Epilogue 4
Death
The gates cast shadows across the courtyard, the moon high in the sky as I watched them from the third floor window, the castle dark around us, everything quiet except for Tor’s soft snoring behind me.
The town at the bottom of the hill had been rebuilt, almost exactly the same as it had been, and the few lights that shone from windows were reassuring.
We survived. We won. Everything is back the way it should be.
I jumped when arms snuck around my waist, a kiss pressing to my bare back. “Nothing has changed,” Cat said in a quiet, velvet-soft voice. “We’re okay, Death. We’re safe.”
“I know,” I agreed, but I couldn’t stop it. Couldn’t stop double checking, triple checking. The gates were secure. The domain’s magic wasn’t just secure; it was healthy. Stronger than it had been in a year. “I know, but…”
Her thumb stroked circles on my stomach. “But you can’t help thinking something else is going to go wrong, someone else will attack us, and the gates will fall again.”
“I know it’s foolish—”
“It’s not, because I keep thinking the same. We’ve been unsafe for so long, this peace feels… fake. But it’s not. It’s real. No one’s coming to take this from us.” Another kiss, this time to my shoulder blade. “But if anyone even thinks about trying, I’ll use my scales to rip them apart.”
Her bloodthirstiness brought a smile to my face, and I angled myself so I could pull her into my side, dropping a kiss on the crown of her head. “You do realise I’m strong enough to eviscerate them myself now?”
“I know.” There was a sparkle in her eye when she looked up at me, no trace of the death mask from the Halloween curse on her face now, only a simple kind of beauty that knocked the breath from my lungs every time I saw her. “But I quite enjoyed heroically protecting you as my damsel.”
My smile grew, and for once the compulsion to scan the gates, the realm, faded into the background. “Who am I to rob you of a treasured hobby? By all means, make me your damsel.”
She assessed me candidly. “At the very least, you should flutter your lashes.”
I did as requested. “Like so?”
“Very pretty,” she remarked, brushing my cheek with a lingering touch. “We’re okay. I promise.”
My chest deflated with a sigh and I folded her into both arms, the warmth of her settling into my front. “It’ll take me a while to accept it, but I know we’re safe.” My lips were drawn to the flat of her temple. “Thanks to you.”
“Eh.” She shrugged one shoulder. “I had help.”
“No.” I held eye contact, reached through the bond for the wash of comforting warmth from being connected to her. “You came for me. You dug me out of the dirt. You saved me. I’ll never stop being grateful for it. You’re my miracle, little bride. My saviour.”
She rested her cheek on my shoulder. “You saved me first. Not just with the curse and Nightmare. I felt so alone when I got to Ford. Even with Honey and Byron, there was a loneliness that nothing healed.” She turned her face to kiss the space above my heart.
“But you healed it. Healed me. I don’t feel lonely anymore.
And even if I get anxious, I know I can handle anything, so it never lasts for long.
It’s hard to feel terrified about what the future holds when I fought a god and killed him. ”
I stroked the length of her hair, easing some of the bed-induced tangles. “Have I told you that I’m proud of you?”
“Every day since I got you back. Sometimes multiple times a day,” she added with a wry look up at me.
“Well, I am. I’m proud of you, and I’m so proud to be your husband. I’m honoured to call you mine—as Judgement, as Violence’s killer, and as Cat, my little one.”
“Sweet talker,” she accused in a voice so husky I knew she was emotional. “Speaking of being my husband… you do know I’ve seen the marquee in the garden, right?”
“Don’t let Madde hear you say that.” I glanced at the gates, just once, before returning my attention where it belonged. “He’s determined to keep it a secret.”
“And the mountain of boxes that were delivered yesterday? Are those meant to be secret?” she asked dryly.
“Top secret,” I confirmed. She absolutely couldn’t know about the secret wedding we’d planned. “Pretend you don’t know.”
“Know what?” She blinked up at me.
My smile stretched the confines of my face. “I’m so glad you’re my wife.”
And I couldn’t wait to marry her for real tomorrow.