Epilogue – Nova
Three months have passed since Roman's death, and I should be feeling nothing but relief. The nightmares have started to fade. The constant looking over my shoulder has eased. I wake up with Silas and Teddy every morning feeling safer than I ever thought possible.
So why am I currently standing in our tiny trailer bathroom, staring at a plastic stick like it's a loaded gun?
Two pink lines. Clear as fucking day.
My hands shake as I read the instructions for the third time, hoping I somehow misunderstood. Nope. Still says positive. Still says I'm carrying a baby.
“Shit. Shit, shit, shit.”
I've been late for almost two weeks now, but I kept telling myself it was stress. We've been constantly on the move, hunting Prophets across three states. Plus the adrenaline crash from finally getting justice for what Roman did to me—that has to mess with a woman's cycle, right?
Except deep down, I knew. The exhaustion that sleep couldn't fix. The way my stomach turned at the smell of Cole's morning Irish coffee. The tenderness in my breasts that had nothing to do with Silas's rough hands or Teddy's eager mouth.
I've been forgetting my pill. Not often, but enough. Hard to maintain a routine when we're fucking like rabbits and living out of a carnival trailer. And God, we do fuck a lot. Morning, noon, night—sometimes all three at once, sometimes just two of us while the third watches and waits their turn.
The test clatters into the sink as my knees give out. I sink onto the closed toilet seat, burying my face in my hands.
What the hell am I supposed to do with this? How do I tell them? Will they want to know whose it is? Can we even figure that out? And more importantly—will this destroy everything we've built together?
The three of us work because we're equal. We're all in this together, sharing everything. But a baby changes that equation. Someone's going to be the biological father, and someone's going to be left out. What if they want me to choose?
My chest tightens with panic. I can't lose them. Not now. Not when I finally found home.
I grab the test and shove it deep into the bathroom trash, burying it under tissues and an empty shampoo bottle. Maybe if I hide it long enough, I can figure out what to say. How to break the news that I might have just fucked up the best thing that ever happened to me.
When I finally emerge from the bathroom, Silas and Teddy are outside our trailer, going over maps spread across our small fold-out table. The afternoon sun catches the lighter strands in Silas's hair while Teddy points to the page, his hazel eyes focused and serious.
They look up when I approach, and I try to paste on a normal expression. Just Nova. Same as always. Not Nova-who's-carrying-someone's-baby.
“There she is,” Silas says, that crooked smile lighting up his face. “We were starting to wonder if you'd drowned in there.”
“Funny.” I slide onto the bench beside them, but I can't quite meet their eyes.
Teddy studies my face with that cop instinct of his. “You okay? You've been quiet today.”
“I'm fine.”
“Bullshit.” Silas leans closer, those blue eyes seeing right through me like they always do. “You're pale, and you've got that look you get when you're about to bolt. What's wrong?”
“Nothing's wrong.” But my voice comes out too high, too tight.
“Nova.” Teddy reaches across the table to touch my hand. “Don't lie to us.”
The gentle concern in his voice makes my chest tight. Tears spring to my eyes before I can stop them, and suddenly I'm sobbing like a broken faucet.
“Hey, hey.” Silas pulls me against his chest, his hands stroking through my hair. “Baby, what is it? Whatever it is, we'll figure it out.”
“You can't figure this out.” I choke on the words. “This is going to ruin everything.”
“Nothing could ruin this,” Teddy says softly, moving around the table to sit on my other side. “Just tell us.”
I pull back from Silas's chest, wiping my eyes with the back of my hand. They're both watching me with such love and concern that it makes my heart crack.
“I'm pregnant.”
The words hang in the air between us. Silas goes very still. Teddy's eyes widen, but he doesn't pull away.
“Pregnant,” Silas repeats slowly.
Fresh tears spill down my cheeks. “I'm sorry. I've been forgetting my pill, and we've been—I mean, we're always—” I gesture helplessly between the three of us. “I don't know how far along or whose it is or if you even want—”
Silas's mouth crashes against mine, cutting off my spiraling panic. The kiss is fierce, desperate, tasting like relief and joy. When he pulls back, he's grinning like I just told him he won the lottery.
“Why the fuck are you crying?” He cups my face in his hands, thumbs brushing away my tears. “This is amazing news.”
“Amazing?” I stare at him through my tears.
“Are you kidding?” Teddy's hand finds my knee, squeezing gently. “Nova, this is incredible.”
“But don't you want to know whose it is?” The question tears out of me. “What if it causes problems between you two? What if—”
They both start laughing. Actually laughing.
“You think we care about that?” Silas shakes his head, still grinning. “Little fugitive, this baby doesn't belong to just one of us.”
“It's ours,” Teddy adds, his voice warm with certainty. “All three of us. Doesn't matter whose DNA it carries.”
I blink at them through my tears, hardly daring to believe what I'm hearing. “Really?”
“Really.” Silas kisses my forehead, then my nose, then my mouth again. “God, Nova. We're going to have a baby.”
“Our baby,” Teddy corrects, moving closer. His hand slides over my still-flat stomach with reverence. “Jesus, I can't believe it.”
The relief hits me like a tidal wave. They want this. They want the baby. They want me. All of it, together.
“I love you,” I whisper, looking between them. “Both of you. So much.”
“We love you too,” Silas murmurs against my temple.
“And we already love this baby,” Teddy adds, his palm warm against my belly. “So fucking much.”
He leans in from one side while Silas leans in from the other, and then we're all kissing at once—mouths and tongues and breath mixing together in a tangle of love and joy and promise. This is us. This is our family.
And now there's going to be one more.
Thank you for reading Illusionist! I hope you enjoyed Silas, Nova, and Teddy’s story. Eager to continue exploring the Seven Sins Carnival? Rowe’s story is next, and you can pre-order it on !
I don't let anyone touch me. Not anymore.
I have no problem trusting animals. People, though? They're another matter.
Then Wren shows up at my carnival asking questions about my menagerie. She's got kind hands and suspicious eyes, and she flinches every time I get close—like she senses the beast inside.
She should be afraid of me.
But she looks at my scars like she wants to understand them.
Nobody has ever wanted to understand them.
I've survived the demons of my past by keeping everyone at a distance. But Wren is the first person in years who makes me want to close it.
And that might be more dangerous than anything that came before.
Animal Tamer is a dark romance featuring an untouchable beast master, a vet tech who came looking for cruelty and found something far more complicated, and a love balancing on the knife-edge between broken and healing.