“The Jewel Palace is the place for rulers of the fae realm,” Syrion said. “The Moonstone Castle is for the ruler of the Underworld. Likewise, you need a fortress of your own, my love.”
I furrowed my brow and looked back and forth between the men, trying to figure out what they were talking about.
Daath smiled and lifted his hand, gesturing to the room around us. “From now on, the House of Stars will be the official castle of Myrcedes, Queen of the Middle Worlds, the embodiment of Spirit.”
I felt my jaw drop, and I looked at them like they were mad. “You’re kidding. Daath, I know how hard it was for you to make this. This place belongs to y-”
“To you,” he nodded, a smile on his face.
“You’ll always have a bed, a throne, and a room at the Moonstone Castle,” Syrion added. “But, this one is yours.”
The Kings both snapped, and I saw something shift in my peripherals. I turned to see their own thrones, the ones that had been in this room since the first day I’d set foot in here, disappear. In their place, the onyx and moonstone seats were replaced with a single throne made of stars, just like the crowns they wore, just like the one they’d given to me.
I heard the room gasp behind me at the beauty of the new addition, but at that moment, I didn’t realize anyone else existed. For a moment, it was only Daath, Syrion, and me. The men I loved with all my heart had gone to such great lengths to make space for me in their lives in a way that no one ever had. I felt tears in my eyes and wiped them before they could fall, then turned to Syrion and hugged him tightly, repeating the gesture with Daath.
“Come on,” I whispered softly to each of them. “Disappear with me for a minute.”
They each smiled and clapped along with the rest of the crowd until everyone’s attention faded and we could descend back to the floor in peace. Once I felt like no eyes were on me, I slipped out one of the doors and jumped back to my room. In the following moments, Daath and Syrion did the same, separately, to be as inconspicuous as possible.
“Darling, what’s wrong?” Syrion asked as he appeared in the room with Daath and me.
I quickly shook my head and smiled. “Nothing. Absolutely nothing is wrong. I just… wanted to be alone with you both.”
Daath smiled and stroked my hair. “Are you happy, little owl?”
I closed my eyes and took a breath. “I don’t think I’ve ever been happier. And it’s all because of you two.”
“No,” Syrion said quickly, stroking my shoulder. “That’s not true. It’s us who’ve never been happier, and everything we do is because of how much we adore you, love.”
I wrapped my arms around them both at the same time, taking in this moment with them beside me, finally knowing who I was and what I was meant to do. I still had to continue my work on Earth, and in the coming months and years, I would need to work out arrangements with every other realm in the Middle World, so I wasn’t done by any means. However, tonight was just about us.
Over their shoulders, I looked out the massive window at the sky. There was a star shooting past at that moment, and I smiled.
In a moment, a memory rushed back. I recalled the day I’d traveled to the Bay of Souls and everything Alless had told me when I asked of the Upper World.
“Syrion,” I said quickly, pulling back from them. “I… I can’t believe I forgot to tell you. When I went to meet Alless, I asked her about the prophecy. She kept talking about the Under, Middle, and Upper Worlds, so I asked her why no one talked about the Upper World, why you never go there, why-”
He cut me off and nodded. “There’s a lot about that place that’s still a mystery. Until the day Minerva died, I… to be honest, I didn’t believe it existed.”
“But it does!” I took his hand. “I asked her about it. She said that no one can go to the Upper World until you do, but you couldn’t world-jump like normal. I asked her what I could do, how I could help you get there, and… she told me I couldn’t,” I sighed, looking between the Kings. Daath seemed to be the most confused and intrigued out of the three of us. “She said you had to do it on your own. But that’s okay. I know you can.”
Syrion’s expression had been thoughtful up until that point, and then it softened into a loving smile.
“I can’t believe I’m just learning about this,” Daath frowned. “But, whatever you need to do, Syrion, I don’t have a single doubt you can do it.”
He smiled and touched his brother’s shoulder. A look of revelation appeared on Daath’s face. “That’s what you’ve been keeping to yourself, isn’t it?”
The white-haired King sighed and nodded. “Yes. I didn’t know how to tell you. It felt so strange. For as long as we’ve lived, you’ve been Death. I’ve been Death’s brother. I had no qualms with that. My purpose was to serve you. And after millennia of knowing that, to find out that I… that I’m more… it was a lot to come to terms with.”
“Syrion, I never thought of you as-”
“I know,” he smiled at his brother. “I know you didn’t. But I did, and it was never a bad thing to me. I liked existing with you as my purpose. But now there’s so much more than that. All of those questions we answered millions of years ago about who we were, why we were here, what we were supposed