the Fire Star fae that everything will be fine, it’s you, Dad. Last time anyone saw you there, you were out cold inside a crystal casing, under the Hermessi’s influence.”

He grinned. “Yeah. Imagine the welcome party I’ll get.”

Being here like this made me wonder what fate had in store for us next. After The Shade’s early, dark, complicated days, after Azazel’s bloody reign in Eritopia… after Neraka’s Exiled Maras and soul-eating daemon fiends, and after Strava and Ta’Zan’s overly ambitious plans… we’d just dealt with cosmic entities that had been determined to destroy us all.

They’d almost succeeded, too, and would have, had it not been for our determination and stubbornness, our refusal to just lie down and die. Of course, I had to give thanks to Death and the Reapers. I had a feeling I’d see them again soon, since I still possessed Thieron. But I couldn’t help but ask myself, what would come next? What did the universe have in store for us?

Was there peace on the horizon? A period of zero conflict and nothing but prosperity? Or was there an adventure brewing somewhere, eager to suck us into it, somehow? I hoped, at least, that there would be no more war in the near future. By now, especially after what we’d just been through, it felt like the universe had given us more than our fair share of that.

Eira took my hand in hers, discreetly demanding my attention. “Shall we get back to the grand hall? I’m sure everyone wants to hear our version of the events.”

I kissed her, ignoring my parents completely. It felt as though our souls had been irreversibly linked, and I could no longer part from her, not even for a moment. The thought of Eira sticking around filled me with a different kind of joy. Deep down, she knew she didn’t really belong on Cerix, as much as she loved that world. She’d been made to be a wanderer, much like the rest of us, and I knew she would enjoy exploring new planets and cultures with me.

Blinking slowly, she smiled. “I take it you want me to stay, then,” she whispered, and I nodded enthusiastically.

“What’s the hurry?” I replied.

“No hurry whatsoever. Now, let’s get to the grand hall before Derek and the others send the search parties out to get us,” my mother interjected, slightly amused.

Much like me, she couldn’t wait to get the briefing part out of the way. We all had better things to do. A lot of sleep to catch up on. Plenty of time to spend with the people we’d almost lost. In the back of my head, I couldn’t help but feel sorry for the likes of Brendel and the Spirit Bender.

They didn’t understand why life was so precious, just the way it was. They couldn’t appreciate the beauty in a single blade of grass. The sweetness of one’s smile, just upon seeing us. The joy of feeling the breeze through the redwoods. All they’d wanted to do was stomp it all, because they were miserable and lonely in ways that no one could ever fix. Brendel had conditioned the Hermessi to serve her, but I doubted any of them were truly and wholeheartedly into the ritual. The Spirit Bender had lied and manipulated his way toward revenge, simply because he’d been unable to accept his fate.

This kind of rationale was toxic and tiresome, the sign of a miserable existence. Had they won, had Spirit and Brendel pushed through with the ritual, they would’ve eventually discovered that there was no happiness or contentment in killing and destroying entire worlds.

They were gone now. And they would never bother us or anyone else