Epilogue
Nyx
In Your Arms – ILLENIUM, X Ambassadors
Six months later…
The conductor raises his baton, and I can hear the counting in my head.
3, 4…
My fingers move of their own accord, and a split second into the first note of Mon Trésor, the world disappears.
All that exists is the masterpiece Achilles Duval created in my name.
On this opening night, images flash in my mind as I play.
The first time we met, the first time he actually noticed me.
My obsession, my love. The way he reshaped my fear and taught me to let go.
The tears, the screams in our story. The love and laughter.
The selfish man he is and the selfless acts he did for me.
Out of love, out of his belief that there was something better coming for us. My fiancé. My dreamer.
Behind me, the orchestra accompanies the concerto beautifully.
Achilles should’ve been playing this. He sacrificed his career and his passion to save my life, and as I look up at him tonight, following his every command like I love to, I wonder if this is what fate had in store for us all along.
That man has three passions in life. People’s minds. The violin. And his family.
After everything that happened, he couldn’t play the violin professionally again, and he dropped psychiatry so he could focus on music in other ways. I still think that he should’ve never become a psychiatrist, no matter what. After all, his mind is dangerous for everyone else but me and our girls.
My eyes only dart to his scars once. His hand is still scarred from that night, and he holds his baton in a way that shows it's a struggle, yet he stays perfectly professional.
His tendons were lacerated, some nerves that help control the thumb and index finger have been affected too, and multiple bones in his hand were shattered.
It means that even today, it's deformed, and he's got chronic pain from that accident.
And still, Achilles is a beautiful conductor. Elegant, stern, perfect.
I can hear everything perfectly with my hearing aid, and I barely need to look at him or my sheets since this masterpiece is a part of me, and I'm a part of it. Intertwined like mine and Achilles's hearts.
The only thing that keeps me blushing is every time I eye the baton and remember the power it had on me just ten minutes ago backstage.
Achilles was harsh, but the slight pain on my ass as I play on my seat keeps me grounded.
He knows what I need, and I trust him more than I trust myself with my body.
In fact, thanks to him, I play perfectly.
The standing ovation seems to last forever. I like to believe it's for the man who changed his entire life just to save mine, but the second our eyes connect, I read the words he mouths. This is all for you.
I shake my head, pointing at him instead before I join the applause. Our daughters trot on stage, Sophie bringing me flowers, and Lyra bringing Achilles a bouquet too. We both pick them up and break the stuck-up unspoken rules of an orchestra on stage as we approach each other.
Achilles puts Lyra down, holding her by the hand as he cups my cheek.
"I'm going to kiss you in front of two thousand two hundred people now," he purrs.
I smile brightly. "What are you waiting for?"
Our friends come home with us, except Lena, who had to run back to her siblings the second the jet landed.
We're all settled in the living room, the fire crackling in the fireplace as Sophie points at the bay windows, showing Lyra the snow falling on the frozen lake.
Our youngest keeps cooing at it as Sophie counts the snowflakes.
It's a particularly cold winter, but there's too much warmth in our hearts to really feel it.
"You were amazing, Nyx," Peach beams, standing by the fire. "You both were, but let's admit it, you're a goddess."
"Agreed," Achilles says, giving a beer to Chris and Xi, then going back to the kitchen.
"I want one." Wren's voice startles Peach as he wraps his arms around her waist. "Just one. A tiny, tiny one."
"Those things don't feel tiny when a woman is pushing them out of her vagina, Wren," she snaps. "We said later."
He rolls his eyes. "Whatever. I'm going to play with Sophie and Lyra."
Sophie loves her Uncle Wren, and she's already jumping on the spot when he takes her in his arms to have her fly around the room."
Xi and Alex are murmuring in their corner, and Ella catches on to them right away.
"Okay, what’s all the whispering about?" she asks from where she's sitting on Chris's knees.
"Nothing," Alex says in an attempt at lying.
"God, Alex." Chris chuckles. "You're turning twenty-four in a month, and you still haven't mastered the art of saying one simple lie."
"Maybe you should learn the art of lying less," Alex mumbles.
We all burst into laughter just as Achilles walks back into the living room.
"What am I missing?" he asks, settling next to me.
He wraps an arm around my waist and pulls me closer, even though we're already touching. Tighter always tighter against the other until we become one.
"Alex and Xi are hiding things from us," I tell him as I rest my head on his shoulder and sip on the margarita Peach made me.
"We're trying not to steal your thunder," Alex says to us. "It was opening night. It's your night."
"Impossible," Achilles says casually. "You were at the show. Try your best."
She eyes Xi, who’s clearly against her saying another word. But all it takes is a little pout and a please from Alex before he huffs and agrees.
He takes her hand in his, as she looks at all of us with bright eyes. "We're pregnant."
My jaw drops so low it barely misses the floor.
"What?" Peach gasps.
"Oh my God. Oh my God!" Ella shrieks. "Congratulations!"
