Unable to remain standing, I dropped to my knees. I pressed my hand to the cold stone. I guided my hand over his name. Anri, my brother.
My tears dropped like boulders to the soft grass. I felt Luka still standing behind me. Luka, the man who had killed my brother to save his love. My heart squeezed because I now understood. I understood. I had killed to save my Talia. And I’d do it again in a heartbeat.
Taking a deep breath, I turned to Luka and said, “Thank you for honoring my brother.”
Luka kneeled down. He placed a hand on my back. “He was my brother, too, maybe not my blood, but my brother in arms.” Luka glanced away, then looking back, said, “As are you.”
My heart beat faster and faster as he said those words. I thought back to Anri, in the grass as children.…
You’re my twin. Grandmama says we share a soul. We’ll lead together. We will always be together. We’re stronger together. You know this.…
Anri had adopted Luka as a brother, and I would do it also. I would honor Anri by following his lead.
Pushing off the grass, I held my hand out to Luka. “My brother took you as a brother. I would be honored to do so, too. A brother in arms. And some day, as a brother-in-law.”
Luka exhaled like I had freed him of a demon. He took my hand and I began to slowly exhale.
“Zaal?” Releasing Luka’s hand, I turned to see Talia standing behind me.
“Talia,” I whispered, and she moved into my arms. I held her close, breathing in her calming scent.
Her hands smoothed over my back and into my hair. “Are you okay, zolotse?”
Pulling back, I gazed on the most beautiful face I had ever seen, and said, “I am free. I have you.” I glanced to Kisa who was cradled in Luka’s arms, and added, “I have a family again.” I closed my eyes and allowed myself a smile. I caught Talia’s quick inhale of breath, and whispered, “I am no longer alone … and my heart is full.”
Epilogue
Talia
The evening wind was strong, carrying with it an icy chill.
But all I felt was warmth.
I lay in Zaal’s arms, my back flush to his front. We were lying on the soft garden bed on the balcony of our new home, staring at the stars. Only a thin bedsheet covered our naked bodies.
Zaal breathed deeply as his hands traced lazy circles on the back of my hand. My heart swelled with love and adoration, we had found our happiness, such intense and radiant happiness.
Only a few weeks had passed since Luka had returned Zaal to me; since Zaal had sought revenge on Jakhua; since he’d honored his family’s deaths—blood for blood with the man who had cast him into slavery.
Luka had arranged for Alik Durov’s empty apartment to be given to Zaal, and me. My parents hadn’t been happy about my leaving their home and moving in with Zaal. My father had insisted we marry first. But like Kisa with Luka, I understood Zaal needed me by his side more than I needed marriage. He was just learning about life, and he refused to let me go.
We hadn’t spent a second apart ever since.
Kisa rolled her eyes when I moved in against the grain. She’d always called me the rebel.
And I was glad for it. Zaal and I couldn’t get enough of each other. We touched, we bathed, and we made love day and night. I loved him. I loved him so much that at times I was sure my chest would not be able to contain all the love I had in my heart.
And I knew he loved me, too. It showed in every glance from his jade green eyes, his every gentle touch, and the way he kissed me; gently, softly, like I was his universe.
Like he was the Earth and I was his sun.
Zaal shifted under me, and his hot bare skin smoothed against mine. “I like the stars,” he whispered into the silence of the night.
I smiled as my fingers played with the ends of his long black hair. “I like them, too,” I replied. And I did. We spent night after night out here on this beautiful rooftop, just watching the night sky. And the daytime, too. Zaal told me that he remembered watching the sky as a child, and after twenty years of nothing but darkness, I wanted to give him his sky. His night and his stars.