Bonus Epilogue
ZED
Ten years later…
The castle training yard stretched out around us, the surrounding stone walls deepening to shadow beneath the setting sun.
Training dummies lined the range as SE soldiers and Academy recruits sparred back and forth.
After a decade of work creating harmony between the two forces, the old animosity had finally begun to fade.
Watching it now was nothing short of incredible, especially considering what the SE had once been.
“Think they’re almost done?” Maize called curiously from a few feet away, keeping an eye on the two tiny whirlwinds tearing across the grass to our left.
“I think so. Valerio’s about to call them all together for a talk,” I said, glancing away from the field and moving toward my wife. The moment I reached her, Maize melted against me. I wrapped an arm around her waist and brushed a kiss across her forehead.
“How was your day?” I asked. I knew it wasn’t easy being on her own with the kids, and even if she’d stayed inside the castle, that didn’t mean it hadn’t been exhausting.
“Feet hurt, but other than that, good.” She sighed happily. “This one’s moving way more than the other two did.”
My hand smoothed over her belly as she turned toward our daughters, giggling and shrieking as they tackled one another, pretending to fight like the soldiers training nearby. Junia and Lyra were forces of nature—small, loud, and more than a little terrifying.
“Which means the next one could be even more chaotic,” I said with a grin. “Good.”
I loved the chaos of our family, and having children had grounded me in a way I never expected, especially having daughters.
They’d made me see the world through a different lens.
I’d always been protective of those I loved, but now the seven of us had built a fortress around our mate and our children.
“Daddy!” Junia cried suddenly, tears filling her silver eyes as she sprinted toward me.
I crouched and swept her into my arms, our almost three-year-old letting out a dramatic wail the moment she was tucked against my chest. You’d think our daughters would be a perfect blend of Maize and one of us, yet both of them carried traits from all of us.
They also couldn’t have been more opposite.
Junia was still tan from the summer spent in the Light Fae territory, her bright eyes bursting with too much emotion for someone so small.
Her dark curls shimmered with streaks of pink and blue, colors pulled straight from Maize’s magic.
Add in the vibrant purple feathered angel wings that appeared whenever she tried to run from us—usually any time we had to be somewhere on time—and she was a bundle of chaos.
Fearless, adventurous, and slightly feral, Junia spent most of her days covered in either glitter or mud.
We’d caught her reaching for weapons more than once because they were “shiny.” We still didn’t know how her power would manifest completely, but what we did know was that she already had the upper hand on her sister.
“What’s wrong?” I asked gently, glancing toward Lyra.
“She’s poking my brain,” Junia sniffled, making Lyra groan and cross her arms in pure indignation.
“I am not!” Lyra protested, looking between Maize and me with wide, earnest eyes.
Much like her sister, she was a storm of blended features—her silvery complexion, lilac eyes, and sun-touched auburn hair all contrasting one another.
Her skin even bloomed with faint blue flowers whenever she spent too long surrounded by nature, clearly favoring Maize’s magic.
“Or at least, I didn’t mean to…” she added hesitantly, clearly worried she’d hurt her sister’s feelings. “I was just trying to make sure she was happy by checking on her brain.”
On her thoughts. Lyra was telepathic and already showing signs of dream magic. She was a sweet kid, and I had no doubt she’d had good intentions—she just couldn’t control it yet.
“Junia,” I said evenly, meeting her serious little gaze as I pulled back from our hug. “I think your sister just wanted to make sure you were having fun. Next time, just calmly tell her you don’t like that.”
She nodded solemnly before spinning on her toes and charging full-force toward Lyra, tackling her to the ground. Their shrieks and laughter filled the air. I grunted and stood, catching Maize’s amused, knowing smile.
“The older they get, the more crazy all of this will be,” she said lightly.
“In some ways it’ll be easier than the boys were,” I mused. “In some ways.”
Maize flashed a grin. Over the past decade, her brothers had gone through every possible phase.
While we weren’t their parents, they’d lived under our roof and followed our rules, which meant we’d survived every argument and mood swing imaginable.
