was still radiating. Had done so for more than a day now, light seeping from under my skin.

I wasn't a glowing sun like when the darkness shrouded us, but the light hadn't dimmed. It had turned liquid beneath the surface of my skin, glowing and simmering. It intensified whenever Leon's skin caressed mine.

And as I lay in bed, relishing the feel of Leon's warm body against mine and the softness of the silk wrapping us, I admired this light. Admired it as it throbbed brighter as I ran my fingers through his hair, over his still sleeping face. Admired as gold and silver shimmered beneath my touch, threads of glimmering lights spreading through his veins, taking over his very blood.

I smiled.

We'd both been a pair of glowing bodies as the bond anchored itself in our souls, forging us anew. For a day-and then some more-we found no strength to let go of each other. No willpower. As though allowing a bit of distance between us would break this beautiful thing tying us, as though it would erase the vows we took, the oath and the union we'd sworn. My lover and my husband and my mate.

I smiled harder, the hand caressing his jaws going lower until it rested on his chest, over his beating heart. Over my home. He stirred, one arm falling around my shoulder as he did so, pulling me even closer. My head fell on his shoulder, feeling how his body vibrated as he rumbled, as he spoke, as he breathed. "I think I can get used to mornings like this.''

I didn't believe I could smile brighter than that-but he wrapped me tighter, head tucked beneath his chin, one arm holding me, the other running up and down my middle back. I was alive. More than I'd ever been. Alive in a way I never knew-never thought possible. Alive in a way that made my life before him a pitiful death.

The kiss I planted there on his shoulder as a response left a trail of glimmering gold. My fingers had been idle and lazy as they brushed over his heart, creating a light where his very life throbbed.

We laid for long in silence, finding no need for words. The caresses, the brushing kisses, the mere fact that we were here, tangled and serene-it was more than enough. It was bliss, it was heaven. It was way more than that.

I didn't need to look to know that the edges of the shadows were still snaked around the corners of this room, so stark against its light. Forged from ice and gold and running lights, a room more breathtaking than any I'd seen. A room with no ceiling past a sky that could bring the room I had at the Blossom village to shame. The sun hadn't peaked once here, in this temple in a world between the pockets of the universe, even when I felt it rise and fall. Only a dark sky filled to the brim with stars.

Leon had said he'd pluck them all, one by one, that he would lay them at my feet if I ever willed to, when we'd first laid in this bed, under this sky. I told him I would lay the world at his feet, told him I would burn for him. He kissed me again then, owning me mind and body and soul.

"Téors is coming today,'' I whispered, my voice so faint, so calm. He voiced no reply, and the pressing of his lips on my forehead was enough. His thoughts were not words anymore echoing in my mind, sliding down a bridge. Every emotion became a part of me, every thought my very own. He'd become a piece of me-and I of him-in a way that no one ever had.

Téors would indeed come today, and then we would leave back to Eziara. To our war.

''And then we will go back home.'' He'd felt every thought of mine-those words confirmation enough. I wanted to be back, to walk through the familiar hallways of the Ether palace, to wake up in a room I knew. But-

''Will it ever be truly a home before war is over?"

He didn't wonder on what words to say, didn't let a moment stretch too long before he replied, "We will always be home as long as we are together.''

The arms around me tightened. And again, I glowed, the very light seeming to birth from the sun and the crescent back on my palm, here where all masks fell. From the symbol that could not be shared, that left no trace on Leon's hand. Nothing to show the world our union, to show that he was mine, and that I was his until the end of time.

He pulled the marked hand to his mouth, and kept it resting over his cheek, my fingers slowly circling the side of his face. ''I wonder''-I laid my head on his chest, drowning in the symphony of his heartbeats-''how will your father react, finding his returning daughter married and mated?"

''I would be thoroughly disappointed if my father hadn't guessed yet that you are my mate.''

The hand on my back momentarily stopped. "He could feel it before any of us did?"

