Epilogue - Lessia
She didn’t cry when they stepped off the ship onto the island she hadn’t seen since she was twelve years old.
Maybe she didn’t cry because of Frelina’s excited ramblings as she dragged a smiling Raine behind her up the hill, pointing out every curve and bend of the road and telling him a million memories of their childhood.
Maybe she didn’t cry because Merrick walked beside her, the sun warming them both as he stopped every other step to kiss her, whispering the words that made her believe this was real and not a vision or a dream: You and me.
Maybe she didn’t cry because their friends were coming to visit them in a few weeks.
Loche and Iviry would be stopping by the island on their way from Vastala—where Lessia and the others had spent the past few weeks as everyone recovered—to rebuild what needed to be rebuilt in Ellow.
Kerym and the witch sisters would also join for a few days before they traveled south, following the Oakgards’ to try to get the witches home.
Maybe she didn’t cry because while she didn’t see the souls around her anymore, she felt them in everything she touched and everywhere she went.
Her parents.
Merrick’s parents.
Thissian.
Everyone who had been her shield until she found her own strength.
But most of all, she thought she didn’t cry because, as Merrick swept her up into his arms, kissing her until she was breathless as he carried her over the threshold to the house she’d called home for the happy first twelve years of her life, she realized he’d given her the last two things she’d wanted.
Time and a future.
She let herself fall into his dark eyes as he held her closer, and while she knew there would be a day when they would have to brave a battlefield again—and if her gut was right, that day it would be a war against the gods themselves—they would be ready.
She and Merrick were stronger than ever.
The power within her no longer slept, and while it didn’t demand to be freed, it was there.
It would remain there.
Waiting.
Waiting for the day those five girls she still sometimes dreamed of banded together and took on the world.