"who?"

"the brother."

"wait . . . i'm his soul mate too?"

she nodded.

"how?"

"those boys are one soul, divided in two. what one loves, the other will die for, too."

"and that's . . . me?"

"yes."

i dropped my hand back down to my side. "oh god. those poor boys."

even the mother of all life had to laugh at that. "my dear little goddess. this will not be an easy decision for you, but you must know that, when the time comes to choose, you will lose the one you push away."

"then i'll be losing jason," i said. "because, even if the day comes where i decide i love him more than david-" i shook my head, "-i can't be with him, mother. i could never hurt david like that."

she touched my shoulder. "then be prepared to suffer for a very long time."

"we should've let her go," emily sobbed.

i looked up-looked past the shimmering pink light of life before me.

"it's not her time," arthur said.

"but how can she live now-in this world. how can she open her eyes and possibly ever smile again after what he just did to her?"

"he had to do that, emily," mike said dully. "she was in agony."

"then it shouldn't have been him to do it." emily sobbed again. "he enjoyed it too much. didn't you see his face?"

"don't be so stupid," falcon said. "he acted out of duty. that's all-or i'd have been the first to step in."

"no, i know him, falcon. he enjoyed it. if he really cared about stopping her pain, he should've asked jason to get in her head and knock her out."

"he couldn't. no one but the king could touch her. she was still connected to the other realm," morgaine said.

emily's lips were cold on the back of my hand with the tear-soaked kiss she placed there. "it just breaks my heart that she thought that was the only way to end her suffering."

"that's not why she did it, emily. she was trying to save david."

"he doesn't deserve to be saved," she said, and my eyes flew open.

i drew my hand away, scowling at her. "you don't get to decide that, emily."

she sat back, sniffling, her eyes small with confusion. "and you do?"

"yes. because i am queen."

emily went to speak, but she stopped when she saw what i felt radiating from my eyes, my skin, and my soul: i was right. i was the powerful being deemed godly by mother nature, and i was not to be trifled with. the decisions i made were in the best interests of my people, and that was the only reason even the mother of all life herself allowed me the passage to the other side. emily could argue with the old, human me all she wanted, but she could not argue with mother nature.

"all right." arthur stood and touched emily's shoulder. "everyone out. i need to talk with amara."

em hesitated, but arthur's eyes had this strong, kind of no nonsense edge to them then that offered a polite warning not to question him. he meant business, and everyone in the room knew it. they filed out one by one; morg behind emily, quaid behind blade, and falcon last, offering me a sad kind of smile as he closed the door. i looked away, watching arthur instead as he took the seat beside me where emily had been.

"are you mad at me, arthur?"

his eyes warmed, crinkling slightly on the edges. "no, amara. i'm proud of you."

"proud?" i looked up at the glass dome, confused. i hadn't expected that.

"you've grown up so much since i first met you." his warm, so david-like hand took mine. "i am . . . my gratitude toward you for doing everything in your power to save my nephew is beyond words. you've not given up on him, amara, ever, and i don't know even one person who'd have had the strength or the heart to give their own life in exchange for a man that no longer loves them."

i pouted mockingly. "i'll never give up on him, arthur. and i'm not done trying to save him. there has to be a way. i-"

"i read your letter."

i stiffened a little. goodbye letters were never supposed to be discussed after death. "that's . . . kind of awkward."

we both laughed.

"amara, what you told jason in that letter-"

"i told him the truth."

he nodded. "i hope so. because he loves you, and those words have given him reason to want to live again."

"well, i'll believe that when he starts drinking lilithian pure blood at dinner."

arthur scratched just beside his eye. "he put his name on the list for dinner tonight."

i drew my hand away from his and sat all the way up. "really?"

"it was a mistake giving that letter to quaid if you intended it to be read after you were gone."

"he took it straight to jase, didn't he?"

"he wasn't born yesterday, amara. how do you think he ended up on the core in the first place?"

"damn having all these smart buggers around." i slapped the mattress, my still raw hand searing after. "did anyone else read it?"

"only myself."

"and david?"

he shook his head. "he refused."

"jason offered it to him?"

"no. i did."

"why?"