''No,'' I breathed, ''but he knows what a forming bond is like-the telltales we were too blind to see.''

He didn't comment when there wasn't truly anything to say, and we fell back into silence until he shifted, freeing his hands for a moment that felt like an eternity. He stared for long at the silver ring on his index finger, seeming to examine the band he'd been wearing since the first day I met him. And surely far before that, the lighter skin wrapping his skin as he removed it enough of a clue.

He played with it for a while, twirling it, watching as it caught the lights.

''My mother gave it to me not so long before she died. She'd said that it was something important, that I should wear it with pride, that I should guard it with my soul.''

I lifted my head, only for it to rest back on the silky pillows, my hair sprawled around us. "She never told you what it really is?"

He barely shook his head. "That knowledge is buried with her.'' Leon tossed the ring, and watched it as it flipped back, falling into his palm. ''I searched books and studies, asked all those could potentially know. None had an answer.''

''There are Téors and Siltheres now to ask. Or the Book."

"I thought about it, and despite spending years of my life searching for what it might be, something told me not to ask them yet.'' He flipped it again. It didn't fall back into his palm.

Instead, it came floating to my left hand, sliding over my ring finger. The silver shrank, finding home there. I was about to speak, to protest even, when he said, "Let this be your wedding ring for until we come back. And even after that, keep on wearing it.''

''Why?"

''Because I have guarded it with my life until it took a piece of it, until the humming that comes out of it became a constant beat in my blood. So whenever we are apart, you will always have a part of me with you.''

He kissed me then, and I pulled him closer, melting beneath his touch. Melting until it felt like I slipped into him, like I merged with his every existence.

His skin burned beneath mine, gentle heat turning to a blaring fire. We'd burned to the bones when breathing became hard, when the world had been hazy that first night when the bond had finally settled. And so did the room. And then, it rained. Series of magic exploding, liberating, dancing before pouring back into us. The room had been utterly unscratched when I first woke up.

We pulled apart for a moment, long enough to allow my face to hover above his, forearms on each side of his head, hair falling in a long, black curtain around us.

His nose brushed mine, every breath making my skin tingle as his hand slid to the back of my head. Getting up could wait a few more minutes.

He smiled, pulling my face closer. "I can definitely get used to mornings like this.''

The temple looked nothing like what we'd seen the first time we came. It was still a maze of mesmerizing architecture and spilling golds all around. But the alignments of the walls had changed, the fountains in the middle of long, wide-stretching yards alive and running. There had been no bedrooms past the one we rested at, and one dining room where we ate a good few hours before making our tour.

The rest had been worshiping sanctuaries, statues-almost as mighty as the ones we'd seen in the eye from where Ardoria's water surged-coming to sight every few hallways. And many, many gateways. So many of them, so terrifyingly powerful. We did open some of them, the magic more obedient than we'd expected. It was not Rimelia greeting us behind those gates: we saw the edges of Vemor, the proud waterfalls of Arelesia, the lively markets of Nevora.

This place was a temple and a doorway to the entirety of the world.

"It could be useful,'' voiced my mate as we walked deep into the western wings, ''if the army we found could rest here. If all our powers could do that, actually."

I traced the heavily intricate arch with my eyes, reading the stories engraved in every place and corner as we leisurely moved. Running waters sang as they snaked in streams beneath the glass floor, drowning the sound of our footsteps-and the rustle of my robes. Pure silk dyed pale cerulean, the fabrics and the golden threads woven into it twins to the ones Leon wore.

"It would give us access to any point in the world at any given time.''

I allowed his words to run over the smooth, polished ice for a while, weighing the possibilities he spoke of. When war would come, it could indeed come helpful. Perhaps even more than just that. A point that tied the world together, a gate that needed no strength to open. A secret weapon that could save so much powers better used on the battlefield.

