Epilogue
Six Months Later
Nora
The little white bunny with pink eyes kicks his dish across the cage. Water sloshes everywhere, soaking the fresh newspaper I just laid down.
I stare at the mess for a second, hands on my hips. “Bad bunny,” I scold, wagging a finger at him. “I literally just cleaned your cage.”
The creature doesn’t even look guilty. He just sits there happily chewing the apple Davie Gibbon dropped in earlier, his nose twitching with smug satisfaction.
I sigh and mutter, “Good thing you’re cute.”
Then I turn around.
And forget about the bunny entirely.
Because across the room sits what might be the most attractive sight I’ve ever witnessed.
Sorren, King of the White Warren, sits cross-legged on my alphabet floor mat, surrounded by children.
They crowd around him like he’s some kind of storybook hero.
One little boy leans against his leg. Two girls sit crisscross beside him with their elbows on their knees.
The rest hover nearby, eyes wide and shining as they listen.
Sorren holds a brightly illustrated book in his hands, the pages made comically small in his large fingers.
His back is straight, his expression carefully serious as he reads a story to the children.
He does this every time he comes to my classroom.
The kids’ favorite part, the thing they beg him to do every time he visits, is the voices.
His voice trembles dramatically for the frightened scarecrow.
It booms deep and heroic for the brave lion.
It turns stiff and mechanical for the tin man.
And when he does Dorothy, pitching his voice high and earnest, the entire group of children collapses into giggles. They roll across the mat clutching their stomachs, faces bright with laughter.
Sorren looks up at them completely straight-faced, like he has no idea why they find any of this amusing.
Which only makes them laugh harder.
And me too.
The kids adore him.
They ask about my “boyfriend” constantly. Every morning it’s the same barrage of questions.
What’s his favorite color?
Blue.
Favorite food?
Carrots. I try not to laugh when I say it.
Favorite sport?
Soccer. That one also makes me laugh because, come on. Rabbit feet?
Where is he today?
I dodge that one.
What’s he doing?
Negotiating deals, I tell them, deliberately vague.
But the most important question is always the same.
When’s he coming back?
I explain that he travels a lot for work.
Which is technically true.
It took all of spring for Sorren to secure his throne and root out the last of Rion’s loyalists. The White Warren he inherited was wounded and fractured. He’s spent months carefully stitching the kingdom back together.
But now summer has finally arrived, and today is the last day of school. Three glorious months of freedom stretch out in front of me.
This summer I’m taking a trip. To the White Warren.
Sorren is finally taking me to his homeland.
I’ll see his palace. Meet his people. Walk through the gardens he has described to me so many times that I can already picture them perfectly in my mind.
Silver fountains.
Arching bridges.
Fields of pale flowers that only bloom under the double moon of his world.
We both know this trip is more than a simple vacation. It’s a chance for me to see if I could truly belong there. Make a home there. We’ve talked about it during the weeks we spent apart.
Moving.
Marriage.
Starting a family.
The thought sends a warm, nervous flutter through me.
Across the room, one of the girls carefully places a paper crown on Sorren’s head, and he freezes in surprise. Then he tips his head back and laughs. The sound fills the room.
Open. Warm. Joyful.
For a moment he doesn’t look like a king.
He looks like a man who’s happy.
That’s when I realize with absolute certainty that I would follow this man anywhere.
Even to another world.
Later, after the last child has been picked up and the classroom has finally fallen quiet, Sorren helps me carry the bunny out to my car. Mom has agreed to watch the class pet while I’m away.
Sorren carefully places the cage in the trunk and lowers the lid slowly, so he doesn’t frighten the little rabbit.
“How did your mom’s doctor appointment go yesterday?” he asks as he walks around to where I wait for him, leaning against the driver’s door.
The moment he reaches me, he pulls me easily into his arms.
I rise onto my toes and loop my arms around his neck.
“It was good,” I tell him. “Still no sign the cancer has come back.”
Sorren bends his head and kisses me softly.
“That’s great news,” he says. “Exactly what we were hoping for.”
“It’s better than that.” I smile up at him. “It’s a miracle.”
His eyebrows lift at that word.
Miracle.
I lean closer and lower my voice. “It just disappeared,” I whisper. “The tumor. Like she was never sick at all.”
Sorren’s expression softens.
I whisper, even quieter, “It was Veskar, right? He healed her.”
Sorren shrugs one shoulder.
“Probably,” he says. “But it’s not like we can ask. The egg sealed itself after the trials ended. It’s back in storage now. No one can enter it again until next Easter.”
I laugh softly. “Yeah, I think I’ll pass on going back in there.”
Sorren chuckles with me. “I’m in no rush either.”
We both shudder a little at the memory.
My hand drifts up to the emerald necklace resting against my collarbone. The necklace Sorren wanted to destroy the moment we escaped the egg. But I refused.
Now I wear it every day.
It reminds me of him.
Of us.
Sorren’s hands settle on my hips, and he gently nudges me back until my shoulders rest against the warm metal of the car. The afternoon sun has turned the hood hot, but I barely notice. My attention is completely taken by the man standing in front of me.
His eyes sweep the parking lot once more, instinctive and protective, making sure we’re alone. Satisfied, he looks back down at me, and something in his expression changes.
The teasing warmth from a moment ago deepens into something heavier. Hungrier.
He presses the length of his body against mine. The contact steals the breath right out of my lungs.
He kisses me.
Deeply.
His mouth moves over mine with quiet confidence, warm and devouring. The moment our lips meet, the bond between us flares awake. It spreads through me like sunlight breaking through storm clouds.
Bright and alive.
Suddenly I can feel him everywhere. The steady strength of his arms around me. The heat of his body pressed against mine. The quiet pulse of his emotions, love and lust, brushes the edges of my mind.
Two hearts beating together like they belong to the same body.
Sorren tilts his head and deepens the kiss, and I melt against him instantly. My fingers slide into his hair and hold on as his mouth moves over mine again and again.
A soft sound escapes me before I can stop it.
Sorren answers with a low rumble in his chest.
His hand slides up my side, slow and possessive, until his palm cups the back of my neck and holds me there while he kisses me like he’s been thinking about this moment all day.
Maybe all week.
My entire body burns with a quiet, familiar need for him. The kind that builds slowly and steadily until every nerve feels alive.
When he finally pulls back, it’s only far enough that our foreheads rest together.
His breath brushes my lips.
Mine comes out a little shaky.
“Take me home so we can do this properly, bunny king,” I whisper, breathless.
The corner of Sorren’s mouth curves upward. His teeth graze my lower lip in a teasing little nip that makes heat shoot straight down my spine. A low growl rumbles in his throat. “Gladly, mate.”
Before he lets me go, Sorren kisses me again. One hand slides up to cradle my jaw while the other finds the emerald at my throat.
His thumb brushes across the stone thoughtfully. Once that necklace tried to tear us apart. Now it’s nothing more than a reminder.
Magic can bind hearts.
But love is stronger.
Love is a choice.
Every single day, we choose each other.
THE END