Epilogue
Five Years Later
S hivering at the icy bite in the so-called spring breeze, Jem let Nessa nose at the tentative buds on the shrubs lining the trail to the cottage. He was glad of his red, fur-lined cloak, though the clasp at his throat was worn and would need replacing.
In his wildest imagination, Jem couldn’t have fathomed how truly freezing Ergh was in the dark of winter.
Yet Cador assured him it was typical. Fortunately, after the bizarre summer of fires and floods, the weather on the mainland had returned to its normal rhythms. The gods were apparently appeased.
As Nessa investigated, Jem took the opportunity to listen for any hatchlings in distress despite having his hands full the past week with three adult askells with broken wings.
They’d been snared in the nets protecting the surface of the sevel roots as the shoots fought their way deeper into Ergh’s hard earth.
The chief farmer from Ebrenn would be returning to Ergh with Jem and Cador after this year’s summit to check in on the progress, and Jem hoped they could come up with new strategies to protect both the askells and the precious trees that were due to grow fruit after these years of careful cultivation.
“All right, come on.” Jem clucked his tongue and spurred on Nessa, his patience waning. His husband awaited.
And even though Cador was so familiar to him now that Jem could imagine every nook and cranny of his muscled body and dear face—right down to the faint new creases at the corners of his eyes—Jem’s stomach still fluttered to see his silhouette beyond the aviary’s barred glass walls.
It had been backbreaking work to expand the cottage’s clearing, though dozens of neighbors had helped. The aviary was unique in that its iron bars were fused with thick blown glass to keep out the bitter cold, the bars keeping the birds from attempting to fly through the opaque walls.
In fact, even with the sun a rare visitor in the long, bitter winters, the rectangular building could be surprisingly warm. Well, warm was perhaps an overstatement, but keeping out the wind was half the battle.
The Erghians first found Jem’s desire to heal birds curious but had accepted it in time, now bringing any and all injured birds to him and often asking for stories in return.
Though not an official part of Jem’s duties at the stable, he still hosted a story hour several times a week for people of all ages.
He left Nessa to graze with Massen, greeting the goats and chickens in their expanded pen as he passed by. The aviary door was ajar, and he peeked in, surprised to see a trio of hatchlings trembling in a nest. Cador knelt by them, his big body low, fingers dirt-encrusted and worms in his mouth.
Gods, Jem loved him. “Who do we have here?” he asked.
Cador startled, choking and coughing, spitting madly into the nest. “Fuck!” He swiped his mouth with the back of his hand. “I almost swallowed them!” He coughed again.
Jem had to laugh. “Apologies. I wasn’t trying to sneak up.”
“So you say.” Cador mock glared at him, then grinned mischievously, standing. Dirt smeared the corner of his beautiful mouth, caught in his trimmed beard. He towered over Jem. “Come closer for a kiss.”
“Not before you rinse your mouth!” Jem giggled, backing out of the aviary as Cador stalked him.
The chase was merry and lasted longer than it should have considering Cador could have snatched Jem up into his arms in a heartbeat.
Instead, he let Jem escape around the cottage, which was now three rooms. Jem traced his fingers across the thick glass window that sat over the massive bed that dominated their chamber as he paused, trying to guess if Cador would come around from left or right.
Though windows weren’t particularly practical on Ergh, Jem loved to wake with even faint, watery light illuminating the bookshelves that lined the walls of their chamber.
Of course, Morvoren’s complete collection of adventures held a place of honor, the pages worn and well-loved. Jem had brought numerous copies to lend out. The original stained and misshapen tome Cador had rescued from the flood sat in its own special place, too fragile to actually read.
Jem did miss the brilliant sunshine of Neuvella, but this was home now. He crept to the right, sticking close to the outer wall of the other room they’d built, which would be a nursery come autumn.
Butterflies flapped as Jem imagined the infant he and Cador would adopt. Jem would miss his work at the stable with Jory and Austol and the horses, but eventually he’d return. In the meantime—
“Got you!” Cador wrapped his arms around Jem from behind, lifting him off the muddy ground and pressing kisses to his cheek and neck as Jem squirmed and kicked, laughing too hard to put up a real fight. Cador nuzzled Jem’s curls, which grazed his shoulders.
He would cut his hair short again before the journey to the mainland but each winter let his curls grow. It was long ago now that he’d ceased the strange scratching of his scalp, the visions of that night on the Cliffs of Glaw few and far between.