"I wonder if Rimel will let us use it when war comes,'' I whispered, trailing one hand over the glistening wall, feeling it throb beneath my skin.

"I doubt she allowed us to see those gates for no reason.''

I only hummed my agreement, momentarily closing my eyes, stopping right there, at the end of the hallway where another open yard rolled in front of us. The winds that lightly danced around us were oddly warm, a gentle caress over our skin. I enjoyed it, enjoyed feeling it run through my hair that was left unbound, trailing past my ankles. It had grown so much, so fast it had shocked me when Elayda's face had come off.

I had been scar-less, too. Not a single white or pink line to indicate what I'd endured. Even the wound piercing through my middle had been healed, the muscles and the bones stronger than they'd ever been.

Leon's hand had left mine as we stood, only for his forearm to fall around my waist, keeping me close. I could swear I heard singing voices between the humming of the streams beneath us. Could swear the light that feathered my cheeks was poured from the sun, even when the sky was still dark, when there was no moon and no source for that light.

"I wish we had more than just two days.''

My husband's hold tightened, tucking me closer, his lips finding my forehead with a kiss, right below where the edge of the golden circlet on my head plunged. A crown perhaps as ancient as the mountains lining Rimelia, a crown of the old Faes, a crown that the Third Queen-the first born-queen-had been the first and the last to wear. It had been resting over the only clothes we'd found, a simple artwork of metal with a jewel in its dipping center. It was as clear as a river's still waters.

The voice hadn't called ever since the cave, and yet I always felt a hand guiding me. Pulling me gingerly to wherever it willed. We always obeyed, always read the stories carved in the walls, stretching as mosaic arts over the pillars, the floor. Stories of the world before the war, before the start of the Armedes bloodline. Stories of the creatures that roamed these lands, the people that lived in it. Such beautiful stories.

We resumed our traipsing for long, the roaring of the magic in my blood still loud, but not as bothering. It bled with the sounds of the waters, drifting away, swirling behind us as we walked deeper in the yard, past magnificent fountains that spewed water that was liquid yet looked like shards of ice.

We walked, and walked, all the way guided by that silent urge, that invisible hand. Until we reached the end. A massive, far-stretching wall of glass-like all the others. But it had been carved not with words and stories. Those were prophecies lining its smooth surface. Prophecies that were old as times, stretching chronologically, written with golden rays in many old and new languages.

Some of them had been Leander's, some had been the ones describing the era that extended between his reign and mine. We read them all, one by one, for hours.

One by one, prophecy after prophecy. And then, we found the ones we knew, the ones claiming my return, the ones Sorcha had shown me before our journey. The ones we discovered through long, tedious months.

So many ends connected as I read now, lines after lines of glowing gold finally realigned, telling us the stories that we discovered bits by bits during our journey.

So many clues, so much remaining secrets.

"The Wildfire will not come by,

To your soul make it comply.''

I tapped my fingers over the words with a steady rhythm, and the sound merged with the rustling waters for long as Leon remained silent. "They called you Fire of the Wild, both Siltheres and Téors. From the very start-felt it even when I didn't.''

Felt it-the fire whispering in Leon's blood. The fire that was unlike anything I'd seen or felt. The fire that was forged in a way unknown to our world.

"It decides who feels it and who doesn't,'' Leon said at last. His eyes lingered on all the prophecies we'd seen in Nevora, all the clues. "It decides when to rage and when to lay low. It never obeyed, and I don't think it will every do so.''

His secret, the one that had unfolded itself as the mating bond settled. This fire hadn't been silent ever since, bright and loud and clear to all my senses, and yet I knew he held it back. Knew he didn't allow me to feel it all. Knew he was scared of it.

"Perhaps letting it come out by its own will ease it like mines do.'' I lifted my head to stare at his face, breaths blowing just over his chest where his tunic was left unbuttoned. His stares didn't drift away from the wall.

