Epilogue
Alice drew in a deep breath as the car pulled around the circular driveway. Shadow squeezed her hand, and she looked up at him. He wore a soft, reassuring smile, the sort of smile that said I’m here, don’t worry . She was grateful for that smile, was grateful for him. Nothing about the last six weeks had been easy—well, up until about two weeks ago, anyway, when they’d started making love again—but his presence had made it all bearable. Even though he was struggling, too, he’d made every effort to support her. That meant the world to her.
The driver brought the car to a stop. “Here we are, miss.”
“Thank you,” Alice said.
Shadow opened the door, slipped out, and turned to offer her his hand. She took a moment to admire him; he was dressed in a dark, tailored suit that enhanced the elegance of his long limbs. Though they’d had it designed with modern sensibilities, she and Shadow had been in agreement when it came to adding a few old-fashioned touches—particularly in his long overcoat and its collar. His silk vest was a deep maroon, offering just enough color to offset the black fabric dominating the rest of the outfit.
Alice placed her hand in his and stepped out of the vehicle. He closed the door behind her. The driver walked around to the trunk and removed their bags, which Shadow accepted—one in each hand. His health and physique had made immense improvement, especially during the last couple weeks.
He’d said it was because of their lovemaking. Though Alice remained skeptical of that, she couldn’t deny the results.
“Anything else I can do for you, Miss Claybourne?” the driver asked.
“No, we’ll be fine. Thank you,” Alice replied with a smile.
He nodded and returned to the driver’s seat. Once Alice and Shadow were a few steps away from the vehicle, the driver departed.
Alice turned her attention to the building in front of them—the only home she’d known for her entire life. Coming home wasn’t the final step in their current journey, but it felt like a milestone on the path, albeit a bittersweet one.
They’d spent the last month and a half dealing with Shadow’s frequent medical and psychiatric appointments, cooperating with the police investigations into the asylum and Tabitha and Jonathon, and sorting through the legal process of solidifying Alice’s claim on her inheritance and ensuring that everything her father left her was rightfully recognized as hers.
And she couldn’t forget the media. She’d managed to shield Shadow from the constant stream of reporters that had hounded them over the last six weeks, and had only given a few public statements herself, but it had proven an unexpectedly stressful aspect of this whole situation.
The public knew all about Director Victor Koenig and the Liddell Psychiatric Hospital now. Chief Farland had kept the information quiet for as long as he’d been able, but it was impossible to keep the secret for long. The tablet Shadow had taken from Koenig had provided droves of evidence to prove the abuse and neglect on display in the asylum, and several of the staff members had been charged with a plethora of crimes as a result—including Doctor Miranda Kade.
She and several of the other staff members were even facing murder charges. The sudden appearance of true death in Wonderland—which had apparently caused feedback in the physical bodies of victims so strong it had induced cardiac arrest—had been the result of a deliberate programming change made under Koenig’s orders. As if that wasn’t enough, the director’s tablet had also revealed the reason for that programming change.
The facility had been operating at near-maximum capacity, which meant it was unable to bring in new patients regularly. Koenig had seen that as a problem, considering each new patient brought along a hefty governmental subsidy. He’d decided to clear some room to simultaneously make way for new patients and indulge his sadistic urges.
The Intergalactic Union had taken control of the facility and was currently in the process of carefully reviewing both the methods used there—the simulation—and the cases of each and every patient. There were rumors that Alice hadn’t been the only person committed there under false pretenses, and she wouldn’t have been surprised if those rumors eventually proved true. She just hoped that Jor’calla was the last patient at Liddell Psychiatric Hospital who’d suffered unduly.
Tabitha and Jonathon were facing charges of their own. As though the conversations between Tabitha and Koenig found on the tablet weren’t evidence enough, Jonathon had confessed to everything when the police arrested him, corroborating the evidence on the tablet and providing new details in the process.
Daniel Claybourne had left ninety-five percent of his wealth to Alice in his will, with the rest split between Tabitha and Jonathon. Alice had spent her rare moments alone wondering what her father’s motivations had been in drafting that will; had he known, deep in his heart, the kind of person Tabitha was? Had he suspected something? Or, perhaps, had it been some way for him to assuage potential guilt he’d carried for so often being absent to deal with business matters?
She wished she could’ve had just a few more seconds with him. Just long enough to say she loved him, that she didn’t blame him for working. That she understood how hard things had been for him after what her mother had done.
Whatever his reasons, she knew he never would’ve imagined the hatred and contempt with which Tabitha had reacted to his will.
Intergalactic Union law gave precedence to the will of the deceased over the default inheritance laws save in particular circumstances—such as when the benefactor of said will was proven to be mentally incompetent or unstable. Hence Tabitha’s contacts with Victor.
