Epilogue #2
Jade winks at me from her place of honor in the front row of courtiers.
Lady Brooke stands with her, looking completely enraptured with the ceremony.
While I’m not sure I’ll ever quite forgive her for slipping my biggest secret at the dinner table, she’s not so bad.
She knows how to have fun and brings that out in everyone she surrounds herself with.
Once Gabriella recites the sacred vows and the priest places the crown upon her head, the ceiling erupts in golden rose petals that rain down around her.
The entire room gasps in awe at the sign of the Mother’s blessing, even Alex, who mutters, “Show off,” under his breath. My face almost hurts from smiling so big.
My sister takes her seat on the throne, and everyone cheers louder. “All hail Queen Gabriella Elayna Emberwood, protector of the Woodland Court!”
Gabriella sits aglow, the crown glistening on her head, her eyes shimmering with unshed tears. Her right hand holds a sword aloft while her left cradles the flame of her power.
“That was some showing,” Jade says an hour later, sidling up to me where I stand watching the dancers lose themselves to the music.
I’d love to join them, but I’m feeling twitchy.
The moon is out and my swan is itching to be free for a little while.
I don’t blame her. My dress, while stunning, is a little restrictive.
“The Mother agrees that Gabriella will make an excellent queen,” I say, twirling my goblet of sparkling wine between my fingers. “How long do you think you’ll stick around?”
Jade sighs. “Not long. Apparently my father arranged a marriage for me while I was away.”
“You look thrilled about that,” I reply.
Jade bites her lip. “I can’t wait. It’s the thrill of my life,” she says with no emotion in her voice.
I throw an arm around her and squeeze. Unfortunately, there isn’t much she can do but accept it.
Oaths between courts can be very messy if broken.
Gabriella still needs to find a way to appease the oath with the River Court, considering I’m completely unavailable.
“Perhaps Alex and I can come visit when you’ve settled in. Are we invited to the wedding?”
Jade laughs, a bitter thing. “I’m honestly not sure how open they are to outsiders.”
“Who the hells are you marrying?” I ask.
Jade shudders. “The wolf king.”
Well that was unexpected. I clink my glass to hers. “May the Mother be with you.”
“Thanks,” she says, downing the glass in one go. “I need to dance. Join me?”
I grin and nod, more than ready. I’ll let the swan fly free a little later.
Jade pulls me into the throng of bodies, and we lose ourselves to the music, spinning and twirling in reckless abandon.
The moons are high in the sky, the party has died down, and I glide peacefully in the water. I’m free in a different way, and I enjoy the subtle breeze rustling my feathers and the coolness of the water beneath my webbed feet.
“Why am I not surprised to find you here?” My favorite voice in all the realms ripples across the water to my ears. I glide effortlessly toward the shore, letting out a honk of joy at the sight of my vampire mate seated at the water’s edge, waiting for me.
“Please swim as long as you’d like,” he says with a grin. “I enjoy watching. Just know I expect you back in my arms before the night is out.”
Taking his word for it, I continue my swim.
Now that the swan and I are one, it’s no longer a struggle to see and understand both worlds.
I no longer fear the water but embrace it.
The swan is a part of me, and having my mate accept us both is a beautiful thing.
I can sense his gaze on me, watching me swim.
Without a second thought, I transform back into my fae form and rise from the water.
Alex’s hungry eyes take me in, and he kicks off his boots, joining me in the waist-high water.
“There she is,” he says, capturing my mouth in a devouring kiss.
“Hello there, my prince,” I say once he lets go of my mouth.
“So I’m a prince now?”
“Unofficially,” I tease. “That is, if you agree to be bound to me.”
“I’ll have to think about it,” he says with mock seriousness.
I splash him, and he laughs, a joyous sound.
“You know, I never told you this, but when you kissed me in the forest and told me you loved me right before Jade knocked me out, for a moment, I thought you had wings.”
Shock and surprise send tingles shooting between my shoulder blades, and I wonder if perhaps that was when everything started to change.
I’d been fighting the mate bond for so long, fighting the swan, that I was losing who I was meant to be.
Love and acceptance was always the answer. Not just loving him, but loving me.
Before I can respond, I gasp at the sudden weight between my shoulders, and Alex’s eyes widen.
“I wasn’t hallucinating.”
“Do I actually have wings?” The muscles in my back stretch and flex, and it’s the oddest sensation. When I turn my head, I catch a glimpse of silvery-white feathers that almost look blue in the moons’ light.
Alex reaches behind me, running a finger along the edge of my wing, and tingles shoot through me.
“That tickles!” I laugh.
“Beautiful,” he says in awe. “Now, are these a permanent fixture or . . .?”
With merely a thought, the weight disappears, but somehow, I know I can will them back whenever I want.
“Oh we can have some fun with those.” Alex grins. “Are you sure the Woodland Court can handle a vampire prince and a swan princess?”
“If they give us any trouble, I’ll have Gabriella banish them.”
Alex laughs. “If you say so, Spitfire. Though you could probably banish them yourself.”
“True.”
“So what now?” he asks, lazily dragging his hand through the water, causing ripples to fan out around us.
“For now? We live.”
So the Night and his Flame did.
The End.