Epilogue One
“ARE YOU SURE YOU KNOW WHAT YOU’RE DOING?”
I scowled at Lucien as we walked side by side through the bustling streets of a city we hadn’t bothered to learn its name. “Nope. None whatsoever, but...humour me.”
He wisely didn’t say anything and let me focus.
A couple of years had passed since we’d restored the Gaoligong Mountains, and the guilt that I hadn’t been able to find the souls we’d killed that night was a constant thorn in my blissful happiness.
The only soul we had been able to help reincarnate turned out to be the panther Lucien had found in a cage, starved and tortured, who’d died on the cusp of freedom.
We’d named her Echo—thanks to the echo of her life repeating itself...her soul reappearing after so long.
Whisper had adopted her as his and our little family of three had become a family of four. We lived quietly in Ashfall Cliff, slowly transforming the ruins into perfect pavilions thanks to Lucien learning how to manipulate his fire to rebuild the wreckage of before.
Echo’s appearance had filled us all with hope that we could pay back the debt from accidentally killing so many, but no matter how hard we tried, we couldn’t summon any more.
Even Echo’s arrival had been...strange.
I’d gone over that night countless times.
We’d been making love against the tree and the whispers of the dead had faded, giving me peace to indulge in pleasure, but...as I orgasmed, something smashed against me as if it’d been flung out of the veil that I couldn’t see beyond—almost as if it’d been cast out or...died.
The awareness of the soul went from hazy and barely there to strong and loud and determined. It’d latched onto me and the moment Lucien came, his energy flared with life-giving fire to the soul that’d attached itself to me.
With a crack of lightning, that soul found a home—in a body exactly like the one it’d left three hundred years ago.
Come on... I ordered Lucien silently, balling my hands as I scanned the crowd of people going about their day. Just because the buildings, vehicles, and way of life had changed, people were still people. They still bustled about with errands and chores, still met their friends and explored.
Every day that Echo sat purring in the sun with Whisper proved we had been able to bring back a soul from the night we destroyed the mountains and it drove me to find more. To do it all over again.
And that was why we were here.
Because Dillon’s hazy energy tugged me in this direction.
A little girl darted past with white-blond hair, barrelling into the arms of a pretty young woman. “Mama, look! Papa bought so many things he can’t carry them all.” She pointed past us.
Lucien wrapped his arm around me, tugging me out of the path of—
“Ooof, sorry.” A man bumped into me, his arms full of packages. Juggling them so they didn’t fall, his chin tipped up and our eyes met.
We both froze.
My mouth fell open, and a flash of recognition flickered across his face.
But then he frowned and shook his head, acting as if he hadn’t recognised me at all.
“My apologies, I should really watch where I’m going.” He leaned in, searching my gaze. The intensity of his stare tore right through me.
The world fell away.
Three hundred years vanished in a blink.
My heart pounded as my eyes filled with tears and I knew without a shadow of a doubt if Whisper was here, he’d tackle this man to the ground and never let him go.
“Dillon.”
Lucien stiffened. “Holy shit...it’s—”
“Wait...” The man who looked identical to my bodyguard blinked, unable to tear his eyes off mine. “Do I...do I know you?” He frowned again, causing lines to feather around his eyes. “You look crazy familiar.”
“I’m—” I cleared my throat, doing my best not to burst into grateful tears. “I’m—”
“Elas?” the woman called. “Everything okay?”
The trance broke and the world resumed.
The busy marketplace flowed around us, and I finally understood.
The veil I kept seeing—that hazy curtain I couldn’t touch? The souls hidden behind it weren’t dead. There was a reason I couldn’t hear or summon them because the ones unreachable were alive. Reborn. Reincarnated. Living an entirely different existence without any need of my tampering.
So that’s why we couldn’t bring the others back, Lucien murmured, following my thoughts as always. They’re currently alive.
And that’s why Echo suddenly appeared. I never looked away from Dillon. Because she must’ve died in her other life and heard us calling her.
“Yes, everything is fine.” Dillon smiled at his wife as his little daughter charged back and tackled his legs. “Hi, Papa.”
He grinned. “Hi, little snowflake.”
My heart skipped a beat. “Snowflake?”
His icy blue gaze met mine, swirling with the same emotions as me. Unlike him, I knew why profound feelings flowed between us. I tasted his soul, recognised his energy, and was so incredibly grateful I’d finally found him. Living well and happy. With a wife.
“It’s a nickname.” He chuckled. “Not sure why.”
“It’s because she was born in the winter, remember?” His wife came toward us, taking a couple of packages out of Dillon’s arms to share his burden. “Men.” She rolled her eyes in my direction. “Their memories are shocking.”
“This is true.” Dillon laughed, looking adoringly at his wife before his gaze returned to mine, searching, sensing...not realising we’d loved each other in another life. “Just like I swear we’ve met before. Am I forgetting that too?”
