There is no heartbeat I can hear.

"No... no... no..."

I use my power to feel every wound in Lyall's body. Deep or shallow, I close them all, stopping his bleeding. Then I return all the bruises on his skin to normal. I fix every broken bone and torn ligament.

But no matter what I do, the heart doesn't beat. And his skin is getting colder.

"No no no."

My tears drop to Lyall's face one by one.

Still. No heartbeat.

"No!"

I bang on Lyall's chest, hoping that it will restart his heart again.

But it doesn't.

"No..." I whimper, no longer able to control the tears drenching my face. I bury my face in his chest. His wounds are all patched up but his shirt is still soaked in blood. At this point, I don't know if my face is sweet from his blood or from my own tears. I grip his shirt so tight that my knuckles are turning white.

"No..."

I forget about the other people in the room as I wail in tears. This isn't fair. He came for me, he fought for me, and he helped me breathe again in the sea of my own making. And now the world is telling me I took too long to heal myself to save Lyall? That the world couldn't even spare me just one more second with Lyall?

Regret washed over me as I keep repeating in my head how awful I am for not being fast enough in breaking the crystal. That even though Lyall told me to take my time, I should have... I should have–

My trail of thoughts stops when someone touches my hand. I look up to a glowing figure right in front of me. Unlike the white light from before, this glow doesn't hurt my eyes. Yet it prevents me from making out the face of the figure. All I know is that the figure seems familiar.

"No, Mars," the figure says in a feminine voice. I recognize the voice as the same voice of the witch that helped deliver Ed's ash to me. "Don't beat yourself up for needing to take time to yourself."

"But Lyall is..."

"I can return your mate to you," the Goddess says, "But returning a life comes at a cost. When I returned Sky's life, it came at a cost to your daughter too."

"What?"

"Rest assured, it won't affect your daughter in any way. It's just that she won't be able to access her magic until she is of age," the Goddess explains, "But Sky was a Shadow Walker, and because shadows stay in this world, it was easier to resurrect him. While resurrecting a lycan warrior will cost more magic."

"What are you saying?"

Despite the glow around her which makes me unable to see her eyes, I know I am looking at her eyes.

"You would need to exchange your power with your mate's life. I don't know how much power will be taken in the process, but there is a possibility that you'll lose all your magic."

I blink.

"My dear Mars, I wanted you to go to the Lycan Kingdom so you can recognize the power within you. And you have bloomed so wonderfully. Lives come and go, and death is inevitable. So you don't need to–"

"Deal."

The Goddess takes a moment to process my answer. Again, despite not being able to see clearly, somehow I just know that she is blinking at my words.

"You'd give up your magic just like that? You haven't even explored the entirety of your magic. You don't know what you're truly capable of."

I return her grip on my hand. "Not just like that. He isn't just anybody. And I don't need any magic to feel special. It's a low price to pay to get Lyall back."

"You also don't need any man to feel special."

"But Lyall is the love of my life. He is the reason I can see the wonderful sea inside me. Without him, I won't be the Mars I love best. I won't be myself."

The Goddess is quite yet again. This time, I can't tell what she is doing or thinking. But she rubs my hand with her thumb gently, as if soothing me.

"So be it, Mars," she says. At her words, I sense a shift of air rippling from where Lyall and I are. It creates a wave of air that fills the entire room. And when the wave stops...

Badump.

I hear Lyall's heartbeat. My own hand feels the thrill of his heart under his shirt.

Badump.

More tears flow on both of my cheeks. Then when I hear Lyall gasps for air, I can't help from sobbing. "Oh, Lyall!"

Lyall opens his eyes straight to my teary eyes. "My Muse," he whispers in a croaked voice.

I put my forehead on his forehead and breathes in his scent. His alive scent. Then I reach down to our bond and caress it as if my life depends on it. He returns my caress mentally because he is still too weak to move.

"Thank you," I whisper to the Goddess. But when I look up, that glowing figure has disappeared. Only a few strands of light rays from the crack in the ceiling are left to be seen.

Someone else holds my hand on Lyall's chest. I turn quickly to the boy with dark hair who looks like Lyall.

"Sky," I mention the boy's name. In the back of my mind, the Goddess's words about my daughter resurrecting Sky at the cost of her power echo inside me. But seeing Sky's smile and teary eyes make me shove those words deep inside. I'm sure there must be a good explanation as to why it happened. But for now, I brush the boy's hair and when I try summoning my power, I can still see his soul and know what he is feeling inside.

