Epilogue
Rafe
This time it was Cal that was leaving me, instead of the other way around. I was watching the other half of my soul riding away, and I wondered if Cal felt the same way all those years ago when I left.
My heart broke when Elia had pleaded with Cal to stay.
I knew without a doubt that he and Ginna would return to Ashven.
His loyalty was always to the King, and Ginna would never leave Hanson behind.
Until Cal sorts his priorities out, until he realizes how inhumane and cruel the King is, nothing could ever happen between us.
Bound by fate. When I told Elia I believed in those words, I had meant it. Cal and I’s lives were intertwined since I was born, and I know this is only another bump in our long road. I have to believe in a future together. I have to.
I glance at Elia, still quietly crying beside me.
She also had to watch someone she loved leave her.
I promised Cal I’d keep her safe and take care of her, and I would.
Our love towards Cal binds us now, too, forever.
Elia knows what it feels like to love Cal - to love someone who is protective, caring, and loyal to a fault, but also someone who is a liar, thoughtless, and, on occasion, ruthless.
I swing an arm around Elia’s shoulders and pull her into my side. Her head rests on my chest and a surge of protectiveness shoots through me.
“Are you going to be okay?” I ask her softly.
She sniffles, but manages to offer a shaky smile. “Are you?”
I press my lips together tightly before relaxing them. “I already managed a heartbreak once. We’ll get through it again.” I gently squeeze her shoulder. “Together.”
“Together,” she echoes.
“What do you want to do now?”
She beams up at me, and I can see why Callum has such a strong attraction to her. Her hopeful expression pierces me like a sharp brushstroke of light drawn on a canvas, like the sun warming my face when I’m on a ship’s deck.
Maybe this is all a part of our future, woven together by the threads of fate.
“Everything.”