Black Crown (Darkest Drae, #3)(108)

Oh yeah, I was going to grow a potato taller than this freakin’ forest. They’d be Phaetatoes when I was done. Enough to feed the entire realm.

Always a pleasure to be in your head, my queen. Tyrrik’s laugh echoed in my head and aloud.

Up to my elbows in dirt, I lifted my head to look at him standing next to my father, my Phaetyn sisters on his other side.

How had we come to this moment when all had seemed hopeless? All this happiness might’ve slipped out of my grasp or never even been attained. So much risk . . .

And here we were filled with so much joy.

My family.

I grinned, my heart bursting with love. The word seemed pathetic to encompass all I felt. Love didn’t account for all the bad things it had taken to get here, but it was only because of the contrast of darkeness that I could appreciate the light. My joy was so great because I’d not only passed through pain and loss but triumphed over it. Together, with Tyrrik and others I loved, we’d fought the despondency and misery of fear, the control of a tyrant, and we’d won.

Tyrrik smiled back and then quirked a brow. Phaetatoes? I can’t wait to see one.

A call went up.

The Phaetyn either side of me tensed, and I did the same, turning my focus inward as their queen shouted, “Go!”