The Sapphire Heiress (The Silver Order #1)

Epilogue

M ae held down her fluttering, wide-brimmed hat and gripped the handrail of the steamer. The brilliant blues and purples cast out by the setting sun were at their peak. The colors were whipped up by the same wind that threatened to blow her to sea.

Despite the foreboding harshness against her cheek, she pushed away any lingering feelings of apprehension. She’d wanted this journey for too long to doubt it. This was who she was now: brave and with a new tenacity for not just any life, but an extraordinary and thrilling one.

At least that was what Locke—Ethan—had told her. Particularly in the weeks following the fire, when her nightmares had become more frequent. One day, they would lessen, Ethan had reassured her.

She could already feel herself growing stronger and more sure of herself. She needn’t hold on to the past or worry any longer. Not with Ethan beside her.

Beside her, he was so unflinching, even against the wind. With his head tilted defiantly and his hair swept back, he seemed to savor the relentless gusts.

“You’ll get your sea legs soon, Mrs. Locke.” He side-eyed her.

“Has a ring to it,” she smirked.

It had been three weeks of waiting before their quiet ceremony, but finally, their license was valid. Mae had feared an obstacle or two, but as it turned out, the cleric hadn’t even asked for a baptismal certificate. On the paperwork, Ethan had simply written in a false birth year. It didn’t sit well with her that their certificate contained a lie, however. Even if it was as insignificant as his age.

But to assuage her, Ethan promised to renew their vows in every new country they visited, where they didn’t need to bother with formalities like paperwork. In that case, she expected to marry him many times over.

It would likely be years before they returned to England.

Thinking now of her afternoon rides and her horse, Thomas, a pang of sadness struck her heart. As they slipped farther from land into sea, she could feel herself changing.

Hell, she already was. The newly discovered fortune in their hands would have been enough to change anyone. Her father always said that money was the best way to determine one’s character. She wondered how his fortune had changed him, if that was what had made him so consumed with greed and jealousy. Or if she had really ever known him at all. He certainly hadn’t been the man she’d wanted him to be, but, while she’d been growing up, he had still been the father she’d needed. He and William had protected her from their way of life for years. For that, perhaps she should have been grateful.

Mae could only wonder how she and Ethan would fare now that they had their riches. They had already given some of it away: first, to the servants of Blackthorne Manor who had always served her family well. Mae had insisted they be given enough not just to feed them while they found new work, but to comfortably retire. Next, to repay debts Ethan sustained during his more desperate times and even to help some of the families of Locke’s old crew. If only to soothe their blood guilt, they’d given funds to charities too, namely the orphanage Ethan had talked about, along with the farm that had taken Thomas and the other horses in.

“I’ve been meaning to tell you.” Fed up with the wind, she took her hat from her head and held it down at her waist. “I’ll be sending off another request to Mr. Milner.”

Mr. Milner, her new solicitor, handled what he believed to be the entirety of Mae’s fortune. In actuality, it was a mere ten percent of her—and now Ethan’s—wealth. The rest remained locked away in the family vault.

Ethan raised his eyebrows.

“While you were seeing to our travel arrangements earlier, I received a letter…from Miss Rosewood.”

Ethan started. “Miss Rosewood, you say? She’s doing well for herself, I hope.”

Mae nodded, though they had both read of her daring and brave escape in all of London’s newspapers. “She apologized for the falsehoods.”

Ethan shrugged. Of course, neither of them blamed her. After catching up to the servants hiding out in the Nettle Estate, she’d had to tell the constable something. Once he’d told her about Ellsworth’s body, she had surmised enough to know it had been best to lie and keep out the truth of Mae’s fortune.

No one could have predicted the interest the papers would take.

At first, Mae had feared for Miss Rosewood’s closely guarded reputation, but as it turned out, she had claimed to be kidnapped from the start, and her heroism in winning her freedom in the grips of robbers had made her quite the sensation in the eyes of London society. Mae had underestimated Miss Rosewood. All on her own, she had come up with a rather clever way to save her reputation.

“Miss Rosewood tells me she’s already found a husband—a baron of something or other. She says they are quite the match.”

“And you believe her?” Locke raised a brow. “It’s only been a few months.”

She preened. “Don’t forget: you and I fell for one another in even less time. ”

“Our time together was different,” Locke said firmly. “Much different.”

“True, but her message sounded happy, truly happy. I do wish we could make it to the wedding. We’ll have to make up for our absence with a gift. A grand gift.”

Mae didn’t like to decline Miss Rosewood’s invitation, but in addition to having a long list of sights to see, Mae needed to keep her identity and new wealth a secret. At least for a little while. Among the gossipers, new legends were already taking shape. From the letters she had traded with Grace, there was still quite a bit of talk about the fall of the Blackthorne family and a man who could supposedly live forever.

Still, Mae felt safe.

Besides themselves and those of the Silver Order, only Miss Rosewood knew the true location of the vault. And even if she could find the vault’s location somewhere along the rocky coast near the summer cottage, Mae trusted her to keep it secret. She already had.

“What, exactly, do you have in mind?” Ethan asked.

“How about a carriage or two?”

“You can’t wait until we reach our destination? You could find something there. Maybe an elephant she’d like for travel instead?”

“We could always try to find one in Shanghai. I hear they are abundant.”

Ethan laughed. “You make it sound like we’ll never settle down.”

“Not for a long time.” Mae folded herself into his arms, allowing his body to shield her face from the wind.

“You’re missing the sunset,” Ethan half-whispered into her hair.

Mae waved it away, pulling him back toward their room instead. These days, she found herself more impatient for their new moments alone. There was no telling how long they had. Without the sapphire and serum, their time now would always be fleeting.

As Ethan gripped her warm, smooth skin, Mae remembered how little she cared for the safety of those trinkets. Not tonight, not even that morning in the forest after she’d been certain Ethan would survive.

Although fear and doubt had filled her then, there had also been that moment when she’d found Ethan among the mist. The moment when he’d seen the key. The excitement, the urgency… All the joy she’d felt then, she’d owed to the pain, death, and danger of the days before.

Like a true Blackthorne, she had come to terms with that price. There was no use denying it. Life, she knew now, glittered more brilliantly and beautifully with death on their heels. Far more than any sapphire could.