Epilogue
The smell of smoke lingered in the air, but birds were cautiously singing as they circled the remnants of that part of the forest, seeking an opportunistic meal as they surveyed the damage.
Light shone from the sky as the sun peered through the clouds at last, not particularly warm but steady, a nurturing promise that there was still life in the world yet.
Theon blinked against the bright light as his eyes opened.
He tried to move, but his body protested violently, and so he lay still as he tried to understand what had happened and where he was.
He blinked a few times, then he understood.
He lay on a charred but intact woven rug, staring at the sky through the gaping hole where the ceiling of his cabin had once been.
He was back at camp somehow. Or, at least, what was left of it.
He turned his head to see Briana fast asleep, curled up at his side.
She was pressed against him, one arm wrapped protectively around his waist, and his heart melted to see her there.
He must have made a noise, because the next thing he knew, her eyes fluttered open and she looked up to meet his gaze.
"Theon," she breathed, his name sounding like a prayer as she uncurled herself and reached up to kiss him.
He accepted the sweet greeting like it was fresh honey, savoring the briefest touch of her lips even though he struggled to understand what had happened.
"Thank God. Thank God. I thought… I thought… "
He touched her cheek. The memory came flooding back.
The MacFarlanes retreating. The pain and exhaustion overwhelming him.
Then the blackness. He'd been sure that he'd reached his end at that moment, his only comfort being that at least he'd seen Briana one last time.
But it seemed that, like with so many things, he'd been wrong.
"How did ye get me here?" he asked. "How am I alive?"
"Ye had only one deep wound, and it wasnae severe, just a heavy bleeder," Briana explained.
"I was able tae sew it up, though we should find a herbalist tae make sure it doesnae get infected.
I dinnae ken how ye managed it when ye were so beaten up, but ye had nae severe injuries at all.
Yer body must have succumbed tae the exhaustion, but all ye needed was tae rest."
He considered that, absently trailing his fingers up and down her arm. "But that doesnae explain how I'm here."
"I got ye ontae the horse. It took some effort, I'll admit it, but…" Briana shook her head. "I couldnae leave ye. I needed tae make sure ye were somewhere safe. I brought ye back here hopin' that the others would be able tae help ye, but…"
Dark foreboding crept into Theon's heart. "The others? Graeme? Noah? Keir?"
Briana shook her head, her expression pained. "I searched everywhere. There's nothin' here but bodies."
Theon started, but she placed a gentle hand on his arm.
"Cameron bodies," she amended quickly. "There's nae sign of yer brothers. I pray that means they escaped."
He exhaled, relaxed back down onto the rug. "They did," he replied with a certainty that came from somewhere deep inside him. If they were dead, he would know it. "They needed tae scatter. They kent it was the only way tae survive. But we'll find each other again when the time is right."
Briana stretched out next to him, resting her head on his chest. "Even Keir?"
"He came back tae tell me ye'd been taken, love," Theon told her, his chest swelling with pride and gratitude.
It could not have been easy for Keir to risk everything for the sake of a Cameron.
He would have to make sure to find him soon and let him know how grateful and proud he truly was.
"Without him, I'd have never kent how tae find ye. "
Briana was quiet for a long time. "I've thought Noah dead once before. I'll never make that mistake again. He and Graeme, and, aye, Keir… they're fighters. Just like ye. Just like us."
Theon chuckled, but there was a stab of sadness and weariness behind it. "Aye. Well we need tae be fighters for what's ahead. It isnae just about an old grudge anymore. I threatened and humiliated Iain. And ye—ye stabbed Malcolm MacFarlane. They'll never stop huntin' us."
"Let them," Briana replied with a steady certainty. "We'll run for as long as we have tae, and when we're ready, when we're together again and prepared, we'll fight. We'll take back what's yers—we'll take back what they stole from all of our people."
A surge of love and admiration threatened to overwhelm Theon. He gently moved her off his chest, rolling onto his side to look her in the eye. "There will be a lot of runnin'. Maybe months. Maybe years."
