Chapter 273 Two Days of Forever
We’ve been officially banished envy’s words, not mine
“Stay in your room,” she’d said, wagging a finger at us like we were misbehaving teenagers instead of newly crowned semi deifies If see either of you near the throne hall before the ceremony, I will personally chain you to the bed ”
Elliot, of course, smirked at that. I don’t think she realised how little of a threat that sounded like. So here we are two full days of glorious imprisonment, trapped in our room like kids grounded by the gods. Except… It’s not really a punishment. Not when it’s with him The Underworld is quieter here in this part of the castle. No construction noise, no shouting, no Envy bellowing orders across dimensions Just the low hum of magic in the walls and the steady rhythm of Elliot’s heartbeat under my ear. He’s sprawled across the bed, shirtless, because of course he is, and I’m tangled on top of him, tracing lazy patterns on his chest. Every few minutes, he kisses the top of my head like it’s muscle memory. We’ve barely left this room, and I think the gods would forgive us for the time we’ve taken.
“You realise Envy is going to make this coronation bigger than most wars,” Elliot murmurs, voice rough from sleep.
“Oh. I know,” I say, grinning. “She said it’s a surprise. Which means she’s building another realm out there.”
He chuckles, a low, warm sound that vibrates through his chest. “I’m not sure whether to be terrified or honoured.”
“Both.” I say. “Definitely both.”
The door creaks open without knocking, “Delivery for the prisoners of love,” Silas mutters.
I lift my head as he steps in, pushing a cart stacked with covered dishes. His expression is unimpressed, and his dark hair is slightly dishevelled, which is a sure sign he’s been helping with Envy’s “grand vision.”
“Thanks, Silas,” I say sweetly.
“Don’t mention it,” he grumbles. “Seriously. Don’t. I’m not a servant.”
Elliot smirks “You’re just jealous we got the easy job.”
Silas glares at him “Easy job? I’ve been wrangling enchanted vines that tried to bite someone’s leg oft You two are lounging in here like
Loyalty already
“Technically,” I say, smiling, “we are royalty”
He groans “Yes, yes I know”
I laugh as he stalks out, muttering about “too many living souls in his Underworld” and “how he’s moving out with the forgotten after
this.”
When the door clicks shut, Elliot leans up on one elbow, watching me. “You know, he’s not wrong.”
“About what?”
“There really are a lot of people down here lately.”
“Yeah,” I say softly. “It feels right, though.”
He nods slowly, eves unfocused. “When I was bound to the Veil, this place always felt heavy. Like breathing through water. Now
alive again.”
1 press a kiss to his shoulder. “Maybe it’s because you are.”
He smiles faintly. “Maybe.”
it feels
Later, after we eat, and after Elliot pretends not to steal half my dessert, we wander through our little corner of the castle. The walls here
are warm stone veined with soft light. A balcony opens out over a river of starlit water that flows through the lower halls of the
Underworld. I lean on the railing, breathing it all in. It’s strange to think that not long ago, this place terrified me. Now it feels like home.
Elliot comes up behind me, sliding his arms around my waist and resting his chin on my shoulder. “What are you thinking about?”
“How fast everything changed,” I admit. “It feels like I blinked and suddenly the world was whole again.”
He hums quietly, brushing a kiss against my temple. “It wasn’t sudden. You made it whole again over your entire lifetime.”
I laugh softly. “You always say that.”
“Because it’s true.”
The warmth in his voice makes my chest ache in the best way. I turn in his arms, looping mine around his neck. “You really think we’re
ready for this? Ruling the Underworld?”
He tilts his head pretending to think. “We’ve already survived so much in the little time we’ve been alive and not alive and we passed
* goddess evaluation How much harder can it be?”
1 laugh, burying my face against his chest “Don’t say that, she’ll hear you”
“Who?
“Selene”
He grins. “Then she should know I’m an excellent King in training
“Cocky much?”
“Confident.” he corrects, eves glinting.
I roll mine, but I’m smiling too hard to argue
We end up back on the bed again because, apparently, gravity always wins. He pulls me against him, my back to his chest, his breath
warm against my neck.
“Tomorrow,” he murmurs, “everything changes again.”
“Yeah. I whisper. “But maybe this time, it’s all good change.”
He doesn’t answer right away. He just presses a slow kiss to the back of my shoulder, then another, then one just below my ear that sends
a shiver all the way down my spine.
“I love you,” he says quietly.
It’s not the first time he’s said it, but somehow it still makes the world stop for a second. I turn in his arms and meet his gaze. “I love you
too.”
For a long while, we don’t move. There’s nothing left to fight, nothing left to fear. Just us, two people who have bled and broken and built
everything back again. We talk until we can’t keep our eyes open anymore – about the coronation, about what kind of rulers we want to
be, about where we’ll put the bed in the royal suite (because priorities). We make love…a lot of love, and we cuddle, and laugh, and just
be us for right now. And when sleep finally takes me, it’s with his arms still wrapped around me and his heartbeat steady under my cheek.
In the morning, the world will be different, we might be different, because tomorrow, we’ll stand in front of gods and realms and be
crowned King and Queen. But today… Today, we’re just us. And that’s everything I ever wanted.
I’m thinking she is also going to be pregnant fairly fast.