Epilogue
VERA
One Year Later
“Emperor’s tits, are you two not even dressed yet?” Clarissa Aris exclaimed, rushing into my room in a fury. She stopped dead in her tracks. “And what is my baby holding?”
I glanced over at Rose Wolff and the bouncing baby girl in her lap, whose chubby fists were currently curled around a stretch of snake skin. Little Lena cooed and threw the snake skin in the air when she spotted her mother.
“Relax, Rissa.” Rose waved a hand. “It’s dead. This is just the skin.”
The empress shook her head. “That does not make me feel better. Why does my seven-month-old have a piece of snake skin?”
“Because we were out of toadstool,” I deadpanned.
“Because you told us to give her a rattle when she cried,” Rose chimed in.
Clarissa blinked at us. “Her toy rattle, not a rattlesnake.”
Rose and I looked at each other and shrugged. “We were close,” I said.
“This is my fault.” Clarissa sighed dramatically. “It’s what I get for leaving the two of you in charge of my child.”
Rose snorted. “Could’ve been worse. Vera was lighting candles with fire magic because it made Lena laugh, but then—”
“Okay, play time’s over!” Clapping my hands, I reached for Lena. I bounced her on my hip and raised my voice in a mock-baby tone. “The last thing I need is for your mommy to shift and rip my throat out, isn’t it, little girl?”
“I would never,” Clarissa said. “I’m the empress. I have people who do that sort of thing for me. Now, the two of you need to get dressed. Devora said if you’re not in the entryway in fifteen minutes, she’s going to have Milo curse you in your sleep.”
I raised an eyebrow. “Devora said that?”
Mimicking my expression, Rose crossed her arms. “Good try, Rissa. I just saw her and Nox sneak into the supply closet.”
“Didn’t need to know that,” I said, making a face.
Clarissa sighed. “It was worth a try. Nobody around here seems to care that it’s their wedding day, for Fate's sake.”
The entire Keep was bursting with guests for Nox and Devora’s big day.
The empress and her husband, Thorne, brought a battalion of people from the capital—hairdressers, bakers, florists, guards, and of course, their two daughters.
The entire Ashen Order was also present, as well as the orphans who still lived here.
The younger children spent the last week decorating the halls with white and blue paper chains that hung from every inch of the ceiling like drapes.
Nox and Devora’s other friends from around the empire arrived a few days ago, two of which were Rose and her fiancé, Leo.
Everett and I had gotten close with the two of them over the last year.
We ran into them in Rose’s home province of Feywood when we took a couple months to travel, and she and I became fast friends, much to Everett and Leo’s chagrin.
We were menaces, honestly.
“Is it time yet?” a voice boomed from the door.
Thorne Aris, Clarissa’s husband and Emperor Consort, strolled into the room.
A young girl sat atop his shoulders with bronze curls framing her face, so long they dangled down and tangled with Thorne’s own thick, brown hair and beard.
Lena wiggled in my arms at the sound of her father’s voice, and I turned her so she could see Thorne.
Everett appeared behind him, his eyes searching the room until they landed on me.
His lips curved into a smile. Even after all this time, the sight of him still made my heart trip.
There was always a moment of disbelief, the urge to hold my breath until I could be sure this was real.
But then he crossed the room and slid into place behind me, hands steady at my waist as he rested his chin on my shoulder.
“You okay, Songbird?” he murmured, the scruff on his chin scraping my neck.
I smiled. “Never better.”
“Rissa, just wait and see what Uncle Leo let me do to him!” Marigold, Thorne’s daughter from his first marriage, giggled on top of his shoulders. “I made him all pretty.”
“Oh, this will be good,” Rose said with a wicked grin.
We all turned to the doorway, where Leo stood in the shadows, lips pursed with the most exasperated expression on his face.
At Marigold’s prodding, he begrudgingly stepped inside.
My eyes swept down his white dress shirt and neat black pants, then to the ground.
His furry brown tail, a product of his half-Shifter bloodline, swiped across the floor.
White, blue, and purple flowers were braided into the fur, twisting all the way up its length.
He pointed at Rose, whose lips were clamped shut so tight, they were turning white. “Not a word,” Leo growled.
“Isn’t he pretty, Aunt Rose?” Marigold sang.
“Oh, he’s just the most beautiful monkey boy in all the empire,” Rose crooned, skipping across the room to plant a kiss on Leo’s cheek.
