Epilogue
One year later
LAYDEN
The villa in Italy is exactly as I remember it from the last time we visited.
Sprawling stone walls covered in climbing vines, terracotta roof tiles baked warm by the Mediterranean sun, with cypress trees standing like sentinels along the gravel drive.
Abaddon’s estate has always felt more like a fortress than a home, but today it’s filled with the kind of chaos that only happens when you gather the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse and their families in one place.
Phoenix squeezes my hand as we step out of the car. “Ready for this?”
“No,” I admit. “You?”
She grins at me. That real smile that took me months to earn, the one that makes her whole face light up. “Not even a little bit.”
We’ve barely made it through the front door when a small black-winged blur shoots past us, followed by Hannah’s exasperated voice.
“Raven Morningstar! You get back here this instant!”
The blur—Raven, Abaddon and Hannah’s four-year-old daughter—does a complicated barrel roll in the air before landing on top of a marble bust of some long-dead Italian nobleman.
She’s grown since the last time we saw her, her wings stronger and more controlled. Though clearly not her impulse control.
“I’m hiding!” she announces gleefully.
“That’s not how hiding works, sweetheart,” Hannah says, appearing in the doorway with flour in her hair and an apron tied around her waist. She spots us and her expression shifts from frazzled to delighted. “Phoenix! Layden! You made it!”
Phoenix moves forward to hug her while I try not to laugh at Raven, who is now making faces at her mother from her perch.
“How was the flight?” Hannah asks.
“Long,” Phoenix says. “But uneventful, which is basically a miracle when you’re traveling with him.” She jerks her thumb at me.
“I’m a perfectly competent traveler,” I protest.
“You tried to tip the flight attendant with runes,” Phoenix reminds me.
“They brought me extra peanuts! And who couldn’t use a little more fullness and satiation in their life?”
Hannah laughs. “Come on, everyone’s out in the courtyard. We’re just finishing setting up for dinner.”
As we follow Hannah through the villa, Raven swoops down and lands on my shoulder. Her little clawed feet dig into my shirt, but not enough to hurt.
“Uncle Layden!” she says directly into my ear. “Did you know that Daddy says I can’t have a baby dragon for my birthday? Can you make him change his mind?”
“Why would I do that?” I ask.
“Because you’re his favorite brother?”
“I’m definitely not his favorite brother.”
“Fine,” she huffs. “Then because I’ll love you forever and ever if you do?”
Phoenix is trying very hard not to laugh. I can tell by the way her shoulders are shaking.
“Raven,” I say seriously, “I cannot get you a dragon.”
“Why not?”
“Because dragons don’t exist.”
She gasps like I’ve personally betrayed her. “They do too! Daddy told me!”
“Your daddy was lying to you.”
“Layden,” Hannah says warningly.
“What? She should know the truth!”
Raven launches off my shoulder and flies in an angry circle around my head. “I’m telling Daddy you called him a liar!”
She zooms off toward the courtyard, presumably to tattle.
“That went well,” Phoenix says.
“I stand by my position on dragons,” I tell her.
Hannah just shakes her head. “You’re all impossible.”
The courtyard is even more beautiful than I remembered.
Potted lemon trees line the perimeter, their fruit bright yellow against dark green leaves.
Flowering vines cascade down the stone walls, creating patches of shade over a massive wooden table that’s been set up in the center.
The table is long enough to seat at least twenty people, though today it will only hold our family.
Abaddon is at the head of the table, and he looks up when we enter. His wings—those massive black wings that mark him as the mighty Pestilence—are partially unfurled behind him, catching the golden afternoon light.
“Brother,” he says, standing to embrace me. Then he turns to Phoenix. “Sister.”
Phoenix still gets a little awkward when my brothers call her that. We’ve been married for over a year now—a real marriage this time, not the farce we started with—but she’s still getting used to being part of the family.
“Where’s Raven?” Abaddon asks, looking around.
“She was just here,” Hannah says. “She landed on Layden’s shoulder about thirty seconds ago.”
We hear giggling from above. All of us look up to see Raven perched on top of one of the cypress trees, at least twenty feet in the air.
“I’m hiding!” she announces again.
“We can see you, darling!” Hannah calls up.
“No you can’t!”
Abaddon sighs. “She gets this from you,” he tells Hannah.
“She gets this from you,” Hannah counters. “I’ve never climbed a tree in my life.”
“You’ve never had wings.”
“Exactly my point.”
Phoenix leans close to me. “Are they always like this?”
“Always,” I confirm.
Kharon appears from inside carrying his one-year-old daughter Luna.
