Ties That Bind: A Muse Urban Fantasy (The Veil Series Book 5) (23 page)

BOOK: Ties That Bind: A Muse Urban Fantasy (The Veil Series Book 5)

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I drifted into the room between the couches, looked up at Ryder’s thrilled but slightly apprehensive expression, and couldn’t hold back the smile any longer. “This is—amazing!”

“Just don’t cry, okay? I can’t handle that shit.” Ryder offered me his fist. I threw my arms around him and hugged him tight.

“The demons left on this side still need to be dealt with.” Stefan said, moving around the couch to touch his old coat, now mine. “Coleman and Boston PD’s SRT need consultants, and they want us.”

Oh yes, I was ready for this. Abandoning my Ryder hug, I wandered around the room, touching the swords, feeling the spark of metal memories. One sword drew my eye: a katana with an elaborate guard. Recognition darted through me. A slight gasp trawled through my lips. I’d shared a moment in history with that sword. I’d witnessed the metal memories in its blade and watched Akil kill an institute spy. He’d done it to protect me like so many other sacrifices he’d made.
Some desires must be sacrificed so that other needs live on. Life is a balancing act.
My heart constricted, and for a few moments, I just...remembered.

“We can take it away, if you want. We just thought…” Stefan trailed off.

Akil’s sword. I reached out and hovered my fingertips close to the scabbard, but not touching. Ryder—Stefan, they knew I’d read the past in metal. This wasn’t just a sword. It was a touchstone to the past, so the memory of Akil would never fade. “No, it’s okay.” My throat tightened. “It should be here. He’d want it to be here.”

The sword. The workshop. The weapons. This was perfect. It was right. It felt like home, as only my friends could know it would. I faced them: steely-eyed Jenna, smug-ass Ryder, and the half-blood Winter King, Stefan. “Thank you.”

Ryder cracked open a beer. “Thank
you
, Muse. If it weren’t for you, we wouldn’t be here.”

I met Stefan’s warm gaze. “I didn’t do it alone.”

I would never be alone again. It hadn’t been without great cost, to all of us. But these people, my friends, they were priceless. I had a life. I had the love of loyal people, the love of a man who understood the good and the bad in me, who loved me all the more for my faults. I was complete.

And finally, absolutely, free.

Epilogue

Ahkeel/Mammon.

F
ire flows
through valleys and over grassland, feasting like the hungry, wild thing I used to be. Demons scream. I absorb their agony. It may mask my own. Fire cleanses. It will cleanse this world, though it doesn’t cleanse
her
from my soul. I can’t burn away the memories. But even now, I feel…nothing. What am I prince of? I don’t want this mockery of an immortal life. I never did. Freedom. I gave
her
mine.

Burning dust gusts against my flesh. The scorched wind carries with it the girl-queen’s screams like echoes of a queen long dead. The time will come. The girl will beg for freedom. History repeats. I know. I’ve lived enough of it. Soon. When the Court thinks her silent, her mind gone, her power controlled and dormant, the little girl-queen will ask for it to end. I’ve freed a queen before, and two worlds collided. Chaos and control must be maintained. But should she ask—that little chaos girl—should she look me in the eyes and plead for freedom, I may oblige. Not for her. No. For me. I am greed. I get my wants. My needs?
I. Need. Muse
, the impossible half blood who defies chaos. I always did. Always will. An immortal lifetime of wanting, needing, awaits me. She’ll age and die. And still I will need her. Unless...

Chaos abhors control. The King cannot control the Queen forever. The girl-queen will rise up. And when chaos reigns, the veil falls.

I smile into the raging firestorm, into the future—History repeats. I will guarantee it.

E
very review
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Book 1, Beyond The Veil’s page
; your review will help readers know what to expect from the series just before they dive right in and meet Muse for the first time.

About the Author

B
orn in Tonbridge
, Kent in 1979, Pippa's family moved to the South West of England where she grew up among the dramatic moorland and sweeping coastlands of Devon & Cornwall. With a family history brimming with intrigue, complete with Gypsy angst on one side and Jewish survivors on the other, she draws from a patchwork of ancestry and uses it as the inspiration for her writing. Happily married and the mother of two little girls, she resides on the Devon & Cornwall border.

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