"i saw jason running toward the throne room with quaid, no queen in sight, and i called to him, asked him what happened. his words echoed through the manor then, amara, that you'd gone to take your own life, and before i could react, david was behind me."

"he heard?"

"he did. i offered the letter as proof. but he scrunched it up and pressed it into jason's hand again, said farewells should not be written by those not going anywhere." he stopped for a second, his eyes narrowed as the memory clearly replayed. "and he ran toward the stone alongside his brother."

"wow."

"yes, but . . . although miss emily was pleased david had rescued you, i don't believe it was-"

"because he loves me?" i said, nodding to myself. "more like so i don't get the easy way out, right?"

his lips made a thin line for a second. "you know him too well."

"well, being married to someone will do that."

"yes," he said simply and his attention slowly wandered to the balcony and the morning outside. "amara, my dear, when david pulled you away from the stone, i noticed something . . . missing."

"missing?"

"yes." his eyes narrowed, fixing on my waist. "the mark."

"oh." i smiled, running my hand over the blankets as if rubbing the mark away. "it's gone? all of it?"

"apart from the smallest symbol just above your tailbone."

"what does it look like-or say?"

"i didn't get the chance to inspect it. i only saw it as jason lifted you from the ground to carry you away."

"well, do you want to look now?" i sat forward a bit and motioned to my lower back. "i'm curious to-"

"not now, my dear. the mark wasn't what i needed to talk to you about."

"what is it then, arthur?" i lay back on my pillow, twisting my long hair into a knot beside my jaw. "i don't like that worried look."

he changed it to a soft, reassuring smile. "nothing is wrong, but i fear i have some news that. . ." he seemed to stop and think for a second, rewording that: "that may or may not upset you."

"but more likely will?"

he sat back, but as he went to speak, my door popped open and jason said, "knock-knock."

"jase." i pushed my good hand into the mattress under me and sat up again. "hi."

"hi. can i come in?"

"of course."

"close the door," arthur said, waving a hand across the air.

"sure." the door shut and jason appeared on my other side, dragging a chair closer to the bed. "how's the hands?"

i held them out. "better. this one's healed, but-" i showed him my left hand.

he cringed melodramatically. "want some blood?"

"actually, i really do. but i better order a sacrificial."

"nonsense," arthur cussed. "jason, feed the girl, and let's get on with it."

jason shrugged as if to say, "don't argue with the boss," and i drew a long breath to steady my heart. his vein was open and his wrist at my lips before i exhaled, and the sweet, mildly aphrodisiac quality of his life force ran down my throat, through my body, and made my damaged hand tingle. i didn't want to look at jase's face while i drank from him-didn't want to see those eyes, see how much he was enjoying this, because i knew it would only make me want to bite him and, after tonight, he would finally be immune. we were finally free to be together, if i decided to take that road. and that just sent a hundred hot ideas into my mind.

"shh," he said, one hand sweeping my hair back softly, over and over.

i hadn't made any noise, that i knew of, so i could only figure he heard all of that. i drew my lips away from the wetness of his skin, wiping my mouth with the cup of my palm. "thanks, jase."

"don't mention it," he said, his eyes locked with a smile onto mine, his hand staying firmly on my head. "how's it feel now?"

"it?"

he motioned down to my hand.

"oh. um." i frayed my fingers and watched the last of the raw skin heal over like clouds passing the sun. "it's good now."

"good," arthur cut in. "then we need to talk."

"okay." i settled down in my bed a bit. "bad news?"

"no, ara. brilliant news," jase said, his eyes lighting up then in an almost opposite way to arthur's. "sweet girl. you're pregnant."

"what?" i went to sit up again, but just stayed there with my hands poised to prop me up. "since when?"

"since june, approximately," arthur said dully.

"you're about seventeen weeks," jase added.

"seventeen? but-" i counted in my head. jason and i slept together, like, eight weeks ago. it was. . .

"it's david's baby, amara," arthur said.

"but. . ." it didn't make sense. none of it. "i. . . the pregnancy test was negative. i don't even have a belly. . ."

"you're lilithian. those tests measure certain hormones in human pregnancies. but, immortals don't change the way humans do. yours won't show up on a test. and, as for the belly, well-" arthur smiled fondly at my waist. "you have a bit of bump."