Page 228 of Problematic

Vale headed for the microphone with the expression of a man held together by caffeine, spite, and the power of the direct deposit.

I stopped just outside the camera frame. Lux noticed before Vale finished adjusting the microphone. He came back to me and stopped without touching me. “Beside me?”

The city waited on the other side of the glass. Scarn’s soldiers knew my face. By morning, every ruler in Valkyrie would know my bloodline. The war was still going on. Angelfall was still under attack. Nothing about stepping forward was safe.

My pulse raced beneath my skin. Lux didn’t reach for me or put a hand at my back. He waited. I took his hand. “Beside you.”

We stepped in front of the cameras together.

Chapter 33

Epilogue

Liv

Three months after Scarn invaded New Abaddon, and eleven weeks after the final Southern Area Lord signed the ceasefire, my biggest problem was teaching a nightmare demon how to foam milk.

Life stayed humble that way.

Angelfall had reopened beneath northern control. The Circeville freight route carried commercial traffic again, though every convoy passed through enough ward scanners to make smuggling mildly inconvenient. Scarn’s government never recovered. A temporary southern council spent most of its time fighting over empty titles while neutral inspectors documented missing powerless workers, hidden labor camps, and shelters built to protect only registered clans.

Technically, the war was over. Nobody had informed the missing-persons lists, the reconstruction crews, or the poor bastards still scraping southern sigils off public buildings.

New Abaddon rebuilt one district at a time. Workers repaired the municipal tunnels, replaced compromised ward keys, and reopened the public shelters without clan scanners. Lux stationed northern forces along the crossings, though he resisted occupying southern territory. Taking the South would have started another war. He hated agreeing with Vale about that.

Sam got promoted to district manager after keeping New Abaddon City Coffee running through an invasion, an ownership scandal, and a cappuccino machine with a personal vendetta against women. I felt zero resentment over her getting the position. She had been a kick-ass manager before half the city caught fire, and afterward, she became the woman Lux Corp called whenever another location had staffing problems, inventory shortages, or problems in general.

She deserved the promotion, the health insurance upgrade, and the tiny plaque displayed on her desk inside Lux Tower.

Daniel recovered from the shrapnel wound and returned to the Guard with strict instructions from Sam to avoid becoming a hero before breakfast. He ignored the instructions. She yelled at him through the bond whenever he did.

Mandi joined Lux Corp’s public relations department, which felt less like a career change and more like fate. Vale spent most mornings regretting every decision leading to her employment. Mandi spent those same mornings releasing statements such as Lux Draven remains committed to rebuilding New Abaddon. Please direct all concerns to Vale, who has chosen suffering as a lifestyle. No update on the city-wide Free Ice Cream Fridays initiative yet.

Kalon joined tactical defense. He rebuilt district response plans, trained tower guards, and kept Vale’s emergency network active in case another ruler tried taking New Abaddon through administrative failure and poor staffing decisions.

He also worked as my bodyguard whenever the situation required one.

The difference involved someone asking me first.

Mostly.

Lux tried assigning Kalon without telling me twice. Kalon told me both times and charged him overtime.

I respected the hustle.

My life became quieter. I helped reopen City Coffee, trained new hires, covered shifts when someone called out, and spent two days each week at Bellflower & Bone learning enough about plants to stop murdering every living thing placed near my apartment windows.

The apartment remained mine.

Lux had a key.

He used it only when invited, though he once waited outside for eleven minutes while I showered because he had brought dinner and refused to violate my rules.

The cameras were gone. The files disappeared after I made him sit beside me while I burned every physical copy inside a steel bin on the penthouse balcony.

Some wounds healed through apologies.

Others needed fire and an NDA.