Sky is happy. And he feels like his family is complete.

It makes me happy that Sky feels that way.

"I heard you have bonded with Lyall," I say light-heartedly.

Sky scoffs, then looks down at my mate. "He wants to enslave me and brands me with the obnoxious title of 'Apprentice.'"

I giggle at how Sky says it.

"Mars." Lyall entwines our fingers together. "What the Goddess asked of you..."

"I still have my power," I say before he can complete his sentence, "Just not as powerful as before. I can feel it. It's like my well has been dried out."

"I'm sorry," Lyall mutters.

"I'm not," I say. "I'm thankful that it's the only thing she needs to bring you back to me." Then I lean down to give Lyall a kiss. To which Lyall accepts.

Gently, warmly. Our hearts are full of gratefulness, our tears are joyful tears, and no one shall break our bond yet again. It has withstood the trial of time, the light and dark of love, it has built and broken us. But now that we are together, it is unbreakable.

As soon as Lyall finds the strength, he slips his hand on the back of my neck and deepens our kiss. "I love you," he whispers.

'I love you too,' I answer through our bond.

"Let's go home."

I nod at Lyall's suggestion. "Yes, please."

.

.

.

I wake up to the smell of tobacco and musk. The smell alone makes me believe that the day will be okay. My eyes open to Lyall's emerald eyes. This is his morning routine; staring at me until I am awake too.

"Good morning, My Muse," he says with a big smile.

"Good morning, My King," I reply. Right after we come back after that day, Athena immediately returns the throne to Lyall after our march to the castle. No proper or formal ceremony, just Athena throwing the crown to Lyall and then asking the public if there is any objection, to which there was none.

Lyall was taken aback a bit that day. But then he followed his sister by coronating me as his rightful queen instead of consort. Again, with no proper ceremony or formal speeches, then he asked if there is any objection. To which, there was none.

So, I am now a queen. But I much prefer the title of Lyall's muse.

"I love you." This is another morning routine for Lyall. He is on a mission to remind me every day how loveable and amazing I am.

But deep down, I think sometimes he only says it so I would say it back to him. "I love you too."

"What are you going to do today?"

I sit up and straighten my arms. Right then the door bursts open and a young girl jumps into the middle of our bed. "Mom! Dad!" She snuggles between us with a huge smile.

This is another morning routine for us. Hope would jump to our bed and sneak between us.

"Good morning, Love!" Lyall always accepts this behavior and even tucks her almost immediately under the blanket.

"Good morning, Dad!" Hope says with a pout, "I don't want to do warrior training today. Aunt Athena is so scary since Uncle Helios has not visited in two months."

"No, Hope. You will go to the warrior training." I pull back the blanket from my own child who is already acting sleepy. "I will be there too, training alongside you."

"Then you can do it yourself, Mom," Hope says. She snuggles closer to Lyall. He is obviously her favorite parent. So I shoot Lyall a look. Deep down, I threaten Lyall to back me up through our bond, or I will be so pissed.

'Come on, she is only eight. She can take more breaks.'

'She doesn't feel the need to study anything because she has never felt those chances taken away from her. But I don't want her to take this better life for granted.'

In the end, Lyall always sides with me. He sighs. 'Fine.'

"Love," that's his favorite nickname for his daughter, "Just do the warrior training for an hour. Then you can go back to sleep."

"I can't go back to sleep!" Hope cries out, "I have the academy to go to. Sky just made me his study assistant."

My little girl is always so energetic when it comes to Sky. I think she rather adores him. Sky is practically like family now. He is one of the kingdom's elite warriors and he teaches dark magic in the academy now while he conducts research on his own magic too. He also tags along with Lyall on missions now and then. Our kingdom has seen almost no bandits and thieves because of his shadows. Yet once a week, he always spares a day to play chess with me.

Lyall and I offered him a position as a prince, but he refused. He said he doesn't need titles to consider us as a family.

"Did you force Sky to make you his assistant?" I ask while trying to hold back laughter.

"Yeah..." Hope pouts even more. "If I don't, he won't even talk to me. I think he is avoiding me, Mom. But no worries. I will make him open up to me."

Both Lyall and I chuckle at Hope's words. Especially when I see a shadow in a corner shaped like a boy. Sky is listening to our little exchange and he is rolling he is palming his face at Hope's words.

Hope is full of hope.

I look around, and I see that my family is complete. It warms my heart that we can share laughter and spend time together.

I am surrounded by love, and in return, I give back love.

–to be continued–