Chapter 152

MILA

For a moment, all I could do was stare in shock at my husband.

Despite the fact that he clearly had not slept in days, he looked better than ever. It was clear that the breaking of the curse had restored him to his full strength, and once he was back at full power, he would be nearly unstoppable.

Felix could barely speak, himself. Instead, he stared right back at me, wonder and amazement on his face.

I really was not sure how long it had been since I last saw him. Days? Weeks? It felt like centuries.

“Mila,” he finally breathed.

He took the last few steps forward until we were a breath apart. He reached for my face, as if to kiss me, embrace me, but he dropped his hand at the last second, clearly terrified to touch me.

“I’ve been looking everywhere for you,” he said.

My brain was short circuiting. I could barely think. Even though I had spent the last day and a half searching for him, seeing him in the flesh was an entirely different story. I had no idea what to say to him, how to explain where I had been.

“I know,” I finally replied, lamely.

“Where have you been?” He asked, finally deciding to clasp my hands.

“Well, for starters, I died,” I said flatly.

Felix shook his head. “I can’t tell you how sorry I am about that. Mila, I had no idea–”

“And then I went into a void In-Between life and death and met Sofia,” I continued, “who was the enchantress who put the curse on you in the first place. As it turns out, she is actually one of my past lives, and we–”

“I’ve met Sofia,” Felix said quickly. “She told me everything.”

My eyes widened. “You met Sofia?”

“Yes,” Felix said, cracking a smile. “I went into her void while I was visiting the Library of Magic.”

Now my jaw had dropped. “You went to the Library of Magic?”

“Yes,” Felix laughed. “A few days ago, we felt a power surge all the way through the kingdom. Emeralda was able to pinpoint the source to a location in the mountains. I thought it was some type of sorcerer who could help us find you. Turns out, you were actually the source of the surge.”

My face turned bright red. “I had no idea other people were able to feel that.”

“Well, we did,” Felix continued, “and that’s when I learned about all my past lives, as well. It turns out that while the curse was bad, my behavior was not exactly helping matters.”

“I can’t believe you met Sofia,” I breathed. “How–how was that?”

“It was hard for me to see her,” Felix admitted. “It was like I was looking at you, but it wasn’t quite you. All I wanted was to find you, and instead I found this odd shadow that wasn’t the you I knew.”

“I’m sure she was glad for a visitor,” I mused.

Felix gave me a half-smile. “I think it was just as hard for her to talk to me as it was for me to talk to her. When I left, though, she agreed to collapse the void and go find Samuel.”

Tears sprang to my eyes as I thought about Sofia and Samuel finally reuniting after a thousand years, much like how Felix and I were reuniting now.

Felix ran a hand through my hair. “And then I’ve been about a days’ worth of travel behind you ever since.”

So that meant–

“I went to Beauveis,” Felix said, reading the look on my face. “I just left this afternoon.”

“Did you meet my parents?” I asked.

Felix nodded. “They’re lovely people, Mila. You can tell how much they love you. They would do anything for you.”

“They would,” I murmured in agreement. “I hope my father didn’t give you too hard of a time. He seemed pretty upset when I told him everything that was going on.”

Felix chuckled. “I don’t think he was too happy with me, but I managed to win him over in the end.”

“Thank you,” I said to him, “for meeting with them. And for understanding why I needed to find them before finding you.”

Felix smiled. “Of course.”

From a few hundred yards away, a loud roar went up from the crowd. They must have just reached Fresia, then. The sound startled both of us.

Felix clasped my hands a little tighter. “Were you safe? In that crowd?”

“I was,” I assured him. “I was merely trying to get back to Fresia and found myself in the middle of a riot.”

Felix laughed slightly. “I can’t believe your grand plan was to walk to Fresia from the coast.”

I smirked. “Well, we aren’t all lucky enough to have a dragon to fly around on. Speaking of, where is Ignatius?”

Felix’s face fell. “The dragons are sick, Mila. They’re dying.”

My heart dropped. “Is that because of the drain on magic?”

Felix nodded wordlessly. Heartbreak was written all over his face. He loved Ignatius and all the dragons deeply, and I knew it was seriously affecting him to see them hurt. Even I felt a surge of empathy for the poor creatures, who must have been so lost and confused in their illness.

“I had no idea the dragons were affected,” I said. “I would have–I’m not sure what I would have done. Something, though. I have magic now, even though I’m still learning how to use it.”

“It’s not your fault,” Felix said quickly. He started to choke up a bit. “None of this is your fault, Mila. None of it. Not even the curse.”

I laid my hand against his cheek. He flinched at the touch. “It’s not your fault either, Felix.”

He said gruffly, “I’ve made so many mistakes when it comes to you. Too many mistakes.”

“I forgive you,” I said softly. “I forgive Samuel and all the rest of them too.”

“These past few weeks, you’re all I’ve been able to think about,” Felix admitted. “Thinking you were dead drove me a bit mad. Things have been so out of sorts at the castle, Mila. I actually threw my parents out for a bit after they hurt you.”

“I’m alright now,” I promised him. “I’m here. I’m with you. It will all be fine now.”

Felix looked at me, longing in his eyes. “I’m sorry, Mila, for all of it. And I’m not just talking about what happened the night they executed you. I’m sorry for keeping secrets and shutting you out of my life and pain and plans. You deserve better, and I want to be better for you.”

“I’m sorry for never saying anything,” I replied. “I should have told you how I was feeling. I was just so worried about adding on to your burden.”

Felix squeezed my hands. “You could never be a burden to me, Mila. I love you. And I want to spend the rest of my life proving that to you, every single day.”

I smiled. “I love you, too. I always have. I always will.”

And for the first time in weeks, I kissed my husband.