“Dom,” I said as he began to follow the other wolves, “Thank you.”

  I’m just glad you finally made it here, came the silent reply.

  My lips curved upward. “I’ll see you tomorrow morning.”

  “See you then, Highness.” He turned and leaped into a run aimed for the trees, and then he was gone.

  Xander was watching me when I turned back, an awestruck expression on his face. I shifted my gaze away, hating that I had just faced down an entire council of old men who wanted to push me out but was somehow more embarrassed by the way one boy looked at me now.

  Not boy. Man.

  After last night, I couldn’t deny the fact that Xander Hart was most definitely a man. Tall, toned and muscled. Fierce. He wasn’t the boy I’d known back home—but that boy was still in there.

  All his secrets and his devotion. His allegiance.

  Still, the way he was looking at me now… This was something else.

  “What?” I asked.

  He blinked, shaking his head as if to clear it. “You are stunning, you know that?”

  “I’m a mess,” I said, gesturing to the singed clothes and wild hair. “I must look—”

  “Stunning,” he said again, stepping closer. “You don’t believe me?” he whispered, his breath hitting my face as he leaned in. “How about breathtaking? Fierce?” I wrinkled my nose as he wound his arm around my waist, pulling me against him. “Terrifyingly beautiful.”

  My lips twitched. “Is that even a compliment?”

  “Yes, and I’m sticking with that one because it’s the most accurate.”

  “So I’m terrifying and beautiful at the same time? I didn’t know that was a thing.”

  “That’s definitely a thing,” he said. “It’s like…I think the humans call it yin and yang. It’s both at once. It’s the balance of the universe. It’s everything.” He pressed a kiss to my temple. “You are everything I’ve ever wanted in one body. What you did here today…”

  I went still.

  The sound of Xander’s voice faded from my ears as the space in my head roared with the truth of what he’d just said.

  “Lina?” Xander asked.

  I blinked.

  He’d stepped back and was gripping my shoulders now, peering down at me in confusion and worry. “What’s wrong?”

  I blinked. “Nothing’s wrong. You just… You’re right.”

  “Naturally,” he agreed then his grin turned to a frown. “About what exactly?”

  “Yin and yang,” I said, breathless now.

  I reached into my pocket and pulled out the medallion. It was warm in my palm as if it knew I’d finally figured it out. I gripped it in both hands, steadily but softly, and pulled.

  It came open almost too easily, the power suddenly filling the air around me. This time, the force field it created bent and curved until it had sealed Xander and I inside it.

  “You figured out how it works,” he said.

  “You did, actually.” I stared at the energy shield, concentrating now as I called up the magic that felt lethargic where I poked it awake.

  “What did I—”

  “Yin and yang, you said, and you were right. The force field, the medallion’s power—it’s from the goddess herself. Forged in fire and ice. Light and dark. Yin and yang. It’s never been about eradicating one with the other. Both need to exist for there to be balance.”

  I lifted a finger and touched it lightly against the energy field before me. It sparked then rippled underneath my skin. Without letting myself think too hard about it, I shoved my magic into my hand. The energy field reacted the same.

  I took a deep breath then willed every ounce of what I had into my arm then my finger then the shield.

  It rippled and sparked—and absorbed what I’d given it.

  “I don’t understand,” Xander said, watching me and it cautiously. Like he was waiting for something to happen. He didn’t know it already had. “You’re saying darkness has to exist for the balance. Does this mean we can’t kill Tharos?” he asked.

  “No,” I said, staring at the shield—and my heated hand. Fire flowed underneath my skin, my veins literally burning like flowing lava. “It means we’ll disarm him.” I looked up at Xander as I lowered my hand and then pushed the stone closed again. The force field around us vanished. “We’ll take his darkness, and we’ll merge it with the light.”

  “How exactly will that work?” Xander asked, his frown deepening as he glanced from me to the unassuming stone.

  I bit my lip, knowing damn well what he’d say if I told him. “ It’s complicated, but it’s the only way. You’ll have to trust me, Xan. Can you do that?”

  “Darling,” he said, grabbing me by the waist and yanking me against his body. “That’s all I’ve been doing my whole life. I don’t intend to stop now.”

  My head tipped back. Overhead, I noticed the clouds had parted to reveal a perfect twilight that was fast deepening to night. Xander’s head bent toward mine, his hand cupping the back of my head as he closed the distance.

  When he kissed me, I saw stars.

  Hours later, Xander and I snuck in the back door only to find Beck seated at the kitchen table. At the sight of us trying—and failing—to creep silently inside, her brows shot up. She lowered the mug that had been halfway to her lips. I shut the door behind me with a louder bang than I’d intended.

  I winced at the way it echoed through the quiet house.

  “Nice to finally see you both,” Beck said dryly. Her mug made a similar thud against the table.

  My cheeks heated. I was glad for the darkness and prayed neither one of them would bother with the lights or a glow to illuminate the room.

  “Hi, Mom,” Xander said, amusement coloring the words.

  “Hello, Xan,” she returned. Then to me, “Your Highness.”

  Oh geez. “Please, Beck. I’d prefer if you called me Alina.”