Their current phase, their late teens, has been particularly difficult.
I was just glad our years of teaching had prepared us for it.
“Which reminds me…where are they?”
“Here!” Harland’s bright voice carried across the yard as he appeared out of nowhere, making both girls squeal in delight before they launched themselves at him. I chuckled as he fell dramatically to the ground, letting them pummel him with their tiny fists.
“Thanks for taking one for the team,” Relic drawled. He tossed a coin into the air and caught it again as he strode across the grass, running it fluidly across his knuckles in that same parlor trick he’d perfected years ago.
Despite their easy smiles and playful attitudes, all four boys still managed to intimidate anyone outside our family. It was the reason they no longer trained with anyone else or even tried to blend into another team.
Still, for all their power and skill, it was impossible to see them as anything other than incredible kids still finding their way in the world.
“Girls, I brought you something!” Relic called, crouching as the girls raced to their uncle in excitement. The boys had just returned from a weekend training mission and had planned to meet us here before we all went into town for a family dinner.
“Oh, what, what, what?!” Lyra bounced on her toes.
“Crystals,” he said with a grin, handing them each a small pouch. “Straight from the Elven realm.”
From where?
Maize’s eyes went wide. “How the fuc—fudge did you end up there? You said you were going to the Druid realm.”
Harland winced as he stood, brushing off his clothes, while Relic froze with that wide-eyed, I’m totally innocent look.
I wasn’t surprised when Cairo and Lyric appeared out of thin air, a swirl of smoke curling around their boots.
The four of them had a terrible habit of portalling everywhere, to the point we’d made a house rule against it.
“We were helping with an academy mission,” Lyric said immediately—too quickly. The lie made me sigh. His backpack looked heavier than when he’d left, which likely meant he’d raided another library.
“Did you find new stories for us?” Junia asked, hopeful. When Lyric nodded, she clapped her hands in delight.
“I don’t understand,” Maize said flatly, turning to Cairo. “Explain.”
Cairo grunted and rubbed the back of his neck. “We did go to the Druid realm. But we also wanted to find something we heard about in one of the libraries there. In the Kingdom of Night.”
“Having to do with…”
Harland patted Lyric’s bag, meeting my gaze. “You know what.”
The prophecy.
Maize exhaled slowly, eyes narrowing. “Next time, you tell us. I thought you were safe all weekend, not wandering into one of the most dangerous realms in existence.”
“We will,” Relic promised, trying to sound convincing. I knew they meant it, at least for now. But when their magic called to them, it wasn’t easy to ignore.
“Looks like they’re wrapping up,” I said, nodding toward the rest of our family heading toward us.
Scooping Junia into one arm, I reached for Maize’s hand and laced our fingers together. The boys drifted off with Lyra to greet the others, and I glanced down at my wife, her brow still furrowed in thought.
“Don’t worry,” I murmured. “They’re more powerful than anyone in that realm—or most others, for that matter.”
“I know,” she said softly, her hand settling over mine. “Still…maybe we should warn a few realm leaders to keep an eye out. Just in case they drop in.”
I nodded. “Probably wise.”
Maize leaned her head against my shoulder, her lips curving into that quiet smile I’d fallen in love with a thousand times over.
As we neared the others, I couldn’t help but appreciate the boisterous laughter echoing between them and the way Lyra floated between her dads and uncles, trying to listen to every story at once. Junia snuggled against me with a sleepy sigh, completely worn out.
“Hard to believe how far we’ve come,” Maize said.
“Feels like another lifetime,” I admitted. “Back when everything was war and gods who didn’t know when to shut up.”
She laughed softly, the sound wrapping around me like magic. “And now it’s dinner reservations and making sure no one portals us into the kitchen instead of the lobby.”
I snorted. “Relic swears that was an accident.”
Maize arched a brow, clearly unconvinced, as we walked hand in hand, the air full of laughter and the promise of peace we’d fought damn hard to earn.
The End.