The Luna Queen's Rebirth (Ellie and Dominic) novel Chapter 514

Chapter 514

Ellie’s POV

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Somehow, I managed to sleep a little that night. I woke at some point, unsure of the time of day, to the feeling of Dominic’s arm draped across my waist and his chest rising and falling against my back.

The brazier had burned down to coals, throwing a dull orange glow across the shelves. Somewhere above us, an entire mountain sat between this little room and the sky, and for the moment, I didn’t care.

I shifted to get up, and his arm tightened, pulling me back in.

“Five more minutes,” he mumbled into my hair.

“You said that an hour ago,” I laughed.

“Did I?” He cracked one eye open. “What time is it?”

“I haven’t the faintest.”

He pressed his lips to the back of my neck, then groaned and sat up, wincing as his injured rib protested. “How’d you sleep?” he asked.

“Like the dead.”

He gave me a flat look.

“Too soon?”

“Two lifetimes too soon.”

We got ready by the light of the coals. There wasn’t much to pack. I rewrapped my hand and pulled on my boots. My sweater was more holes than wool at this point, but it would have to do. Dominic shrugged into his coat, finally dry after a night beside the brazier, and checked the headlamp twice, of course.

I set the fallen books back on their shelves before we left. It felt wrong not to. The diary sat behind its locked gate, chained and quiet, and I left it exactly that way. The historians could have it. I just wanted to go home.

Are you staying in Goldenveil or are you coming home? With me?

I’d been thinking about it for a while now. Longer than I wanted to admit. And it wasn’t just the prophecy, either. The folio, the promise, all of it. It was simpler than that.

“I spent a whole lifetime married to a man who wouldn’t look at me,” I said. “And a good chunk of this one running from him, or being kept from him, or getting buried in mountains away from him.” I looked at him levelly. “I’m done with all that. Wherever you are is where I want to be.”

Dominic’s hands dropped away from his shoelaces. “But I thought you loved it here. And your family…”

“Goldenveil matters to me,” I went on. “My father’s here. My brothers. The clinic. I’ll visit as often as I can. But it’s not home. Not really. I’ve got Lycan blood in my veins, but half the time I still feel like I’m wearing a costume. The clothes, the ceremonies, hell, even the mountain-it’s theirs. It isn’t mine.” I took a breath. “I want to go home, Dominic. With you.”

He stood up slowly. There was a look on his face he was clearly trying to keep contained, and failing miserably, his mouth splitting into a grin that made a matching one form on my own.

“So.” He cleared his throat and scratched his head. “You want to move back in with me.”

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