  Beck hesitated. Then said, “All right. But I hope you both came prepared.”

  “Prepared for what?” Xander asked.

  “Ben’s in the other room, and he’s pissed you made him stay home during the show.” Beck pushed back from her chair and rose. “I’m going to bed now. I stayed up to warn you.”

  She headed for the door and then down the hall to her room.

  “Is it really so serious that she had to warn us?” I whispered nervously.

  “Don’t tell me you’re scared of my kid brother after facing down an entire army of wolf warriors and middle-aged men?” he shot back.

  “Point taken,” I muttered and followed him into the living room.

  Ben was on the couch, passed out. I breathed a sigh of relief and hung back as Xander covered him with a blanket then rejoined me and led the way to his room.

  “You guys owe me,” Ben muttered from behind us. “I can’t believe you left me here while you literally fired the whole entire council. Not fair.”

  I froze. Xander turned to look at me, barely containing his laughter.

  I cocked my head and said, “Would the title of royal jesup trainer be enough to make us even?”

  The blankets and cushions shifted. Ben sat up, his body only a silhouette in the darkness. “Are you serious?”

  “Hell yeah, I’m serious,” I told him, smiling at the excitement in his voice. “If you want it.”

  “Of course,” he blurted. “But how… I mean, can you just… Is this for real?”

  “Haven’t you heard?” Xander asked. “Alina’s officially empress now.”

  There was a beat of silence before Ben said, “Then why is she still sneaking in the back door with you?”

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  The next four days flew by in a blur of speeches and public appearances that left me wobbly and wondering if I hadn’t rushed the whole royalty thing. We still had a war to win after all. But every time my patience waned or my endurance wavered, Xander was there. Usually with Peter. And one or both of them was holding my hand, patting me on the back, or whispering all the reasons I could do this into my ear. The Zorovians were kind. Thrilled, even, despite the looming war that hung over us when the politics had all been settled.

  And there were a lot of politics.

  First, a ceremony was held. Then a press gathering. Then another ceremony, this one ending in a party for the whole town to attend. People cheered. The women wore dresses, and somehow I ended up in one too. Children wove flower garlands. Neila produced a simple crown Eamon had apparently recovered from some planet during one of his missions. It was too big for me and kept falling crookedly against my forehead.

  Beck smiled a lot.

  Peter hugged me often.

  Kent was recovering and was a lot less of a dick than he’d been before.

  Xander and I spent every night in his bedroom. Sometimes we talked, sometimes we didn’t.

  I was happy.

  But we weren’t done, and I couldn’t help but feel like this was all too fragile to enjoy.

  “You look beautiful even when you frown, do you know that?” Xander asked, coming up beside me and winding his arm around my waist lightly.

  I appreciated the physical contact. The words not so much.

  I shot him a scowl, and he laughed. “You’re lucky you’re so beautiful when you look so pissed off,” he said.

  “Am I?” I asked. “What a waste. I was trying to scare everyone off so the party would end, and I could take this dress off.” I tugged uncomfortably at the fabric.

  Xander’s blue eyes glittered. “Darling, I promise that dress will be off your body by the end of the night. Don’t you worry about that.”

  I rolled my eyes, but inside, my stomach did somersaults.

  Peter had spent the last few days with Eamon, and Beck hadn’t mentioned a word about my sleeping arrangements, but it still felt like everyone knew. Like it was written all over me.

  I did my best to play it off, hyper-aware of all the eyes on me. “I didn’t go to parties on Earth for a reason, you know.”

  Xander snorted. “A fact that has saved many human male lives.”

  My brows rose.

  He shrugged. “If you had gone, and they’d so much as touched you, I’d have to kill them.”

  I wanted to laugh but for some reason, his words only darkened my mood further. “Instead, we’ll destroy Tharos,” I said quietly, the impending battle too close to the surface tonight. “Soon.”

  Xander’s arm around my waist tightened. “Dominik says the wolves are ready.”

  “And the Zorovians?” I asked. Xander had been training with them every day since I’d dismissed the council.

  “They are ready too and more than willing to fight for you.”

  I sighed. “I don’t like thinking I’ll send some of them to their deaths.”

  “They go willingly if it means freedom,” Xander said quietly.

  I knew exactly how that felt—and because I knew, I wouldn’t stop them.

  We both stared down at the crowd of guests below us. Someone had assembled some sort of raised platform for me so that’s where I’d spent the last two hours, and while it made me feel like I was some sort of overdressed display mannequin, I was glad for the separation just now.

  Music played from the other side of the street, and I was glad for that too. It provided the cover we needed to have this conversation here. Even so, I knew the two guards behind us were listening much more intently now.

  That was fine.

  They’d hear it all by morning, anyway.

  “Good,” I said. “Because I don’t know how much more waiting I can take.”

  “It’s not like you’ve been sitting around,” he said.

  “No. Much worse,” I whined, and Xander chuckled.

  “Speaking of sitting around, I see the patient is back on his feet.”