He turned away from her with a scowl, but I didn’t miss the way his hands instantly went to her waist, pulling her closer as his flower-speckled tail caressed her ankle.
Everett gestured to Lena in my arms. “You’ve made a new friend.
” He raised his fingers over my shoulder to wave at her, and little green butterflies materialized in the air.
He sent his illusion drifting in front of both of us.
Lena’s big, brown eyes widened in delight, and she reached for a butterfly, feet kicking excitedly in my grip.
“We need to get you dressed, little girl,” Clarissa cooed, coming up beside us to take Lena. “You can spend time with Aunt Vera after the ceremony, okay?”
I kissed Lena’s forehead and passed her off. “And what have you been up to all day?” I quietly asked Everett as the others broke out into conversation over wedding details.
“The usual. Helped the kids hang their art pieces and made sure Tessa and Arowyn didn’t burn the Keep down.” He nudged my shoulder. “What about you? How is the new official envoy of the Veridian Empire?”
“It’s not that big of a deal,” I said, shaking my head.
But a blush crept up my cheeks anyway. When Clarissa arrived for the wedding, she pulled me aside to talk about a new position as Veridia’s envoy to the Triad Realm and Pyraeth.
Her idea was that I could help with resettlement of the citizens and building goodwill between them and our empire.
“Are you kidding? It’s perfect for you. Now you get to keep traveling. I know you’ve been wanting to visit Pyraeth to see how they’re doing.”
“Dom sent word last month, actually,” I said. “With messengers who are still working on the Shattered Spine. He said they knocked down the old palace and are rebuilding a new one as a memorial. He’s naming one of the buildings after Sloane.”
“That’s a great idea,” Everett said quietly.
I nodded. “Clarissa wants me there by the end of summer. She thinks I can help smooth things over with non-magic people trying to settle in Pyraeth, and Pyraethis who are starting communities in the Triad Realm.” I glanced up at him.
“I was going to ask if you wanted to come, but I know the kids’ school term will be starting—”
“Yes,” he said before I could finish. “The answer is always yes, Vera.”
I bit my lip. “I don’t want to drag you away from your life again.”
“You’re not dragging me from anything,” he said with a chuckle, as if that was the most ridiculous thing I could’ve said. “This is what a life together looks like. Some months we’ll be here for me, some we’ll be taking care of your things, but the point is that we’re together.”
I let out a sigh of relief. “Good. Because I really didn’t want to do this alone.”
“What, go to the Triad Realm?”
“No.” A smile tugged at my lips. “All of it. Life.”
He wrapped me in a hug, resting his chin on top of my head. “You’re getting awfully sentimental.”
“I know.” I sighed dramatically. “Look what you people are turning me into. Now I’m the hopeless romantic.”
“You’re perfect, sweetheart,” he whispered, and I squeezed him tighter around the middle.
“Okay.” I inhaled deeply and pulled away. “Everyone, out of my room so I can change. And can someone please find Nox and Devora so we can finally get these two married?”
The ceremony was short, as Nox and Devora requested.
They picked a spot on the cliffside facing the Sea of Scarab, where the sunset over the water was highlighted at their backs.
Kieran was situated beneath an archway made of iron, decorated with dark shades of tulips and petunias interwoven with cream carnations and greenery.
Wisps of Devora’s shadows lingered among the flowers, moving and swaying with the wind to make them look like they were breathing.
As I watched my brother and Devora vow themselves to each other with Everett’s arm tucked around my waist, I thought about how I might not have been here for this.
How in a different life, I would’ve let the voices in my head win, the ones that told me I’d only bring them more pain. That I didn’t get this happy ending.
I tilted my head up toward Everett, and he looked down, catching my eye with a small tug of his lips. I tucked my head into his chest and smiled.
Kieran pronounced them husband and wife, and Nox gripped Devora’s waist, tugging her to him in a heated kiss.
The crowd cheered when he dipped her backward, so low her red hair dragged the ground.
Tessa and Arowyn each let out giant whoops.
I chuckled and, for good measure, sent a thin strand of fire looping in the air around them, a flaming border to their display.
Rose, Leo, Milo, and I—the Alchemists in attendance—used levitating spells to move the tables and chairs in place.
The kitchen staff followed soon after with dozens of flutes of sparkling wine and food trays.