"I tried it before to no avail. It hisses and screams, Celestia.'' His head lowered, the tip of his nose brushing my hair. "It claws at me from the insides. It tears me to shreds, begging and ordering to be left out. And when that screaming would become too much, when I would reach some secluded, remote place and let it out, it never calmed.'' His arm tightened around me so hard it almost hurt as he closed his eyes. As his breaths became uneven. "It would burn through me-it burned me. It ate at my soul, it ran through me and shattered me again and again. It never obeyed.''

I tried-truly did-to control the jolt that had overtook me as I felt it surging in him as he held me. As I felt it darting in my very own veins in a diluted form. He still held it back, still tried silencing its screeches and caws.

Magic did not hurt its owner. Never. This had been the first known characteristic since the dawn of the world.

And when I placed my hand over his heart, right above where its throbbing was the greatest, it raged. Raged so hard it almost tore through his flesh and bones. So hard it had me removing my hand as I felt it burn against my fingertips.

This was no fire. This was no named power.

It shouldn't-couldn't-hurt him. Nor me, as my powers could not harm him even if I tried. And yet it did, begging for something I didn't understand.

Such a mighty, unchained power.

"It was never Nevor's fire back at that night in the desert. Not a single lick. It had been the first time it truly manifested, and the only time it did not injure me. And when I was questioned as a child after we were returned to Renva, it burned my tongue, telling me to lie, sliding into my ears what to say.''

The breath he let out was long, liberating in a way. I knew, without the need for words, that it was the first he spoke of it. The first time it bowed down long enough to let him do so.

"I wanted to tell you about it, that day after the fight under the volcano. For the first time, I really fought it back, trying to get every word out.''

The fire had dwindled, that moment of liberation seeming to douse it deep. But Leon's face was weary and drained. He'd been keeping up with it for so long, bearing its strength and its constant hisses for decades. A power almost as wild and mighty as mine, and yet more rogue. More disobedient.

I cupped his face with both hands, wondering if I could brush that weariness away, if I could break down this weight on his shoulders. I stood on my toes and lowered his head, my lips finding his, begging it brought him enough solace.

When my head fell back on his chest, the fire was still silent.

We continued then reading the prophecies, the walls slowly getting more and more bare, merely a line or two every few steps. We knew all of them, whether through the Book of Astazan or the long months we spent from continent to continent.

At least I did, and did not really halt when we reached the words I had spoken in the Eye of Lamera unlike my husband. The spell I had created back then was forged from fractures of prophecies. Some of them were whole, fully used in breaking the seals. And some were spread all over, a single line of glowing light on a wall of glass.

He read them one by one, analyzed them to the core, but always came back to one.

I claim my blood as yours, as a descendant, a daughter,

In your name, darkness I will slaughter.

"The Armedes blood, after all, is considered godly ever since ichor fell into Leander's heart,'' I admitted, brushing the wall with my fingers as I walked back to him. ''But that ichor was found in no descendant after him, only a shred of the powers remained.''

Leon remained silent, and yet his eyes held so many words, so many questions that had kept me wondering for long nights.

"I thought that if I claimed my blood as his, I would feel it, that drop of godly blood that had fallen into the First King. I thought that it would be a powerful card, to bear a Goddess's name and showing the world that I was the first in our lineage in so long to hold ichor in my blood vessels. It would have brought a shred more of hope to our people, when the day will come and they will walk behind an heiress blessed so mightily by the Five.''

I leaned on the wall, fingers tracing another piece of a still-to-be unveiled prophecy, feeling the powers in the ice singing, chanting, humming.

"You were chosen to bear a Goddess's name. I believe it is more than enough.''

He tucked a strand of hair behind my ear, and I felt the magic making the temple ripple, as though it was torn open and sealed in the matter of a heartbeat. Leon felt it as much yet it did not stop him from trailing his kisses from my cheek to my neck, his head resting on my shoulder, buried in my hair and the long artwork of Nightbleed dangling from my ear.