  I followed the direction of his gaze and spotted Kent standing beside Jalene and a couple other people our age. The guy on his left, Tyson, said something, and they all laughed. As I watched, Kent’s hand brushed Jalene’s in a not-so-subtle show of affection, but she pulled hers out of reach before he could grab it. Still, she continued to stand close beside him—continued to laugh and talk with him and the others.

  “You see what I see?” Xander asked.

  “If you mean the miracle we just witnessed where Kent tried to flirt and Jalene didn’t, in fact, stab him with a sharp object, then yes.”

  Xander snorted. “I know this plan well. He’s trying to wear her down.”

  I glanced at him. “Is that what you did?”

  “If you remember correctly, you weren’t thrilled to have me tagging along with you and Jalene at first,” he pointed out. “But I persisted.”

  “I’d forgotten,” I said with a laugh. “You were always trying to gift me with dead bugs and rodents from the forest.”

  “It’s how our dog had done it,” he said. “I thought that was how it worked.”

  I giggled.

  “But I wore you down,” he said.

  “Yes, you did. Jalene hasn’t forgiven you since,” I teased.

  “She just needed her own champion,” he said.

  I nodded, thinking exactly how perfect that description was after everything Kent had done. “I think that’s exactly what she’s found,” I agreed.

  We went back to watching them in silence.

  “I talked to Peter about the shield today,” I said finally.

  I felt Xander’s body stiffen against mine, but we both continued to watch the crowd with clear expressions. “How much longer do we have?”

  “We’re out of time,” I admitted.

  Xander’s arm on my waist tightened.

  “We have days at best,” I said. “Whatever we’re going to do, it has to be now.”

  Xander’s forehead creased, and I knew he was weighing strategy against strategy now. “Before he can mobilize here, we need to bring the fight to him.”

  I nodded. “Our fight has always been meant for Zorovian soil.”

  His other hand came up to brush my arm, a comforting gesture that also meant he understood my need for vengeance. He needed it too.

  “Do you still think the medallion is ready?” he asked. “That you’re ready to use it?”

  “I’ve practiced with it dozens of times,” I said, remembering all the stolen moments I’d taken between parties and appearances.

  Moments where I’d opened the stone and poured every ounce of power into that force field until it’d nearly knocked me off my feet. A couple of times, I’d actually been thrown to the ground, the sudden drain in my energy leaving me faint. Xander had caught me once. The other time, I’d woken on the floor, alone. Even then, a quick check had shown me it worked; the stone contained every drop of magic that had leaked from my body, conscious or not.

  It was a long way from burning a hole in the wall back in Arizona.

  “Every time is the same,” I assured Xander now. “The medallion can handle any amount of power I throw at it. Light or dark, big or small. It was made for this. If it can contain me, it can contain Tharos.”

  He didn’t answer right away. When he did, his voice was strained but resigned. “I know there’s no leaving you out of the fight, but I, for one, am looking forward to a very peaceful reign for our new empress when this is all over. Full of boring parties and public press appearances.”

  I looked up at him in mock horror. “You hate me, don’t you?”

  He chuckled. “I love you so much that the moment I march into battle beside you will be both the most terrifying moment of my life—and the proudest. I hate the idea of seeing you in danger. I hate that I can’t protect you from what we’ll face.”

  I turned to look at him, uncaring of the audience at our feet or the wolves at our backs. Xander’s eyes caught mine, and all I knew now was the weight of his gaze, the way it left my skin tingling where it lingered. The butterflies batting against my insides as I felt a thousand remembered moments passing between us. Moments that had led us here, for better or worse.

  “Xan, you protected me from myself when I could have destroyed everything. More than once, you’ve protected me from hurting myself or others while I struggled to find my way. That night in the woods when Tharos invaded? You protected me then even though it hurt you to do it. And you have always, always protected my heart. The only reason I have the strength and the power to walk in there and face that monster is because of you.”

  He blinked rapidly, and I caught sight of the brimming moisture before he managed to hide it. My chest tightened, my heart overflowing with the depth of my feelings for him.

  “Promise me you won’t die,” he said, his voice rough with emotion. His hand came up to cup my cheek. “Say that you promise.”

  “I promise,” I whispered.

  He stared at me wordlessly, the moment suspended for us both.

  My breath caught, and I tried to think about what our life might look like after. But all I saw was the darkness and death that waited in the moment just ahead. I had to get past that before I could really enjoy any of this.

  I had to free us from him.

  “Two days,” I said sharply, blinking furiously as the spell between us broke. “We march in two days. Tell Dom.”

  Xander nodded, his expression hardening into something fierce and lit with a fire that even my magic didn’t possess. “Two days,” he said, and then kissed me hard and fast.

  It was a kiss made for battle.

  Chapter Twenty-Five

  A fog had settled around us in the pre-dawn light, casting a smoky haze over the faces of my assembled army—a shadow that I hoped wasn’t an omen of things to come. They’d spent the past six days doing nothing but training. Hell, they’d spent their lives training for this very day. We were all as ready as we could possibly be—and now it was time.

  “You doing okay?”

  Peter’s voice at my ear made me turn, a tight smile already plastered on my face. “I’m ready,” I told him which wasn’t really a direct answer, but it was the closest I could get right now.