Children from the Keep came rushing up the cliffside in a flood, carrying their long blue-and-white paper strands behind them.
“Noxy! Rora!” some of them yelled gleefully. Nox and Devora laughed as they crashed into them in a group hug. The children wound the strands around the newlyweds, and they danced with them as a string quartet started a lively tune behind us.
“Let the party begin,” Tessa said with a chuckle.
Arowyn raised a glass of wine. “I’ll drink to that.”
Rose came up and handed me a glass, then bumped my shoulder as the others danced. For a moment, we just stood there watching—Nox and Devora spinning the children around, Arowyn sticking more flowers in Leo’s tail when he wasn’t looking, Clarissa swaying with Lena on her hip.
“You know, I almost didn’t make it back for this,” I said softly, thinking about last year.
“But you did.” Rose took a sip of her drink. “And that’s the important part.”
“I blame it on the emotional weekend, but I’ve been thinking a lot lately.
Have you ever done things you sometimes feel like you’ll never escape from?
” I twisted the flute between my fingers.
“Or how you don’t let yourself fully live in the happy moments, because part of you is afraid you don’t deserve it? ”
“You have no idea.” Rose leaned her head against mine.
“But don’t be so hard on yourself. You’re here for a reason.
We all have different journeys, every single one of us.
Some were unexpected, some were a little sad, some came with a lot of baggage.
” Rose looked at the crowd as she spoke, and my gaze followed, landing on Thorne and Clarissa bouncing baby Lena between them, on Nox and Devora twirling around the dance floor, on Leo and Everett, who stood together and tipped their glasses toward us.
“But you know what?” Rose said with a faraway smile. “I don’t think any of us would change it for the world.”
Nox and Devora moved in our direction, cheeks pink. “Mind if I steal my little sister?” Nox asked, beckoning me forward with a finger.
I held up a hand. “Oh, Nox, you know I don’t dance—”
“It’s my wedding.” He took my hand. “And I insist.”
I sighed. “Can’t argue with that.” I downed the last of my drink and handed Rose my glass, then followed him to the dance floor.
Torn pieces of paper littered the ground, and children danced around with squeals of laughter.
The musicians changed their song to a slower ballad, and I rested one hand on Nox’s shoulder as he took my other.
“You look happy,” I said, his infectious grin spreading onto my face.
His gaze flickered to Devora. “Who wouldn’t be, if she was your wife?”
I pretended to grimace. “Fates, you’re disgustingly in love.”
“Trust me, you and Everett are worse. All that ‘Songbird’ and ‘Swift’ nonsense.” He winked at me, navy eyes sparkling. The corners of his lips fell into a softer smile. “I’m glad you’re here, Vera. I’m glad you didn’t let them win.”
I swallowed. “You too, big brother.” I gripped his hand tighter. “It was a long time coming.”
We let the song finish, and Nox gave me a quick spin, sending me straight into Everett’s arms. “Take care of her,” Nox said with a nod.
“I will,” Everett and I both said together. I pinched my lips to keep from laughing at the look Everett gave me. We both chuckled as he pulled me close, one hand at my waist and the other laced through my fingers.
Around us, the party swelled with laughter, music, and the crash of waves against the cliffside below.
The sun had nearly set beyond the horizon, casting a dark orange and purple hue over us.
Tessa and Arowyn chased children through tables of food.
Kieran and Odessa, whose belly was beginning to swell with signs of their child, sat nearby as Kieran fed her pieces of cake.
Mama sat chatting with Clarissa and Leo’s mother, Evadine, at a table farther from the noise.
I watched it all over Everett’s shoulder. In that moment, I realized there was no part of me thinking about what came next, or bracing for what could be taken from me, or waiting for the other shoe to fall. I was just here.
I turned my face into his neck, breathing him in, aged leather and pine mingling with salt from the sea below. Something settled in my chest.
“What are you thinking about?” Everett murmured into my hair.
“Honestly?” I leaned back and met his gaze. “Absolutely nothing.”
The briefest line appeared on his brow, and then it smoothed as understanding took over.
He smiled softly and worked his hand up my neck, cradling me against him as his fingers scratched the base of my head.
I closed my eyes and let the warmth of the people I loved press in on me, let myself take up all the space I spent years trying to disappear from.
Because in the end, I knew exactly where I belonged.
That’s a wrap on the Veridian Empire!