Epilogue
ROC
Two Months Later
I am crowned a week after our wedding. And because the Captain is now in possession of the Darkland Light Shadow, I demand he be crowned King Regent. The Darkland High Chamber has no objections to it, and even if they did, I doubt they’d voice them.
There is much work to be done, but I promised Wendy and the Captain that I would take some time off for a honeymoon and while it took nearly two months to find a window of freedom, I am now making good on my promise.
The Captain and I are lounging on a tufted bed on the back patio of a newly purchased house on the northern cliffs of Darkland. It’s to be our summer home. The air here is cleaner, crisper. My sister Lainey used to love spending time by the sea and it makes me think fondly of her.
I am shirtless, the sun warming my skin.
The Captain is beside me, propped up against a mountain of pillows reading a book about monsters and men.
“Pay attention to me,” I tell him.
“I’m reading,” he says.
“Stop reading.”
He sighs and sets the book aside and sinks down beside me.
Something in him has come to rest since our wedding night.
I think he still sometimes worries that all of this will pop and bleed, but I’m not going anywhere and I don’t think Wendy is either, so he’s stuck with us and I will prove it to him day after day.
I tangle my body with his and he lets me.
“Where is our Darling?” I ask.
“She said she was going to the bathroom but that was a while ago.”
“Should we go in and find her?”
“I’m sure she just got distracted.”
“Maybe.” I close my eyes, enjoying the warmth of the sun and the warmth of the Captain’s body against mine.
“Has she seemed…different?” I ask him.
He thinks for a moment. “Yes. Actually.”
“Theories?”
“Maybe she’s tired of our shit.”
“Maybe she’s overwhelmed by our handsomeness.”
He snorts. “Your ego knows no bounds.”
“The only way I prefer it.”
A door on the back of the house creaks open.
“Speak of the Darling…” I say.
She comes around the patio and stops at the end of the tufted bed. She’s wearing a white summer dress that billows in the sea breeze. She looks radiant. More so than usual.
“Wendy Darling,” I say. “Where did you disappear to?”
There is a trembling smile on her face. “I need to tell you something. Both of you.”
There is a serious bend to her words even though she’s bursting with excitement.
I pull myself upright. “I’m listening.”
She clamps her mouth shut and sucks in several deep breaths through her nose. I can hear the rapid thump of her heart over the pounding of ocean waves.
“What is it?” the Captain says, concern evident in his tone of voice.
“I’m pregnant.”
We are silent for several long seconds.
Wendy clasps her hands together. “Say something!”
A thousand thoughts are running through my head. Is it mine? Is it James’s? It’s probably James’s but it doesn’t matter because it will be mine regardless. I will make a shit father but I will do everything in my power to be better than the day before.
I think of the family I have lost and the family I have gained and…am I crying?
Yes, yes I think I’m crying.
I look over at James, his mouth hanging open. “Congratulations, Captain.”
“Me? But we don’t know…” He takes a breath. “Congratulations to all three of us.” He gets up and wraps Wendy in a hug. I climb from the bed, and do the same, both of us drowning her in our arms.
“You will make a radiant mother,” I tell her.
“I love you both,” she says through tears. “But I’m so scared.”
“Surely between the three of us, we’ll get something right?” I say.
We laugh together, the sun sinking toward the horizon.
I am hundreds of years old.
But it is now, in this moment, that I feel like my life has finally begun.
Thank you so much for reading this little treat installment in the Devourer series!