Stefan didn’t answer.
“I know Time Folders can’t lie. Tell me or I’ll choke her with her own intestines.”
“It’s another prophecy.”
Clutching his stomach, he winced. Elena’s breath caught. Maybe he had drunk the poison, and this would work after all. She bit her lip and tested her power. Still, only a vague buzzing. Shit. Relax. Will your power to increase.
He straightened and held the sword hilt above his head, point down, just as her death angel had done in the convenience store, only this time, she didn’t welcome death. Not at all. She had way too much to live for.
“Tell me what it says, Time Folder.”
“It says she’s carrying a baby that will be the bridge between worlds.”
“Not a chance in hell will I let that happen.”
Just as it had when she battled the shifters in Uza’s yard, things seemed to move in slow motion. It started with a guttural yell from Fydor, followed by a battle cry from Nik who lunged right as Fydor plunged the sword toward her abdomen. Before the tip came within range, Elena envisioned herself standing behind Fydor. She’d picked a close distance, hoping she had enough juice. Right as she felt the blade touch her skin, her body buzzed and reconfigured exactly where she’d envisioned it, just in time to see Nik take Fydor to the ground.
It had worked!
Nik wrestled the sword out of Fydor’s hand, both men gasping in pain. Nik struggled to his feet and swung the sword up in position to decapitate his uncle.
“No!” Elena shouted. He froze. “Please.” After long moments, in which she knew he fought a vigorous internal battle with his Slayer nature, he lowered the sword.
She looked around the room at the horrified faces. Well, all except for one. Uza was grinning ear to ear, stroking her purring mu-mu.
Fydor groaned again and convulsed.
Fee’s shoulders lowered, and she took a deep breath, relief clear on her face. Aleksi, too, relaxed a bit, brow arched as she watched in fascination.
Gasping, Fydor rolled to his side in a ball. “Tatiana, help me,” he groaned.
“I’ll help you like you helped my husband.” She crossed her arms over her chest, face expressionless, and stood still.
It didn’t take long after that for him to die. Elena had a suspicion it happened far too fast for Aleksi and Tatiana, who had suffered at his hands for years. Once he stopped convulsing, no one moved for a while.
Nik took a step back and slid his father’s sword into the sheath on his back, and then his eyes met hers. Her heart soared as they stared at each other, and everything else seemed to fade away. He held out his arms, and she ran to him, loving the feel of being folded against him. “It’s over,” she said. He pulled her even tighter and kissed the top of her head.
“Not quite.” Tatiana calmly felt for Fydor’s pulse. Then she picked up the crown, strode to the door, opened it, and entered the great hall.
Nik wasn’t bleeding anymore, but he had a slight limp still. His leg would heal. So would the cut on her chest. Unwilling to let each other go, they held hands as they followed his mother.
“Fydor Itzov is dead,” she shouted. The room fell silent, and all turned to look at the queen. From the looks of it, the battle had all but ended.
“All hail King Nikolai,” she said, holding the crown high over her head.
“All hail King Nikolai,” an exuberant chorus of voices responded from all around the room as Tatiana placed the crown on her son’s head.
“Eternal life to the Uniter. Bringer of peace. Protector of the bridge,” Vlad shouted from the back of the room, bloody dagger held high.
“Eternal life!” the crowd repeated.
“Well, my work here is done,” Uza said from behind them. “Getting you two together was slower than molasses in January. Don’t screw it up.” She disappeared with a pop.
“And now your work really begins, sweet girl,” Stefan whispered in her ear. “Good luck keeping him in line.”
Ricardo’s red eyes met hers from several yards away. “I wish you good choices, Elena Arcos.”
She grinned up at Nik, whose bruised, bloody face was the most beautiful thing she’d ever seen. “Loving you was the best choice I ever made.”
He put his lips against her ear. “That was not a choice. That was inevitable. I’m irresistible.”
He was. And as soon as they were alone, she’d show him just how irresistible she found him. Every part of him.
He placed his palm over her belly. “I love you, Elena Arcos.”
“Love is a myth, remember? Slayers don’t love.”
“This one does.”
Epilogue
“Leather. No respectable Slayer nursery is decorated any other way. It has to be done in black leather,” Aleksi said.
“I guess this room will just not be respectable, then.” Elena held up two wallpaper samples. “Planes or puppies?”