As their laughter faded into lingering smiles, they wandered to the well and drew up a bucket, Cador drinking deeply. Jem said, “I suppose when the baby comes, we’ll have to stop being silly.”
Brow creased, Cador wiped his now clean mouth. “Why? Children love silliness.”
“I suppose that’s true.” He pondered it. “Jory can still be quite silly even though he and Goron have a daughter now. Austol and Hedra don’t have children, but they aren’t silly at all.”
Cador grunted. He’d apparently never fully forgive Austol and Hedra for their role in Jem’s abduction, although Jem eventually had. Cador did ask, “How is Eseld?”
“The same, I’d say. She gets around quite well on her crutches. Oh, and she asked to borrow Morvoren’s deep sea adventures again. You don’t mind?”
Cador shook his head. “You can recite it to me by memory if I have an urge for that tale. Now I think it’s time to greet me with a proper kiss, don’t you think?” He leaned down.
Jem put his finger to Cador’s damp lips. “Yes, but you haven’t told me what Delen said. Has she decided if she’s coming with us to Neuvella before the summit?”
Sighing, Cador slumped to sit on the well’s stone rim. “Must you remind me?”
He chuckled. “I know you dread the voyage, but it won’t be so bad to visit the southern shore with my family.”
“It’s too hot there,” Cador grumbled. “Perhaps if it were only Santo and Arthek.”
Jem perched on the hard stone. “I know. But I do miss Mother and Father. Even Pasco and Locryn. Though after two weeks with them, I shan’t miss any of them but Santo again for another year. And with the baby, they’ll be visiting us next time.”
A smile tugged on Cador’s lips. “How odd to think a year from now we’ll have been parents for months.” He groaned. “And that we’ll be playing host to your family.”
“Good thing Delen is chieftain and she’ll have to do most of the work.”
“Mm. How strange it will be. Tas managed to avoid these visits for so long.” Cador smiled sadly. “But he taught Delen well.”
The illness that took Kenver had been short, mercifully. Though Jem had never become close with him, he’d been glad the man didn’t suffer in death.
No one had argued with the request that Delen succeed him, least of all Cador or Delen. Creeda had become a chieftain’s wife in the end. Her disillusionment with the clerics and the gods had only grown stronger, and Delen now flatly refused to allow the clerics to visit, let alone build temples.
Running his branded palm over Cador’s thigh, Jem kissed his beard-rough cheek. “If it’s any consolation, you know Pasco will finagle a way for Treeve to join us at the shore if Delen comes.”
Cador snorted. “How is that a consolation to me?’
“Just think of how much it’ll annoy my parents.”
“True.” He laughed. “That is a measure of comfort.”
Though all was peaceful on the mainland in the wake of King Perran’s death, Jem’s mother was still vexed that Treeve had bent over backward to send sevels and his top farming minds to Ergh to work on restoring the sevel growth.
While most people marveled at Treeve’s generosity and spirit of unity in the name of Onan and the gods, his help of course meant Ergh had no need to mine for oil in its northern mountains to trade to Neuvella.
Jem suspected his mother hadn’t given up on striking a deal with Delen that would stop Neuvella’s economic dependency on Ebrenn’s oil, but with the sevels growing and the disease halted in the afflicted children, her designs for Ergh were thankfully scuttled.
Cador sighed. “Yes, Delen will accompany us to Neuvella. At least she can deal with politics, and hopefully we can have some peace. But of course I know you’re eager to see your mother.”
Jem traced a mindless pattern on Cador’s leather-clad thigh. “Yes. Though it’s far more complicated than it once was, I’ll always love her and miss her. She’s still my mother. It’s difficult to turn away from family even when they gravely disappoint us.”
Cador made a low sound of agreement, likely thinking of Bryok. Jem nuzzled his neck and murmured, “At least we have peace now and my family is across the Askorn Sea.”
Cador groaned. “A blessing but also a damn curse. I hate to even think of the weeks it will take to get there.”
“I’d better kiss you properly to distract you.”
“Mmm. You’d better. But only a kiss? I think I need to fuck you to really clear my mind.”
Jem yelped as Cador swept him into his arms without warning and kissed him fiercely, sparking lust in a blink. Reaching below his knees where Cador held him aloft, Jem pressed Cador’s wrist the way he faithfully did at sea on every journey.
His husband carried him home. Under Jem’s fingers, the powerful rhythm of Cador’s heart matched his beat for beat.
THE END