Page 170 of The Eighth Isle

“But—”

“Let’s look at the papers first, can we? Let’s listen to the people,” he said.

I shook my head, silent for a moment, but trying tothinkabout it calmly and rationally wasn’t working—there was no sense to this at all as far as I was concerned.

“But I don’t know anything about any of this, Grey. Youknowthis—why do you insist?” I was not the right person to ask about governing anything, let alone an entire continent—I just wasn’t.

His smile turned a bit sad. “Because this is where our son will grow up, if we so choose,” he whispered. “And I want to create a better world for him to live in. There is nobody in existence I’d trust to know how to do that other thanyou. To make sure that not just our kid—butallthe kids in Ennaris live better lives than they did until now.”

Well, fuck.

“When you put it like that…” It was most definitely something I wanted to be a part of.

“No need to be overwhelmed. Let’s just listen to the people and figure it out, okay? One step at a time.”

Suddenly, the idea didn’t seem so completely and utterly ridiculous. “One step at a time,” I repeated.

“Reeva will be there. So will Mamayka.”

I nodded. “That’s good. That’s good.”

“And again—so will I.”

My smile was automatic. “You’ll never leave my side again?”

He grabbed me in his arms and spun me around while I screamed in surprise and laughed my heart out.

“Never, my queen. Not even when the stars fall,” he said and kissed me.

Just like that, he made everything work.

I knewit wasn’t over. On the contrary—we were only just beginning. And Grey was right, we owed it to the people to try to make things better now that the curse was gone and all that magic was back where it belonged. There was still so much to do because the sirens were on the loose, and the continent was whole, and the Enchanted were one people again.

But I had faith. As absurd as it sounded, I had faith that we could do it, just like Grey always said—one step at a time. After all, my life had changed so drastically, had become so much more than I ever thought it could be, and I’d survived it. I rose on top of it—simply because I didn’t give up. Not once. Not even when there was no hope and the end of the world was right in front of me—I did not quit.

That tells you something, doesn’t it?

It’s a hell of a mindset I plan to stick to for the rest of my life.

— THE END