Eden
The first thing I feel is warmth. Not magic. Not adrenaline. Just… warmth.
It sinks into my skin like sunlight after a long, cruel winter. The sheets are soft. Cotton–rich. The kind that whisper luxury. The air is still. Slightly scented through. Soap, pine, and other homely smells. My fox is gone, but I’m not too afraid of the emptiness she left behind.
Because I know I’ve changed the future.
Light filters through my lashes.
It’s warm.
Real.
When I blink awake, everything is softer. No more screaming shadows. No more cracking palace walls. No more Mara.
Just…peace.
I sit up slowly. My limbs feel like lead, and every breath is heavy, but I’m not alone.
Azriel is seated in the corner. His head is tilted back against the chair, wings retracted. His eyes are closed, but the tension in his jaw says he’s not truly asleep.
Axel leans against the far wall, arms crossed, but the moment I move, he’s at my side in two steps.
“You’re awake.”
“I… I think so.”
His face breaks into a grin before he swoops down and lifts me up into a bear hug. I yelp in surprise. I’m human now and much more breakable. I expect the titan to hug me so hard I can’t breathe.
But Axel is gentle as if he knows I’m human. His cheek brushes mine, a little scratchy with stubble.
“You really did it,” he breathes, swaying lightly. “You saved me. You saved all of us.”
Does that mean he knows what I did?
“I owe you my life, Eden,” Axel goes on, voice rough. “Azriel told me Mara would’ve killed me in the future. He showed me.”
So he does know.
“And you know what?” he murmurs. “This means I’m staying in the magical realm with you. Forever. I go where you do.”
I sniffle. “Even though I’m just a human now?”
Axel pulls back to look at me with a boyish smile. “I don’t care if you’re a fox, wolf, or human. As long as you’re you.”
Then he glances over his shoulder at Azriel.
“But maybe the two of you need to talk.”
He sets me down gently and steps aside.
Azriel’s violet eyes lock with mine, and I’m immediately struck by his beauty. Men probably want women to call them hot and handsome. Possibly sexy.
1/3
Chapter 92
And Asriel is all of those, but most of all he is just…beautiful.
Gorgeous.
All flawless tanned skin, dark hair and violet eyes that now aren’t glowing…or filled with corruption. They are just soft and looking at me like I’m the missing puzzle piece he has been searching for his whole life.
“Feeling better?” he asks.
I blush a little, mostly because his smile tells me he has taken a trip through my brain and knows I’m drooling over him. “Y yeah.”
He keeps smiling. “I’m really glad everything worked out for my little human.”
My hackles rise. “I’m not little!” I am, but when my mate says it it makes me feel inferior to him. Like I’m less sexy.
“Not what I meant at all,” Azriel purrs. “And for the record, I like short girls, especially when their name is Eden.”
I give him a fake growl. “So there are others?”
He laughs and I yelp when I’m swept into his arms again. This hug is more romantic than the one Axel gave me.
Azriel scoops me into his arms like I’m the bride at a wedding. His nose is in my hair, arms around me like I’m precious. My heart races and I relax fully. allowing him to hold me like I’m his bride. It’s a relief that he doesn’t care that I’m human. It’s also a relief that we are still mates. He is definitely giving me his bedroom eyes when he carries me over to the chair he was sitting in.
He sits down while having me in his lap.
Then he buries his cold nose in my neck.
“Wh–what are you doing?“,”
I ask with a breathless laugh.
He buries his face deeper into my neck. “Just making sure you smell like you’re mine and not Axel’s.”
I giggle, my arms looping around his shoulders. “You’re ridiculous.”
“I’ve been called worse,” he mutters, then lifts his head to look at me. “I held your body in my arms when you passed out. I thought Mara had placed a cursed on you before she went. Turns out humans just aren’t used to time–traveling.”
My heart flips. “So you know…?”
A
“I do and I saw everything,” he murmurs, clutching me like he’s daring fate to try taking me away from him. “You came back to me,” he whispers into my hair. “Even after everything I did. Everything I became.”
I breathe in the scent. “I came back because I love you.”
“The other me didn’t deserve it,” Azriel mutters. “I read your thoughts the moment you returned. I saw the timeline you came from. Then when you passed out, I read through all of your recent memories. I saw what I became. I saw the escape. Cedar. Elvira. Logan… Then I saw the fight and the corrupted Ash Court and fuck… You gave up your fox, Éden. And I get it, you wanted to save Axel, but what if it hadn’t worked?”
Tears prick my eyes. “It had to work.”
He brushes a thumb under my lashes. “You’re so stupidly brave. I want to take care of you, but… you’re the one who saved me.”
I rest my head against his shoulder. “And I’d do it all over again.”
Azriel holds me. And I let him.
For a moment, everything is still.
2/3
Chapter 92
Peaceful.
But eventually, I have to speak.
“It’s peaceful here,” I say quietly. “The court. It doesn’t feel cursed anymore.”
Azriel smiles faintly. “It’s not. The Dream Court is healing. Because of you.”
I glance out the window for the first time and blink at what I see–wildflowers blooming where there were once twisted trees. The sky is brighter. The shadows no longer snarl. The land is waking up.
“I’m glad,” I whisper, “But… I don’t like being human.”
It comes out quieter than I expect. It’s not a confession. It’s a wound. I didn’t expect the words to sting so badly once spoken aloud.
For so long, I was powerless. The bottom of the hierarchy. An Omega thrown scraps. Ignored. Hurt. Then, when my fox awakened, I finally felt strong. My magic wasn’t just a tool. It was mine. It was me.
Without it… I feel like I’m back at the beginning.
Azriel looks at me carefully.
“I was powerless as an Omega. And when my fox awakened, I finally felt strong. In control. Like I could breathe.”
He’s quiet for a moment. Then he says, “But you don’t have to be human.”
I blink. “Come again?”
He strokes my back gently, the way someone might soothe a frightened animal.
“If you complete the mating bond with a High Fae… you become one. It’s part of why I never marked you. I wanted you to choose.”
My lips part. “And now?”
He leans in, brushing his lips over the tip of my ear. “Now? I think you’ve already made your decision. Isn’t that right?”
Our bond hums.
I can feel it again. Bright and sure.
“I’d rather be Fae than human,” I whisper.
His arms tighten around me. “Then let’s finish the bond.”
And for the first time in a long time, I let myself believe in happy endings.