She’s babbling happily, her chubby hands reaching for everything.
Unlike Raven, Luna is entirely human-looking—no wings, no obvious supernatural features.
But she inherited his power over realm-hopping, which is going to be…
uh… interesting, to say the least, when she’s older.
Ksenia, Kharon’s wife, follows behind them with a bottle. She catches sight of us and her severe face softens into something approaching a smile. Ksenia isn’t big on displays of emotion, but the fact that she’s smiling at all is significant.
“You came,” she says simply.
“We promised we would,” Phoenix says.
Luna makes a grab for Phoenix’s hair. Phoenix, showing reflexes I didn’t know she had, dodges smoothly.
“She’s fast,” Phoenix observes.
“You have no idea,” Kharon says wearily. “Last week she somehow got into my study and knocked over an entire shelf of books about necromancy. We’re still not sure if she was trying to read them or eat them.”
“Both,” Ksenia says. “Definitely both.”
Luna chooses this moment to sneeze directly into Kharon’s face. He doesn’t even flinch, just uses his sleeve to wipe his face clean.
“That’s the third time today,” he says.
“She’s getting better at aiming,” Ksenia notes.
The last to arrive are Remus and Romulus—my conjoined twin brothers—along with their consort Lauren. The twins are in one of their rare synchronized states where both heads are awake at the same time. This generally means they’re about to argue about something.
“I’m telling you, we should have brought wine,” Remus says.
“And I’m telling you that Abaddon always has wine,” Romulus counters.
“But not the good wine.”
“His wine is perfectly adequate.”
“Adequate isn’t good enough for a celebration!”
Lauren, walking beside them, looks like she’s reached the end of her patience. “I’m going to knock both of you unconscious if you don’t stop bickering.”
“You wouldn’t dare,” they say in unison.
“Try me.”
They wisely shut up.
Lauren spots Phoenix and immediately breaks into a genuine smile. “There’s one of my three favorite sisters-in-law!”
“Yes, there are just three of us,” Phoenix points out dryly.
“Which makes you definitely one of the favorites!” Lauren sweeps Phoenix into a hug, then pulls back to look at her critically. “You look good. Happy. He’s treating you right?”
“Most of the time,” Phoenix says, shooting me a look.
“What did I do?”
“You know what you did.”
I genuinely have no idea what she’s talking about, but I’ve learned over the past year that sometimes it’s better to just accept blame and move on.
“I’m very sorry,” I tell her solemnly.
Her lips twitch. “You don’t even know what you’re apologizing for.”
“I’m still sorry. And I’ll make up for it.” I pop an eyebrow.
“Oh brother,” Remus makes barf noises and even Romulus rolls his eyes.
But I only have eyes for my wife, who rewards me with that secret little smile of hers.
We all settle around the massive table. Abaddon and Hannah take the head positions.
Kharon and Ksenia sit with Luna between them, who is currently trying to fit her entire fist into her mouth.
The twins and Lauren claim the middle section, already arguing about something else entirely.
Phoenix and I take seats near the end, close enough to be part of conversations but far enough to escape if needed.
Sabra appears from inside the villa carrying a huge platter of roasted vegetables.
She’s been staying here with Abaddon and Hannah for the past few months, helping Hannah with various magical wards around the property in exchange for room and board.
The arrangement seems to be working well for everyone.
“The food is ready!” she announces. “Hannah, Lauren, and I have been cooking all day, so you all better appreciate it.”
“We appreciate it!” Raven shouts from her tree.
“Get down here, Raven,” Abaddon calls up.
“But I’m hiding!”
“You can hide after dinner.”
Raven makes a show of sighing dramatically, but she swoops down and lands in her chair with perfect precision. Her wings fold neatly against her back as she sits.
The food that emerges from the kitchen over the next few minutes is spectacular.
Roasted chicken with herbs, fresh pasta with a cream sauce, grilled vegetables that smell like garlic and rosemary, crusty bread that’s still warm from the oven, plus a huge bowl of salad with fresh mozzarella.
And dessert, naturally, as Raven is quick to remind us as the last dinner plate is cleared away—tiramisu and some kind of berry tart that makes my mouth water just looking at it.
“Lauren, did you make that tart?” Phoenix asks.
“I did,” Lauren says proudly. “Strawberry and rhubarb with a butter crust.”
“It looks amazing.”
“Wait until you taste it,” Remus says.
“It’s more than adequate,” Romulus adds.
“It’s better than adequate!”
“I said it was more than adequate.”
His left arm starts to slug his right shoulder while his right arm fights back—
“Boys,” Lauren warns.