Freed from Gravity (Bound and Freed #2)

Epilogue

ALLETTE

My hands do not shake as they smooth down the cool silk of my silver gown. My heart remains steady, beating for the man waiting for me at the end of an aisle dripping in moonflowers. The cerulean feathers hanging from my ears sway in the light breeze, a reminder of who I once was and how far I’ve come.

Braith drifts down the stretch of silver carpet, the people stuffed into the pews watching her every step of the way, marveling at the way her skirts shimmer.

Golden light washes through the arched windows as the sun rises over Polaris Temple, gilding everything in its path. Music from the stringed quartet swirls through the air as my slipper meets the end of the carpet and I take that first step.

Toward my king.

Toward my love.

A man I never thought I’d be allowed to keep, a man who is wholly, irrevocably mine.

Senan’s littlest brother stands at his side, clutching a pillow holding two rings tied with silver lace, the scar at his throat hidden by the cravat he reluctantly let me tie. Beside him stands Dahlia, clutching a wriggling bunny to her chest, her basket of petals abandoned at her feet.

Aeron waits behind him with a rare smile playing on his lips.

His younger brother Rhainn takes the final spot, his new wife somewhere in the crowd.

When I reach the end of the aisle, Senan steps down to take my hand, leading me up the steps to where the priest waits, robes of white reaching all the way to the petal-strewn ground.

Boris Vale has been gone for two months now, reduced to a terrifying memory.

Where mud and stone once ruled, green plants have taken over. Flowering vines climb the towers and window boxes burst with colorful flowers at every level.

And there are gardens. So many gardens.

Trees and plants grow between the cracks and in the crevices, healing and connecting, colorful scars in a land once drenched in gray.

Tuath who have been kept from their magic are taught to wield their power in schools established across the realm. Not everyone welcomed this change, but those who protested at first have returned to the shadows where they belong.

The priest begins the ceremony, his monotone voice growing faint as I stare into Senan’s sparkling silver eyes. After waiting half a decade for this moment, here we are, together, holding hands and repeating vows once whispered in an abandoned shack in another realm.

To love and honor each other for the rest of our lives and beyond.

“I love you, Allette,” Senan murmurs, stepping so close our chests brush, “until the sun implodes…”

My lips ghost across his in the faintest of kisses as I whisper back, “And the stars no longer shine.”