Wren walks back to us, with Lyra in his arms and Sophie wrapped around his leg. "Holy shit, congrats!" He turns to Peach. "Trouble, I'm begging y—"
"Wren. We're having a moment here," she shuts him down.
"Sophie," Achilles calls out, and she runs to him, crashing against him before climbing on his lap. "Auntie Alex has a baby in her belly. What do we say?"
"A sister!" she shrieks with excitement. "Daddy, will you love her more?"
"The baby isn't your sister," I explain gently as I caress her hair. "She's Auntie Alex's baby. She's like your cousin."
She blinks at me. "But will Daddy love her more?"
"Of course not, Crapule. That's impossible," Achilles says reassuringly. That tone exists solely for his girls. No one else ever hears it.
"Thunder stolen," I say jokingly to Alex and Xi. "And I couldn't be happier."
We all hug her, and Alex can't help tearing up. "Stop," she groans. "Stop making me cry."
I catch Xi talking to Achilles a little farther away, desperate to stay discreet.
"Any advice?" he asks him.
"Only one. Your child and your wife are always right. You're wrong. Period."
"About everything?" Xi snorts.
"Everything," Achilles confirms.
"You're so dramatic," I call out to him.
"Yeah, Daddy's dramatic," Sophie repeats.
He rolls his eyes, but Xi’s still staring at him. "I don't want to fuck up."
"Xi," Alex scolds as she goes to him and hugs him. "You could never fuck up. You're the most caring person I know." She looks at us. "I'm just happy my kid is growing up in a world without the Silent Circle."
The wave of relief this gives me makes me hug Lyra tighter, and I can tell it does the same with Achilles because he picks up Sophie before joining me back on the couch.
Is the Silent Circle gone for good? I have no idea.
It’s impossible to take every member down, but Achilles got rid of the leaders.
And as he always says, you cut the head off the snake first. What is sure is that they left us alone, and they will never bother us again.
"Thanks to Hermes," Ella says, her gaze on Achilles. "Thank you," she adds sincerely.
"Talking about Hermes," Peach jumps in. She takes her phone out, scrolling. "Can we just talk about the things Hermes said about Achilles? Or, in other words, what you posted about yourself when you came back to SFU in second year."
She stops scrolling and reads. "'My favorite fuckboy is back! After his parents’ messy divorce was finally finalized, he went to live with his mom in France. And now he’s back! I’m obsessed.'" She looks at him, unimpressed.
He shrugs. "What?"
And we all explode in laughter.
"Obsessed with yourself much?" Ella squeaks.
"Always has been, always will be," Alex adds.
I look at him, but he doesn't seem to care one bit. If anything, he looks like he still agrees with the statement he made at the time.
"Remember when you all thought I was dead?" he teases, but it’s too dark to land. "Remember how much you missed me then? Wasn't that because I'm amazing?"
"Achilles!" Ella snaps. "Don't talk about that. It was horrible."
"Because I'm such an exceptional being?" he insists.
"I hate you. I literally hate you," Peach adds.
"Sometimes I go to your grave and think about actually putting you in there," Wren adds, dragging a mocking snort out of Chris.
"Wren!" Alex gasps, but Xi is laughing next to her, so she turns to him instead. "Stop this right now."
"My favorite posts were the ones about my brother," Wren adds.
"Never liked the fucker. Did those purely out of spite."
"Doesn’t make up for the ones you posted about us, though," Peach jumps back in.
I look at my friends starting to argue over whether Achilles deserves love or hate, and I relax with my baby girl on my chest. Next to me, I feel Achilles settling closer, and I look at the poised smile on his face, proud that he caused chaos yet again as the debate keeps going.
He looks at me, his eyes shining with happiness. "I like our crazy family," he murmurs.
"I like it too."
"And I love you," he adds, making my heart skip a beat.
"You have no idea how glad I am that grave is empty."
He nods. "Well, I heard there's a priceless violin that some silly girl put in there."
I bite my lower lip. "Oops."
He pushes my fringe out of my eyes. "Thank you, Nyx."
I look at him, searching for the meaning in it, but I end up shaking my head. "What for?"
"For helping me choose life. Every day, I wake up, and I choose this life over and over with all my heart.
I'm done surviving. I choose to live, and one day, we'll be old, and our kids will be gone, and we'll be an elderly couple in our lake house.
And whenever our time on earth is up, I'll be able to look you in the eyes again and say that I lived. That's all thanks to you."
I blink away the tears that threaten to fall, but instead of wiping them like he'd usually do, he kisses me with a force that stops me from crying anyway.
In the last years, our lives were turned upside down. We were shattered and put back together, and we learned to adapt to everything that was thrown our way.
But some things never changed.
Our love for each other, for example. Our obsessions.
I know it because when Achilles Duval kisses me, he steals the breath from my lungs, the logic from my mind. He obliterated my torments with his brand of love, and the damage he does to my heart is lethal.
Life with him is safe and beautiful. Loving him is the most natural thing in the world.
And I want to feel that way forever.
THE END