His wife looked between us.
I waited for jealousy or suspicion of why her husband was asking another woman if he knew her, but she merely waited with a smile. She seemed lovely and grounded and very secure in the love they shared, and...I didn’t want to do anything to jeopardise that.
I wanted so much to tell him who I was.
To wrap him in a hug and thank him for everything.
But...I couldn’t.
He was happy. Who knew how many lifetimes he’d had since he’d died with Whisper on the glacier three hundred years ago.
Maybe next time he passed, I could talk to his soul as he travelled through death on his journey to a new one, but for now...I wouldn’t meddle.
“I just have one of those faces.” I laughed, grateful as Lucien pulled me close and kissed my temple. “I would remember you if we’d met because you have a very pretty daughter.”
His wife lit up like I’d praised her most precious thing. “Thank you. She’s a handful, but we adore her.”
“I’m a handful.” The little girl piped up. “A bigggg handful.” Flinging her arms wide, she grinned. “This big.”
“Wow, I pity your poor parents.” I giggled.
“Wouldn’t have her any other way.” Dillon sighed, gathering his daughter against his leg.
“Look...if you guys aren’t doing anything, you’re welcome to come for lunch.
” He arched his chin into the distance. “Our house isn’t far from here.
” His gaze landed on Lucien who’d stayed stiff and silent. “You look as if you could use a drink.”
Glancing at Lucien’s face, I smothered a laugh.
Dillon was right. He did look like he needed a drink.
“We’d love to, but we have to go.” Lucien shrugged as nonchalantly as he could. “Another time maybe.”
“Yeah, maybe.” Dillon nodded, knowing as well as we did that we would never see each other again. A flash of pain appeared in his gaze before he grinned and hoisted up his parcels. “Well, safe travels then.”
“You too,” I breathed. “I’m so happy that you’re happy.”
He frowned a little but merely nodded again and strode off, his little girl swinging between his and his wife’s hands.
We watched as they vanished into the crowd before Lucien summoned the dreamscape around us. The blossom tree barely manifested before he dragged me close and whispered, “Take me to Uncle Wen and Auntie Mei and then to my parents. Please?”
Standing on tiptoe, I grabbed his cheeks and kissed him.
While our tongues touched, I focused on the echoes of his loved ones, no longer trying to summon them but to find them through the veil. The meadow of wildflowers vanished, depositing us in another water city with floating walkways, canal boats, and a busy restaurant.
Sitting at a table were a family of six. Two older, two middle-aged, and two children.
I headed toward them, but Lucien grabbed my wrist and held me back.
“I just want to watch.”
So we stayed in the shadows, watching the reincarnations of Auntie Mei and Uncle Wen laughing and conversing with their family.
Toward the end of the meal, Lucien’s heart kicked against mine as snatches of their voices travelled.
“Luxin...don’t put your napkin in the candle.
You’ll set fire to the entire restaurant. ”
“It was your fault for calling him Furnace Heart,” Auntie Mei chided, plucking the napkin out of her young son’s hand. “You’ve set his fate in stone with a name like that. He’s either going to be hot-tempered when he’s older or—”
“Have superpowers where flames obey me?” Her son grinned.
“What can I say?” Uncle Wen laughed. “It popped into my head and I loved it so...”
“I love it too.” The little boy announced, stealing his sister’s napkin. “So much better than all the boring ones in school.”
“Don’t you dare.” Auntie Mei reached across the table, still as fierce as she was when we met all those years ago. “Leave poor Meilin alone.”
Lucien staggered against me; I picked up his thoughts.
Not only had Auntie Mei and Uncle Wen called their son by Lucien’s legitimate name, but they’d also used his mother’s for their daughter.
It proved that no matter how many lifetimes a soul lived—no matter how many times we lived or died, tried and failed, those memories lived on even if we didn’t remember.
Street performers appeared as the sun fell and fire torches were lit along the pier. Lucien finally roused himself and squeezed my hand. “Let’s go home. We’ll visit everyone else another day.”
As we stepped into the dreamscape to travel back to Ashfall Cliff, I made a promise to visit every single soul that we’d loved and cared for when we were still human.
I’d check on my parents and his parents, the women who’d been trapped in Cinderkeep, and all those poor children and creatures who’d perished at Snowflake Corp’s hands.
As long as they were happy, we wouldn’t meddle.
But if they were hurting or sick or struggling...we would do whatever it took to give them a happier life. To repay the debt we owed them over as many lifetimes as it took.
As Ashfall Cliff solidified around us, Whisper and Echo barrelled out of the shadows, welcoming us back.
Lucien gave them a scratch before pushing them away and pulling me into his arms.
He kissed me.
We kissed until desire made us glow silver and gold.
We’d been lucky enough to have been given eternity to love and laugh and protect...and we aimed to use it wisely.