Dorian Wraith's Arc

Chapter 27 of 27

Dorian and Evander left the black keep behind and walked the road until the trees closed around them. Dorian took Evander's hand and teleported them in a flash of yellow light. They appeared at the edge of the clearing where the brown cabin stood with its blue door and its sunflowers tall on either side. The yellow swirls of the ward still moved along its walls. The door opened before they reached the step. Beak came out. His wings spread wide, yellow and blue and pink, whole again, no tear, no burn. He crossed the grass and pulled them both into his arms at once. Dorian felt the pink hair against his cheek and the green leather of Beak's belt press to his hip. No one spoke for a long moment. Callie came down the steps behind Beak and put a hand on Dorian's back. "He's dead?" she said. "He's dead," Evander said. "And my mother is gone," Dorian said. "Banished." Beak stepped back and looked at them. His green eyes were wet. "Then it's over," he said. He lifted his hands and closed his eyes. A low sound moved out from him through the trees. Dorian felt it in his ribs. Within minutes the clearing filled. A merman crawled from the healing pool at the tree line. Small winged folk drifted down from the branches. Deer with silver antlers stepped out of the ferns. They came because Beak called, and because the king who hunted them was dead. Evander looked at Dorian and did not let go of his hand. "Marry me," he said. "Today. Here." Dorian laughed once, surprised, and said yes before he thought about it. Callie clapped a hand over her mouth. Beak's face moved through many things and settled on a smile that was small and real. "I'll do it," he said. "If you'll let me." "I want you to," Dorian said. Callie ran into the cabin and came back with what she had. She brought two silver rings. She found white leather in a trunk and pressed it into Dorian's hands. They changed at the tree line. Dorian came back barefoot in white leather pants and a fitted white shirt. Evander wore the same. Beak wrapped a green cord around their joined hands and spoke the old words plainly. He tied one knot, then another, then a third. "By your will," he said, "and mine, and theirs." He nodded at the gathered creatures. "You are bound." Dorian kissed Evander, and the clearing went up in sound. The fairies threw petals. Callie cried and laughed at once. Beak stepped back and let them have the moment. Dorian held his husband's hand tight and did not hide any of it. The war was done. The rest of his life had just begun.