Alice still felt the hurt of their betrayal when she stopped to think about it. But she was far more than hurt; she was angry . Tabitha had been in Alice’s life for seventeen years, since Alice was eight years old. Even though Alice had never really liked the woman, had never fully trusted Tabitha’s intentions with her father, she never would’ve guessed Tabitha was capable of anything like this. Capable of having Alice falsely committed to an asylum where she was meant to die alone, silenced, and forgotten.
But Tabitha and Jonathon would face justice. They would pay for what they’d done. And Alice had more important things to turn her attention toward—more important people.
She glanced at Shadow, offering him another smile, as they walked toward the front entrance.
This was the place she’d been brought to after she was born. The place where she’d played with her toys, where she’d had piano lessons, the place where her father had bandaged her scraped knees and read her bedtime stories. This place, until recently, had contained almost all her happy memories.
But it was also the place where her mother, screaming and swearing, had abandoned Alice and left her father. It was the place where her father had passed away a few months ago. And this was the place where her stepmother and stepbrother had conspired against her, had plotted to have her imprisoned and murdered.
She opened the front door, and Shadow followed her into the foyer. She stopped in the center of the space and, as she stared up at the double staircase leading to the second floor, knew what she’d suspected during the drive over.
This wasn’t home anymore. Even if her memories of this place balanced out between the positive and the negative, without her father around, it meant nothing to her. She could bring her dad with her wherever she went—he’d always be in her heart, in her memory, and that was good . She didn’t want the bad that went along with this house anymore.
“Home sweet home,” Alice said quietly. She twisted to look at Shadow, who stood just behind her. “What do you think?”
He frowned, and a small crease formed between his brows. “Seems a bit… much , doesn’t it?”
“A bit much?”
“It’s nice—I’m not saying it isn’t—but it’s so…big. And it feels empty .”
“You got all that from walking into the foyer?”
Shadow shrugged. “I can’t imagine how it must’ve seemed to you when you were even smaller than you are now.”
Alice chuckled and turned toward him fully. “How can you not imagine it after spending so long walking through a giant forest with flowers as big as houses?” She poked his chest. “And I’m not that small.”
Shadow arched a brow and glanced down at her, having to dip his chin to do so. His gaze dropped, trailing over her body before rising to meet hers again. “You are small, sweet Alice, and I rather like you just as you are.”
Alice smiled and reached for him. He crouched, setting their bags on the floor, and she took his hands. She turned around and tucked her back against his chest, guiding his arms around her. She stared at the chamber as he rested his chin atop her hair.
“It does seem a bit much, doesn’t it?” she asked.
“Especially for just the two of us. And all these angles and colors…they’re so plain . Where’s the style, the flair, the chaos ?”
Alice felt her smile stretch. “Oh? And what sort of place would you prefer to live?”
“This sort of home might do, but it’d take a lot of work. It’s entirely too orderly, for starters. We’d need a bucket of paint in every color—perhaps two.” He extended a hand and swept it from side to side, as though indicating the entire room. “Just pop off the lids and splash it around. The best thing about it is we could always get new paint if we want to change it. The flooring is rather humdrum, too. We’d need to vary that up in much the same way. And doors! Clearly, there need to be more doors. They don’t have to go anywhere so long as they’re unique.”
Alice laughed; her entire body quaked with it. And that laughter felt cathartic, like it expelled some of her stress. “I don’t think we’re going to do any of that here.”
Shadow dropped his arm, and she could almost feel his disappointed frown. “Why not? Think of the fun we’d have, dearest Alice.”
“Because…I think I want to sell this place. And if I let you loose on it, nobody will want to buy it. At least, not in this world.” She rested her head against him, her smile persisting even as her laughter faded. “We can build a home of our own. Together.”
Shadow tipped his head forward to peck a kiss atop her hair. “As long as you’re with me, I’ll live anywhere.”
Alice released one of his hands to reach up and cup the side of his face. “I’ll always be with you, Shadow.” A warmth flooded her. “Also, who says it will always be just the two of us?”
There was a pause before he spoke next. “What do you mean?”
She turned in his arms to face him, head tilted back so she could meet his eyes as her hands settled over his heart. “I want to have a family with you, Shadow, when the time is right. A home, children. I want everything…with you.”
He stared down at her, cat-like ears perked, his teal eyes softening with emotion so raw and pure that it seemed on the verge of overwhelming him. He answered her by dipping his head and pressing his lips against hers. The kiss was slow, sensual, lingering; it ignited a spark deep in Alice’s core and left her breathless and wanting.
She never would’ve thought a kiss could drive a person mad before meeting Shadow, but madness was a small price to pay in exchange for his love.