Epilogue
SERAPHINA ~ SIX MONTHS LATER
The mountains were finally green again.
I stood barefoot in the tall grass, toes sinking into the sun-warmed earth as the scent of blooming wildflowers filled the air. A gentle breeze tugged at the hem of my flowing linen dress, and I tipped my face to the sky, soaking in the late spring sun like I was something that could bloom too.
Callie’s laughter rang out from the nearby clearing where she was trying—and failing—to keep three orclings from eating their flower crowns. Her belly was round with her own orcling, full of promise. She waved a daisy chain like a threat while they darted around her legs, giggling and shrieking.
I’d never imagined peace could feel like this. Not like a pause in the storm, but a deep exhale. A life. My life.
I sat cross-legged on a blanket with a sketchpad in my lap, lazily sketching the trees in bloom, the orclings' muddy feet, the way Callie glowed with impending motherhood. The same glow I felt inside me, the quiet warmth of something sacred and shared.
The bond hummed softly in my chest. He was close.
“Found you.”
I didn’t need to turn around to know he was smiling. I felt it ripple through the bond, that soft velvet warmth that always preceded him.
Thavros crouched behind me, his arms sliding around my waist as he pressed a kiss to the nape of my neck. “You’re glowing brighter in the sun,” he murmured, voice low and wicked. “You’ve made every poet in the stronghold unbearable.”
I laughed as he nuzzled into my hair. “I can’t help it if orcs get sentimental.”
He reached into his satchel and pulled out a fruit—plump, deep red, and dripping with dew. “Stole this from the garden,” he said. “Pomegranate.”
I raised a brow. “You and your symbolism.”
Still, I bit into it. Juice ran down my chin, sticky and sweet. His growl rumbled against my spine as he watched.
“Keep looking at me like that,” I warned, “and you’re going to start something.”
“I intend to finish it,” he said, then scooped me up into his arms.
Callie called after us, laughing, “Try not to traumatize the wildlife!”
I waved over Thavros’s shoulder. “No promises!”
He didn’t waste time.
One moment, I was in his arms, the next, he had me pressed against the trunk of a tree.
His lips were everywhere, tasting, exploring, stealing breaths from me.
I wasn’t sure if it was the forest around us or the bond that had ignited so fiercely between us, but every touch, every brush of his lips made me burn with need.
Thavros pulled away, just enough to growl, “I’ve waited for this, waited for you too long.”
I laughed. “Your meeting only lasted the morning.”
“I know. It was too long to be away from you. I need you. Now.”
“Then stop talking,” I whispered, pulling his face back to mine.
He didn’t need further encouragement.
We tumbled to the blanket he’d set out by a stream, the soft murmur of the water our only company. The world around us seemed to vanish. It was just him. Just us.
I couldn’t get enough of him—his touch, the way his skin felt against mine, the heat that simmered between us. The slow, teasing way he worshiped my body, taking his time, savoring every inch of me.
But then he shifted, the hunger in his eyes turning darker, sharper.
I bit him, my teeth sinking into his shoulder, feeling the rush of power as he groaned in approval.
“Mine,” I growled, voice thick with need.
He smiled, feeling the bond between us tighten, that thread connecting us in ways I couldn’t describe.
“Yes,” he whispered. “Yours.”
Then he was on me again, claiming me in a rush of heat and magic. His knot pressed against me, and I cried out as he filled me, as if we were two parts of a whole that had been waiting to come together.
We lay tangled in the soft grass, breaths still heavy, hearts in sync.
I couldn’t help but stare at him, my hand tracing the scars on his chest, the familiar landscape of him I knew so well. “Maybe next season,” he murmured, his hand resting on my belly, “if you’re ready.”
My breath caught. It was such an innocent question, and yet it was filled with so much hope. So much love. I hadn’t even realized I’d been thinking about it until he said the words out loud. The possibility. The future.
I turned my head and smiled. I could see it too, the family we could be, the life we could create.
"You want to put an orcling in my belly, make it big and round like Callie?"
"I want nothing more, little flame. What do you think?"
“Maybe,” I said softly, my hand brushing over his.
He grinned, the corners of his mouth curving up in that way that always made me feel like I was the center of his world. “What if they get your glow and my appetite?”
I laughed, a sound that was so free, so light, it felt like everything else in my life was put into perspective. “What if they are warriors who don't like books?”
He pulled me close, pressing a kiss to the top of my head. “Then it is a good thing their aunt is a fierce warrior and their uncle a chief,” he said softly. “They will be ours, but we will raise them as a clan. It is the orc way.”
"I do love the orc way," I said as I ran my hands along his strong shoulders.
We lay there for a long moment, the world around us spinning, but for once, it felt like it didn’t matter.
As we lay there, basking in the afterglow, Thavros’ fingers absentmindedly traced the crystal shard resting against my throat.
The sunlight hit it just right, casting a soft glow on our skin, and I couldn’t help but admire how beautiful it was, how it still felt like a piece of magic, a piece of us.
“The pieces of the crystal,” he murmured, his voice calm now, as if he’d become lost in his thoughts.
“They’ve been given out across the stronghold, as gifts, protection wards.
Even to some new mates to help bind them together.
And some have been used for healing. The magic keeps growing. Stronger. More… eternal, somehow.”
I nodded, my eyes on the way the light shifted through the shard. It was a part of us, and it was beautiful. "It’s like it keeps going, even after it shattered," I said softly.
Thavros’ gaze softened, the bond between us humming with quiet intensity. “It is eternal,” he confirmed, his voice rich with affection. “Our bond… It’s woven into everything now. It doesn’t stop. It can’t.”
I sat up slightly, turning to face him fully. The question that had been gnawing at me came tumbling out. “And Ulgar? What about him?”
Thavros’ eyes clouded with a bit of concern. “He hasn’t come back from the village. Last I heard, he was seen leaving with a woman, one from the market. She was running from something. They think he stayed behind to protect her.”
A sigh slipped from my lips, a mixture of relief and curiosity. "Love really is eternal, isn’t it?" I whispered, half to myself.
Thavros chuckled, the sound deep and rich. “Yes, it seems to be. And now… It’s our turn to keep growing. Together.”
I smiled up at him, the weight of everything we’d been through, everything we’d survived, lifting from my chest. We were free. We were whole.
And as the sunlight warmed the crystal against my skin, I couldn’t help but believe that no matter what came next, our bond would always be there, glowing bright and eternal, just like the love we shared.