Epilogue
LAITHOG
Many , many years later.
“ Little flame, where are you? It is time for us to leave.”
My mate, not the one gifted to me by fate, but the one I chose for myself, is pregnant with my kits. A blessing I haven’t dared wish for, unsure that our kinds would be compatible enough to create life, let alone twins. Not that my mate knows that part yet. She is finally far enough along that I can scent the two lifeforms growing within her. A boy and a girl. It is just one of the reasons, we were leaving the place we’ve called home for decades.
Neither of us are aging, and it is beginning to become noticeable. A comment here and a comment there about how well “ Lance ” and Paisley looked for their ages. We didn’t have the luxury of staying any longer. Both of Paisley’s parents have since passed, and Patrick is her only sibling.
As disheartening as my mate found it, she no longer has any living family to hold her in this place. Only the memories she cherishes kept us here as long as we’ve lingered. A fact that has weighed heavily on her…until she discovered she is pregnant.
Donning my glamour, I exit the house, peering over and note that her pickup isn’t parked in its normal spot next to mine. Merry and Pippin are sitting by the yard gate looking at me expectantly. “ What do you two insouciant shits want?” I gripe. After being with Paisley for a couple of years, I picked up a few of her more human words, and my speech isn’t as stilted or formal anymore.
It delights me to no ends how informal humans speak to one another. Only to have Merry yowl and Pippin grumble as he paws the gate with one small front foot. “ If Paisley did not love you both so much, I never would have bound either of your life forces to mine. The things I do for my little flame. Gah ! Fine ! I know where she is. Let us go.”
At the defeat in my tone, both dogs start dancing about and yapping, apparently excited that they’ve gotten their way. “ Yes , yes. We all know that I secretly adore you, but our interactions amuse our human to no end,” I gripe as I open the gate, letting both of them out and watch in amusement as they both dart to the back passenger side door where they plop both of their fluffy behinds, waiting on me expectantly.
Muttering under my breath, I go around the truck and deposit both of them in the back seat. “ I’m never going to hear the end of this,” I sigh. Getting into my one-ton King Ranch ford truck, I start the engine and put it into gear, backing down and out of the driveway.
Rolling both back windows down halfway for the irritating little shitheads, I put the truck in drive and head to the cemetery.
“ Hey guys, it’s me again. This will probably be my last visit. Laithog and I have to move. Even though I don’t want to, we really don’t have a choice. I’m …pregnant. Not to mention the not aging thing.” Joy rips through me as I tell my parents and brother the news.
“ Laithog , and I didn’t think it was possible. We’ve been mated for almost twenty years and never hoped for a child. A human doctor cannot deliver my child as it takes years for a Garagyre to master their inherent magick in order to glamour themselves. This means our baby would come out looking decidedly unhuman, and we can’t take that risk. Laithog has reached out to some of his people, and we’ve been invited to move to a village with multiple interspecies couples, so I won’t be the only human there…or the only human raising a hybrid child. The snag is…this village is on another plane of existence. Sorta like another dimension. Most of the other species left this plane long ago due to humans and their almost zealous need to attack what’s different.”
The jingle jangle of tags on collars catches my attention right before Merry and Pippin appear in front of me, their adorable fluffy butts doing a wiggle dance with happiness at the sight of me. I smile as I start shaking my head. If my dogs are here, that means my mate is not far behind.
Laithog adores my corgis. He just won’t admit it. If he actually didn’t care for them, he wouldn’t have bound their souls to ours so many years ago, and then left their souls bound. He could have undone the soul weave at any point in time to let nature take its course years ago, and let Merry and Pippin age like normal dogs. Instead , he made the excuse that he couldn’t bear to see me grieve them, and he kept their souls linked to ours.
Something definitively taboo in his society, I finally found out, but he told me he didn’t care. They weren’t a dangerous species and posed no threat to anyone, so it didn’t matter if he made my two little loafs immortal or not. To hide it over the years, I told folks in town that I replaced my dogs with ones as similar as possible and named them Merry 2, Pippin 3, and so forth.
