Chapter 136: Homecoming In the Mines of Gemland

MIRANDA -

"Ah. I see. I think it," Miranda said, finally understanding.

She wasn't sure how she knew, but somehow she understood what it would take to get to Cory.

She watched as the white smoke appeared and began to swirl around her before the world around her melted away, Bella along with it.

Suddenly, instead of a roaring beast and open skies, silence and darkness surrounded her.

She stood within a massive cavern that stretched in every direction. Above her, jagged shards of rock and gem hung down, and the walls pulsed with raw gem-light that threw rainbows across all the surfaces.

The air tasted of wet earth and ozone.

Finally, the white smoke evaporated, and exhaustion filled her bones. It had felt like eons inside that gem. Her heart finally seemed to settle. After eons of wondering, worrying, and never knowing when she'd get out, here she was inside Cory's lands and the reality of it almost seemed too much.

A noise to the left pulled her gaze, and that's when she saw him.

Cory stood thirty feet away. He was shirtless and his skin gleamed with sweat and gem dust that shimmered in the low light of his lantern.

He had a pickaxe that hung loose in one hand as the other braced against a glowing seam in the wall. His chest rose and fell hard, like he'd been swinging the axe for hours without stopping.

Miranda's heart was in her throat, and the roaring in her ears was deafening. She watched him turn around like he was about to swing the axe again when his eyes caught hers and he did a double take.

That's when the axe slipped from his fingers and smacked against the hard stone.

Neither of them moved for a moment. It was probably just a heartbeat, but that moment stretched out like something alive between them.

Then he was running to her, and the emotions that took over her body were so strong that her knees buckled just as he reached her. She felt his arms lock around her waist before they lifted her off the ground.

"Cory!" she breathed as she buried her face in the crook of his neck.

He smelled like salt and minerals and him. Even after eons, he still smelled the same, and it brought back memories of their time together.

His hair was damp against her cheek and so much longer than she remembered it.

Dust smeared between them as he pulled back. "I thought I'd never hold you again."

What could she say? So many words came to the forefront, and there were so many that they stuck in her throat. She couldn't speak. She only clung tighter to him, her fingers digging into the hard muscle of his shoulders as tears slid down her cheeks.

He let her slide to the floor then, but he didn't let go. One hand cupped the back of her head as the other pressed between her shoulder blades so that she stayed flush against him.

She was so close that she could feel his heartbeat slamming against his ribs like it was trying to reach hers.

Slowly, he lifted her face up until she was staring into his blue ones, and their lips touched.

It started slow and careful, almost reverently, like they were both afraid that the other might vanish again. Then it turned heated with hunger and he groaned low in his throat as his hand tightened in her hair so that he could angle her head and delve deeper.

Miranda didn't hesitate. She opened for him, tasting salt and metal and ten years of waiting.

Her fingers slid up to grip his jaw, her thumb brushing up against the thick stubble there, and he shuddered against her.

She pressed closer, needing to feel every inch of him so that she could drown out the years that had been stolen from them.

That was when a soft laugh broke the quietness of the mine surrounding them.

Miranda pulled back just enough to see that Jilena was standing a few paces away, arms crossed and smiling in that gentle, knowing way that Miranda had grown to know so well.

Her red hair shined bronze from the lantern and it hung long over her shoulders.

Much like Miranda, Jilena looked tired as she said, "You made it." The words were quiet but echoed in the large cavern. "After everything... you made it to him."

Miranda's throat closed, but she jumped in surprise as Cory cleared his throat and Miranda lifted her eyes back to him.

His eyes were guarded as he took in the sight of Jilena and her soft laugh trilled around the cavern.

"Oh, don't worry, Corundum. I'm not the Red Queen."

"Says the woman who wears her face."

Miranda finally found her voice. "No, it's true. She's not the Red Queen." Miranda reluctantly pulled from Cory's arms and walked up to Jilena and wrapped her arm around her shoulders.

"Cory, please meet the Red Queen's sister, Jilena. She had her trapped in a gem, long before I arrived. She was one of the few things that kept me sane while I existed in my own prison."

Confusion fell over his features, along with disbelief. "Then where is she now? She wouldn't release you... Either of you... on her own."

Jilena spoke then. "She's dead. By her own hand. When she tried to kill Miranda's daughter."

They spent the next few minutes explaining what had happened at the castle and how they had both been released.

"So..." Cory started. "She's really gone?"

Miranda snuggled in close beneath his arm that hadn't left her shoulders since she'd returned to him. She tilted her head up to his and said, "She's gone."

He looked between the two of them, his eyes soft in a way that Miranda hadn't seen before. "Then we must celebrate!"

Before either of them could answer, he tightened his grip on Miranda and reached out to hook Jilena's wrist with his free hand. Gemlight flared around them as the mine dissolved in a rush of color and wind.

When the light faded, they'd reappeared on a wide balcony in Cory's castle. The air was thick with jasmine and the tang of metal. Below them, the streets glittered with lanterns and spires that held large gems that seemed alive with internal fire.

Cory let go of Jilena first and turned to Miranda as he framed her face with his large hands. "Welcome home," he murmured.

Miranda looked up at him and saw that dust and sweat still streaked his face and skin, but his eyes shone, and she felt something inside her finally unclench after a hundred thousand years.

She smiled, and doing so felt more genuine and real than any other memory she held within her. "I'm home."

"What's happened here?" Jilena's words were quiet as they interrupted the moment.

Miranda turned to her to see that she clenched the railing of the balcony as she looked over the land.

A deep sigh slipped from Cory then, and his shoulders dropped. "The Red Queen happened."