The Necromancer’s Light by Tavia Lark

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EPILOGUE

One Month Later

“Have you thought about my offer?” Georgia asks.

She’s sitting on a chair in the kitchen of the little house Shae and Arthur just moved into. The house is outside of Lanwatch, close enough that Shae can run over if he’s low on living energy, but far enough out to keep Duchess and Sparrow in a nice open field out back. Arthur says he’s going to hire help to build a small shelter before winter hits. In front, there’s a garden that Shae has absolutely no idea what to do with.

Shae sets aside his focusing crystal and lets go of Georgia’s wrist. He sits down in the chair across from her. “Yes, I talked about it with Arthur, and we don’t want to join the Riverswords completely, with a guild contract and all. But we’re happy to work with your crew on relevant jobs.”

“Great.” Georgia stretches out her arms. She’s dressed in ordinary leathers, and her eyes are as bright as ever. The pallor of her skin is the only sign that under her leather jerkin, there’s a hole where her heart should be.

Another voice sounds from the doorway—Reed, her second in command, with his arms crossed as usual. “Has she gone crazy yet, necromancer?”

“Not yet,” Shae says, tucking his focusing crystal back into his belt pouch. “Her energy’s stable, and I think it’ll stay that way unless something drastically changes.”

“That’s good,” Reed says gruffly.

Georgia laughs, standing up. “Are you worried about me, darling? You’re going soft. I won’t have that.”

“Don’t think I won’t cut your head off if I have to, sir,” he gripes back. But Shae’s gotten to know them enough over the past few weeks that he hears the affection in both of their voices.

He wasn’t expecting Georgia’s troop to accept her new undead status quite so easily. He also wasn’t expecting Georgia to still be standing and sane after a month. They’ve been meeting multiple times a week for Shae to examine her and make sure she’s not a ticking time bomb of undead malice. So far, so good.

He’s found a strange comfort in it, though he hasn’t managed to voice it to anyone yet, even Arthur. The fact that raising the dead might not always be a disaster, that some dead people might want to stay awake for a little longer. Ten years ago, his parents chose to rest again, but they could have chosen to stay. Shae wouldn’t do it over again, of course, but he doesn’t feel quite as guilty anymore for giving them that choice.

“Where’s your man, by the way?” Georgia asks.

Shae’s face heats, and he hopes his flush isn’t too obvious. By the snort from Reed, his hopes are in vain. “He’s in town saying good-bye to the other paladins.”

Most of the troop had left soon after the aborted demon attack, but Freya and Harry had stayed for the past month. Whether their aim was to help the Lanwatch guard or get in their way depended on who Shae spoke to.

Georgia wrinkles her nose. It’s clear where her opinion lies. “Good riddance.”

Shae doesn’t think all the paladins are that bad, anymore, but he’s still not excited to talk to them. He declined when Arthur asked if he wanted to go into town with him today. Two months ago, he might have gone, prickling and nervous that Arthur might change his mind again and decide to ride off with the order.

Now, he doesn’t need to. He trusts Arthur to come back to him, always.

***

Arthur returns not long after Georgia and Reed leave. The afternoon is still bright, and Shae is barely starting to feel the usual chill of being alone. Ever since the events a month ago, the cold hasn’t come on as quickly as it used to. He still hasn’t figured out whether that’s due to the array breaking or Izen dying—his connection to one or both of them must have been more of a drain on his soul than he thought.

While he doesn’t enjoy the occasional shiver, he’s used to it. He’s certainly suffered worse. And it makes the wave of warmth as Arthur’s aura washes over him all the sweeter.

He hears hooves outside, and doesn’t look up from the packets of seeds on the kitchen table. They’re unlabeled, and he’s trying to remember which is supposed to be carrots and which are flowers. This garden is going to be such a disaster.

It always takes Arthur a while to untack and groom Duchess, and he usually ends up giving Sparrow an extra curry too while he’s out there, and feeding them far too many treats. Shae had asked one of the stablehands when they picked Sparrow back up, and the stablehand confirmed that Arthur gives his horses an unusual number of cookies. So Shae sets the seeds aside and goes to sit on the back step, watching his lover play with the horses.

They haven’t decided when or where to marry yet. Shae still wants to find a ring for Arthur, and Arthur isn’t sure what church to use. He wants to find time to visit his family too. They have all the time in the world to figure that out, though.

“How’d everything go?” Shae asks, when Arthur finally closes the gate and walks up to the house.

Arthur’s smile brightens when he meets Shae’s gaze. “Everything’s good. They’re heading back to Ostaris.” He reaches down and lifts Shae to his feet. “How about you? Did you miss me?”

Shae leans in against him. “Yes,” he says, winding his arms around Arthur’s neck. “I missed you terribly.”

Arthur kisses the corner of his lip, drawing back with another smile. “How can I ever make it up to you?”

“I have a few ideas.” Shae drags him in for another kiss, this one deeper, slower. He’s breathless when he pulls away, his whole body tingling with the taste. “You’ll have to tell me if I ever get too clingy, you know.”

“I like you clingy.” Arthur grabs both Shae’s hands, enveloping them in warmth. Lifts the left one up, so the ring catches the bright afternoon sunlight. It’s dazzling. “Have you decided what spell to put in this one yet? You promised not to bleed on it.”

“I promised not to bleed on it on purpose,” Shae corrects quickly, then laughs at Arthur’s brief glare. He squeezes Arthur’s hands and brushes a kiss to his cheek. “I decided not to enchant it. It’s perfect already.”

Arthur laughs. “When did you become such a romantic?”

“You’re one to talk,” Shae accuses. Because sure enough, Arthur’s the one who sweeps him off his feet and carries him inside.

He still wears other rings for concealment and detection. He has most of his old earrings in too, for control and protection. Even without Izen lurking to the north, he’s always going to need them, because he’s always going to be a necromancer.

But that doesn’t mean he has to be alone. Not anymore.