Heat envelops me as Laithog drapes a blanket around my shoulders. “ Little one, you are with child, and it is cold out. You should have brought your coat,” he gently admonishes me, the heavy silver cuff on his left wrist flashing in the fading light.
“ It’s that time of year again, warm in the afternoon with the temperature dropping in the evening. I didn’t realize how cool it’s gotten. I have to come say goodbye…” my voice trails off, but I know he understands.
After so long together, we don’t have any secrets from one another. “ I know. I am surprised you have not come sooner or with more regularity in the days leading to our departure.”
His words hit home with the accuracy of a well-placed blow, making me grimace a bit. “ I … well, I should have done this sooner, but I’ve put it off because I don’t want to say goodbye. I know that these graves are not my family, but they are the last place I saw any of them before they were lowered into the ground,” I explain despondently.
“ I understand, little flame. Would you like me to hold you while you finish your goodbyes?” he lovingly asks. Reading the emotions their human and Garagyre are emitting, Merry and Pipping lay down on our feet, smothering us with doggie love and comfort. Laithog clicks his teeth, making me giggle a bit. “ Oh , stop. You love them, and they love you,” I cheerily admonish.
“ I will never admit to this, little flame. They are as vexing today as they were the day I met them,” he deflects while settling himself next to me.
With my mate by my side on the stone bench that instigated our meeting so many years ago, I finish my goodbyes to my family. “ So , anyway. Laithog and I can’t stay here. It’s just too dangerous for our child, but I did want to tell you that I’ve thought of some names for the baby. I haven’t even told Laithog yet,” I snicker.
Laithog’s body starts a little with surprise. We haven’t discussed names since I’m barely past my first trimester. Turning my head to look up at him, I see his true face under his glamour, a trick he devised when he figured out his human glamour disturbed me. I reach out and slide my hand along his jaw, cupping it with all the love and affection I have for him as I finish relaying the news to my family. “ If it’s a boy, I’m thinking Paidrag , for Patrick …but if it’s a girl… I think we should call her Ilayahan .”
I watch as tears fill my mates’ eyes, spilling over to run down his cheeks, unchecked, as he gazes at me with incandescent joy. “ My Paisley , you bless me with this gift, but I , too, have a surprise for you…” a slight hesitation before he continues. “ We will have to use both of your names, little flame. You are carrying twins. This secondhand Garagyre thanks you from the depths of my hearts and soul. You are a gift I do not deserve, but one I will cherish until we take our final breaths. I love you, my precious Paisley .”
Shock renders me speechless for a moment, closely followed by apprehension. Regular human pregnancies with twins can have complications…but my children aren’t fully human. My hands dart down to hold the swell of my belly protectively as Laithog watches me with concern. Taking a deep breath, I force myself to quiet my thoughts. As long as I have Laithog , I know that we, my children and I , will be just fine. He’s taking us to a place with healers that have delivered multiple blended species babies.
“ We will be fine. After all we’ve been through, nothing will take our joy from us, and I will deliver our twins safely. I love you, my warrior of Light , and I always will”
His lips meet mine in an achingly tender kiss, pulling me closer with one of his wings, while one large hand cups the small swell of my belly over the top of my hands.
Holding all of us close, sheltered under his wing and close to his heart.
Right where we belong.
Ilayahan looks over at Patrick , a question on her inhuman face and at his answering silent nod, she reaches out, firmly grasping his hand.
It is time for them to go.
Long has she kept vigil over her mate, unable to leave him on this plane alone. No matter that he thought she ascended long ago. She couldn’t leave him knowing how he suffered.
And suffered he had, for far too long.
Stubborn male.
To her surprise, she was accompanied by the spirit of a human male, Patrick , several decades ago.
He , too, was unable to leave the other half of his soul while she grieved his loss so deeply.
To be honest, both spirits have lingered far longer than they should have.
Their loved ones were happy and were in no danger.
But . Letting go is hard, even for those in the afterlife.
However . It’s time.
So , hand in hand, they turn and walk into the brilliance of the setting sun.
Their ascension only marked with the stirring of a gentle breeze.