Epilogue
Poppy
“YOU’RE SURE YOU HAVE EVERYTHING?” I ask, already reaching for my notebook where it’s tucked in my bag.
I quickly pull it out, then flip to the page I marked with a purple ribbon.
“Boots? Warm clothes? Summer clothes? Hair bands? Toothbrush? Comb? Runesmithing books? Parchment? Ink and inkwell? Qui—”
A big green hand covers the words inked onto the page, impeding me from reading more. I flick my gaze up, and Aric is giving me one of his sideways smiles, his hazel eyes catching the golden light streaming through the carriage window as we trundle along through the summer landscape.
“I thought I was finally free of notebooks and lists,” he says. “You know, Coven Crest graduate and all.” His sideways smile turns into a proud grin, and I concede with a sigh.
“Okay, okay. Fine. I just want to make sure you have everything you need.”
Aric gently closes my notebook, slips it back into my bag, and then takes my hand. “I know. And I appreciate it. But I’m sure I can get a toothbrush or boots in the village if I need them. They do have shops in Faunwood. Remember?”
My chest squeezes.
Spring semester at Coven Crest flew by, and now that summer’s here, it’s time for Aric to start his apprenticeship with Alden.
Which means it’s time for us to say goodbye—at least for now.
Though Aurora already wrote to me and said I’m welcome to come and stay with her family whenever I like.
I’m already planning to visit before I start my fourth year at Coven Crest in the fall.
And I’ll be with Aric for the next couple days, helping him get settled.
It’s too soon to cry and start missing him—even if that’s all I want to do right now.
“Hey, you okay?” Aric tugs me closer, and I drop my head onto his shoulder.
“I’m going to miss you,” I say softly.
He presses a kiss to the top of my head, then breathes me in. With a whisper, he says, “I’m going to miss you too. But I’m going to write to you constantly. Like, so many letters that your mailbox gets full and you get absolutely tired of me.”
Despite the melancholy curling in my chest, I laugh. “I could never tire of you, Aric Vandermere.”
His chest rumbles with a laugh. “Yeah, we’ll see what you’re saying fifty years from now. Might be singing a different tune.”
Slowly, I sit up and turn to look at him. He’s still smiling, looking at me like he didn’t say anything shocking.
“Fifty years?” I ask quietly. “You still want to be with me fifty years from now?”
His smile softens, but it doesn’t leave his face.
“Haven’t I told you, Brains?” With sturdy hands, he takes me by the waist and shifts me into his lap.
Thankfully, it’s a big carriage, so my head doesn’t bump the ceiling.
After tucking a strand of hair behind my ear, he says in a lower voice, “You’re it for me.
You’re the one I want. Even when I’m old as dirt and just want to sit in my armchair all day.
As long as you’re in the armchair next to mine”—he tightens his arms around my waist—“I’ll have everything I need in the world. ”
Tears make my vision swim, and I lean forward to capture his lips with mine. “Promise?” I whisper, the word mumbled with my mouth still pressed to his.
He takes my hand and presses it to his chest, right over his heart. “I promise.”
Beneath his lightweight tunic, I feel something firm: his mother’s ring.
Aric must feel it too, because he sits back slightly and fishes the ring out of the neck of his tunic. It’s glowing softly—we’ve been sure to keep the rune enchantment active—and silver light shines across Aric’s cheeks, making his eyes glimmer.
Holding the ring in his fingers, Aric says, “Do you remember what I told you all those months ago? About what Pa said when he gave me Ma’s ring after she died?”
Those days feel like a lifetime ago, and so much has happened in the moments in between. But I tip my head and search my memory, and I find our conversation buried somewhere in the back of my mind.
“He said you should keep it safe. And . . . to give it to someone special.”
Aric’s lips pull up a little in the corners, accentuating his tusks. Then, in one smooth movement, he removes the necklace from around his neck and slowly eases it over my head.
I hold my breath as the ring settles heavily against my chest, right over my heart. Then I whisper, “Wh-what are you doing?”
Aric presses his hand over the ring and into my chest, until I can feel the beat of my heart against his palm.
“You’re someone special, Brains. I want you to have Ma’s ring.”
My eyes widen, and my mouth opens, but no sound comes out.
I know how special this ring is to him, know how he wears it every single day, no matter where he goes.
And now he wants me to have it?
“I-I couldn’t,” I say, reaching to remove it from around my neck.
But Aric catches my hand and presses a kiss to my knuckles. “Please, Poppy. I want you to have it. And Ma would’ve wanted this too.” Slowly, he moves his hand to my cheek, trailing his thumb over my skin. “And you might even be able to figure out what those runes on it say.”
Glancing down, I lift the ring in careful fingers, and sure enough, the orcish runes glow back at me, illuminated with subtle silver light. Aric told me once that his mother died before she could teach him how to read them.
The challenge makes a little flicker of warmth bloom inside me.
Aric laughs. “That convinced you, didn’t it? You’re such an academic, Brains.”
I pucker my lips at him and give his shoulder a gentle shove, but it barely budges him. Once he’s done laughing, I say, “You’re sure about this?”
“More sure than anything,” he says. Then he leans in and presses a gentle kiss to my forehead.
With a conceding sigh, I slip the ring into the neck of my dress, feeling the metal against my skin. “I’ll take care of it. I promise.”
Aric grins at me. “I know you will.”
The carriage lurches slightly as we turn onto the main road and rumble across the bridge leading into Faunwood.
I reluctantly pull back from Aric, though I stay nestled in his lap.
Through the window, I can see the village coming into view—the marketplace, the bookshop where Aric and I shopped last fall, the bakery with smoke rising in plumes from its stone chimney.
It looks exactly as I remember it. Peaceful. Perfect.
Like home, I think, and the word doesn’t feel strange at all.
Maybe, once I graduate, this place could become my home too. Because if Aric’s still here, this is where I’ll want to be.
Maybe he’s my home now. The thought brings a smile to my face.
The carriage rolls closer to the village, where a tall guardhouse stands at the entrance. And two figures are standing there, bathed in the summer sun.
Aurora, her spring-green hair gleaming in the sunlight, has one hand raised in greeting. Alden stands beside her, tall and broad shouldered, one arm draped around Aurora’s shoulders, a warm smile on his weathered face.
They’re waiting for us. For Aric.
My throat goes tight, and Aric’s arms tighten around me.
“Are you ready?” I whisper.
He’s quiet for a moment, and when I turn to look at him, there’s something soft in his expression.
“Yeah,” he says finally, giving me a firm nod that makes his topknot bounce. “Yeah, I think I am.”
The carriage slows to a stop, and the driver calls out that we’ve arrived. But neither of us moves immediately. We just sit there, holding each other, as the summer sun paints everything in warm golden light.
Aurora spots us through the window and waves again, more enthusiastically this time, and Alden steps forward, looking like he’s ready to help with Aric’s bags.
“Fifty years,” I murmur before pressing one more kiss to Aric’s jaw.
“Fifty years,” he confirms.
Then he gently sets me back on the seat beside him. He takes my hand, his fingers strong and sturdy, and together, we climb out of the carriage—into the summer heat of Faunwood and into this next chapter of his—our—story.
Aric’s hand tightens around mine, and as we step forward to greet the people waiting to welcome him to his new home, I know with absolute certainty that this is exactly where we’re meant to be: together, hand in hand, wherever that might be.
THE END
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