Queen of the Underworld | Book 3

• seventy • FINAL CHAPTER

//song: we could be heroes - david bowie

My graduation was short but sweet. My parents were the loudest in the bleachers. Damien and Julian were also there cheering for me just as loudly as I crossed the stage to take the diploma from one of my favorite teachers.

While it paled in comparison to the events from a few months prior, I was still proud of myself.

My dreams shifted but I owed my human self my college degree. I had worked too hard on it to just abandon it. I didn't, however, pursue the original internship I once wanted.

Instead, I began to seek others like me. I wanted to search for other Light Fae across the various queendoms.

And I wanted to start as soon as I could.

I let out a long sigh as I set my graduation cap down on the white, wicker dresser of my old room. I caught my reflection in the mirror as I did, and couldn't help my smile.

Before, I would balk at my new appearance. I was unable to get used to my fae features as they looked back at me in the mirror. I once loathed what it represented and what others had done to make me the fae I once was.

But now I embraced it fully.

I watched myself in the mirror as I adjusted my hair, running my fingers through the silver strands. My peppered freckles were dull on my nose and cheeks, hiding behind the milky complexion that was too flawless to be human.

I looked out of place in the bedroom of my human life.

The only one of my features that seemed remotely familiar in the space where my brown eyes. They never changed.

I zipped down the black graduation gown down the front revealing the sunflower halter dress I had beneath it and shrugged it off. I picked a hanger from the closet and hung it up, placing it in the old closet next to my high school graduation gown.

I grabbed the tassel from the cap and placed it in the frame my parents picked out weeks prior next to the bachelor diploma next to it. Closing it securely, I turned it over, admiring the golden script of my name over my new degree title.

I felt a sudden breeze of someone spectering next to me but didn't turn.

"Bachelor in Computer Science?"

I turned to the deep voice next to me in surprise.

Asmo chuckled. "I thought you'd be an art major."

I couldn't hide the surprise in my voice. "Asmo?"

He was clad in black from head to toe in his customary long dark coat. He leaned on one of the nightstands next to my bed, his long legs in front of him, his arms crossed across this chest.

I watched him perplexed. "What are you doing here?"

His dark coal eyes scanned the room. "So, this is your bedroom." A teasing smile crossed his lips when his eyes fell on a framed picture on my dresser. "How adorable," he teased.

I was about eleven. My dark hair was in high pigtails, my smile was large and full of braces. Damien sat nearby blowing a large bubble gum almost the size of his face.

I reached over and slammed the picture frame down so he couldn't look at it anymore.

I crossed my arms. "Wow. I forgot how annoying you are."

He laughed heartily, the most genuine I had heard from him in so long.

He looked like I'd never seen him. His shoulders were no longer hunched or tense. His strong jaw was relaxed no longer clenching like I'd often see him do before. Color was returning to his features, the bags I'd see him with during Mal's reign were gone.