Epilogue
WHEN HONORA ROSE was born, named for her two grandmothers that she would never know, no one was happier than her mother and father.
Though her uncle was close behind them.
Onyx held his precious niece, and smiled up at Emerald. “Thank God she favors you. If she had looked like Andrei…”
“A pity,” Andrei said. “That she is so brilliantly ginger like her mother, only because that is part of how I convinced Lucian to extricate himself from the situation.”
Onyx laughed. It was all funny now.
His relationship with Andrei had repaired itself fairly quickly after the wedding. He had seen how happy Andrei and Emerald were together, and he couldn’t stay angry.
The issue really had always been the violation of his trust, but once he realized how wrecked Andrei and Emerald had been over the whole thing, how much they had hurt each other in the process, he hadn’t felt like he had the right to stay angry.
“You are ready to be a father,” Emerald said.
“Yes,” Onyx agreed. “It is time for me to have an heir. I… Circe and I have been discussing it. I… It’s time.”
She felt bad, but the idea of her brother being even more tied to his wife than he already was made her feel sick for him. That was silly, she supposed. They were married.
But he wasn’t happy.
She could only hope that the addition of a child to her brother’s marriage would do something to break the wall of ice between the spouses. But she had her doubts.
Then again, she and Andrei had found their way to each other. After everything.
After Onyx left their quarters, it was time for Honora to have her nap, and Emerald lay down in the bed holding the baby, with Andrei beside her. This was what she had always imagined was impossible. This happiness. The simple joy.
This was what Emerald, the woman, not the princess, not the symbol, had always wanted. This sweet, simple happiness with the man she loved.
She smiled.
“What?”
“Oh, I was just thinking. Love is so simple. When you can heal from all the things that kept you captive all your life.”
Andrei laughed. “Yes. Such a simple thing. And a miracle.”
He leaned in and kissed her, and she had never been so grateful. For everything. Even the pain. Because it had brought them here.
And there was nowhere else she would rather be.