Chapter 236: A Golden Bond

For a long, terrible second, he remained completely still. The silence in the plaza returned, thick and heavy.

Then, Wex Laith drew a sharp, tearing gasp of air.

His broad chest heaved upward. The sound of his heart echoed loudly in the quiet space between us. His thick jaw clenched, and his golden eyes snapped open, bright and feral.

The empty, hollow void in the center of my chest caught fire.

It did not return as a gentle, humming thread. The new connection erupted. A massive, roaring river of liquid gold blasted out from his newly beating heart and slammed directly into mine. The sheer force of the magic knocked the breath straight from my lungs.

This was not the old mate bond. It was a Sovereign Bond. It was thick, heavy, and completely unbreakable.

The moment the golden magic locked our souls back together, a massive wave of pure, unfiltered emotion crashed into my brain. I did not just sense his feelings; I lived them. I felt the sharp, lingering terror of his fall. I felt the desperate, burning need to protect me. I felt a love so vast and deep it made the stars look small.

Wex pushed himself up from the rubble. He did not look at the glowing deity standing just a few feet away. He did not look at the cheering soldiers or the clear blue sky.

His feral, golden eyes locked instantly onto my face.

"You're crying," he rasped, his rough voice thick and heavy. He reached out with his newly healed right hand.

I threw myself forward.

I crashed into his solid chest, wrapping my arms tightly around his thick neck. His large hands instantly grabbed my waist, hauling my smaller frame directly into his lap. He buried his face into the curve of my neck, his hot, ragged breaths ghosting across my skin.

"You died," I sobbed, my fingers digging desperately into his thick, dark hair. I held him so tightly my muscles ached, terrified that if I let go, the magic would fade and he would disappear. "You stopped breathing."

"I am right here," Wex promised, his voice vibrating deeply against my collarbone. His grip on my waist was bruising, a desperate, physical confirmation that we were both real and alive. "I told you I was not going anywhere, my Queen."

Through the roaring golden bond in my chest, I felt his profound relief mixing perfectly with my own. The connection was so clear and flawless that I could feel the exact rhythm of his heart matching mine, beat for beat. There was no distance between our minds. He was my world, and I was his.

I pulled back just enough to look at his face. I reached up, pressing my dirty palms against his cheeks. His skin was warm. The golden spark in his eyes was fierce and alive.

"You touched the hammer," I scolded him, fresh tears blurring my vision. My voice shook with the memory of his charred bones. "You burned your hand to the bone."

Wex brought his right hand up, resting his large palm over my trembling fingers. He looked at the healed skin, then back at my sapphire eyes.

"I would burn the rest of my body to ash if it meant keeping you safe," he stated, his tone carrying a hard, unyielding truth. "A burned hand is a small price for your life, Eddena."

I leaned in and pressed my lips hard against his.

It was a desperate, messy kiss, tasting of dirt, tears, and copper blood. He groaned, his hands sliding up my back to pull me flush against him. The golden bond flared brightly, sending a rush of hot, liquid heat straight down my spine. The connection amplified every touch, making the rough scrape of his callouses against my skin feel like a live wire.

When we finally broke apart, gasping for air, the entire plaza was cheering.

The thousands of surviving werewolf soldiers, rogue fighters, and Moon Guards were screaming their victory at the clear blue sky. General Ralph Uilleag Wilson threw his massive iron warhammer into the dirt and let out a victorious, booming howl. Shamus Senán Murray and Sacheverell walked over, stopping a respectful distance away. The Emperor’s battered face was split into a wide, genuine grin.

I looked past Wex’s broad shoulder.

The Moon Goddess was walking back toward the staircase of solid starlight. She did not look back. She did not demand a bow or a prayer. She stepped onto the first rung of light, her glowing form beginning to fade as she returned to the tear in the sky. She had given me the throne, and she had given me my mate. The rest of the world was now entirely in my hands.

Wex shifted his weight, pulling me up as he rose to his feet. He kept his arm securely wrapped around my waist, his solid presence anchoring me to the earth.

I looked out over the ruined capital of Lycanthia. The central square was a cratered mess of broken stone, gray ash, and collapsed buildings. The work ahead of us was massive. We had to rebuild an entire continent from the ground up. We had to forge a new law, a new peace, and a new era for all the factions.

But as I stood there, feeling the steady, powerful thumping of Wex’s heart through the golden bond connecting our souls, I was not afraid.

Suddenly, a sharp, blinding spike of energy shot through the center of my chest.

I gasped, my hands flying to my sternum. The golden Sovereign Bond connecting me to Wex flared with a sudden, violent intensity that made my vision white out for a split second.

"Eddena?" Wex asked, his voice sharp with immediate concern. His large hands gripped my shoulders, steadying me as I swayed on my feet.

The golden magic did not stay contained between the two of us.

I watched in stunned silence as the thick, liquid gold cord connecting our chests suddenly branched outward. It erupted into thousands of thin, glowing threads, shooting rapidly across the ruined plaza. The threads sank into the chests of Shamus, Sacheverell, Ralph, and McKenna. They shot into the surviving soldiers, the civilians hiding in the merchant districts, and further still, disappearing over the horizon.