"I dinnae care," she replied. Her green eyes shone as she stared into his silver ones. "I'd rather run free me whole life with ye by me side than return tae a gilded cage."
His chest tightened. "I have nothin' tae give ye, Briana," he told her hoarsely. "A life of frustration and exhaustion. A life of yearnin'. But I promise ye, ye'll always be free. And I will always come for ye, nae matter what. Are ye sure that's enough for ye?"
In answer, she leaned in for a kiss.
"Look!" Briana exclaimed, excited. "Look at that old kirk. It's fair bonny, is it nae? Lord, imagine how gorgeous it was when the village still thrived."
Theon slowed his horse and smiled at her enthusiasm.
They'd ridden through yet another abandoned village in their travel through the Highlands, another place scourged by the cruelty of the false alliance, and yet Briana still found something to be joyful about.
He loved her for that. He loved how he was changing the world in his eyes, one smile at a time.
He gazed at the crumbling old kirk and tried to see it as she did—a relic of something beautiful.
Then he looked at her and he knew.
He slowed the horse to a stop and indicated she should do the same with her own. She did, tilting her head with a bright, curious smile, and took his hand when he offered to help her down. She slid into his arms, giggling as she wrapped her arms around his neck.
"Are we stoppin' tae take a closer look?" she asked. "That's sweet of ye."
"In a sense," he replied. His voice sounded rough to his ear, but he did not stumble or hesitate. He spoke steadily, more certain than he had ever been. "Marry me."
She blinked. "Pardon?"
"Marry me," he said again. "Here and now. Ye wish tae shed the Cameron name? Leave it behind forever. Become a MacKenzie. Become my wife. The mother of me future bairns. The Lady of the clan I will one day rebuild."
Her eyes widened. "There's nae minister. Naebody tae hear our vows."
"Then we handfast for ourselves and make our promises tae the wind until there's someone else tae hear them," Theon said, surprised by his own conviction but not shying away from it. He loosened the sash from around himself and beckoned for her to follow.
She did.
Inside the half-ruined, moss-covered, damp old kirk, the two of them stood before the crumbling stone altar and promised their lives to one another.
"I give tae ye me name and me clan. Me sword and me shield.
Me adoration and me strength. I swear I will come when ye call me, nae matter how close or how far, and I will destroy anyone who tries tae harm ye," Theon promised.
He wrapped the sash around their hands. "I swear that I will love ye until the day I die, and I will honor ye with everythin' in me bein'. I love ye, Briana, and I am yers."
Briana's eyes filled with tears, and she gave him a smile of such radiant sweetness that it almost undid him then and there.
"I give ye me heart and me soul. Me love and me life.
Me hope and me dreams. I swear I will be by yer side, nae matter how dark things may seem, and I will dedicate meself tae rightin' the wrongs that have been done tae ye and yer people.
" With shaking hands, she finished the knot, binding them together body and mind, heart and soul.
"I swear that I will love ye until the day I die, and I will honor ye with everythin' in me bein'.
I love ye, Theon MacKenzie, and I am yers. "
"And ye are mine," Theon whispered.
"And ye are mine," Briana echoed.
They moved together, and Theon could feel the binding not only from the cloth but also woven between their souls, tethering them together.
They did not speak more. They did not have to.
His lips found hers, and their bodies melded together just as their hearts had, their clothing falling away as they gave themselves to each other entirely, consummating their vow with the sky as witness.
She sank down into the grass, bare and glorious, the softness of her curves drawing him in, the gasps and sighs she made at his touches like a hymn.
She explored his bare body with her fingers, and he let her know him like nobody else had, surrendering himself to the kind of pleasure and love he had never known existed.
They lost themselves in each other, in skin and sweat and sighs, in bodies moving in a rhythmic dance to music only they could hear, to the cries of pure ecstasy that echoed on the old stone walls.
Their love was sealed in that old kirk, in passion and in promise, and they wrote their names across the skies.
As they lay afterward in each other's arms, warm and satisfied and whole, Theon MacKenzie knew that, at long, long last, he had something worth fighting for.
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