Epilogue
AVELINE
Iam beginning to realize that living in a sentient, ancient fortress means having absolutely zero privacy from the architecture.
I am simply trying to locate the linen closet in the eastern wing when the solid wall beside me groans. The stone shifts, and a brand-new arched doorway materializes out of thin air.
Curious, I walk inside, only to stop dead in my tracks.
Bathed in a soft, ambient gold light, the room is fit for a princess.
The living rock has perfectly smoothed itself out, weaving a plush carpet of thick green moss across the floorboards.
In the center of the room, carved directly out of the dark stone, is a delicate little bassinet, complete with a tiny, shadow-woven mobile of floating crows spinning lazily overhead.
A nursery. The castle has literally grown a nursery.
"Absolutely not," I tell the empty air, crossing my arms over my chest. "We have been formally married for exactly three months, and I am still recovering from the logistics of the wedding festival. Give a witch queen a second to breathe."
The walls immediately let out a deeply offended shudder.
The gold light violently flickers, the moss carpet retracts into the cracks, and the heavy oak door swings shut with a dramatic, petulant slam.
The entire hallway seems to sulk, dropping the temperature by five degrees as the keep goes into a massive huff.
A chuckle rumbles from the shadows behind me.
Malakai steps out of the gloom. "You have broken the castle's heart, Duchess. It has been waiting centuries to sprout a cradle."
"The castle will survive," I murmur, turning around in his grip to smile up into his eyes.
I wrap my hands around his thick wrists, leaning into his immense body heat.
"And so will you, Shadow King. Do not look at me with those puppy-dog eyes.
I am enjoying having you entirely to myself for a while. "
"Whatever my queen decrees," he whispers, his mouth finding mine in a slow, dazed kiss that instantly makes my thoughts go beautifully fuzzy.
Eventually, we make our way down to the sunlit eastern pastures.
We have recently purchased a sweet, sturdy little dapple-grey mare to keep Sandwich company in the paddock, mostly so the giant golden horse stops chewing on the fence posts out of sheer boredom.
The two horses are currently nuzzling each other near the running creek, completely content.
We name her Peanut, naturally.
Pickles and his brother are off with us most of the time, so Sandwich needs someone to love on. But despite having a stable full of perfectly fine mounts, we don't saddle two horses when we decide to leave the keep behind.
We only take one.
We ride deep into the emerald canopy of the Elder Forest, leaving the village and the castle far behind.
The valley is entirely peaceful now; Cern and Valen have finally managed to sort out their own chaotic matings—after a truly ridiculous amount of screaming and spite-architecture—and the thresholds are fully locked, sealing the borders of the realm in an unbreakable grid of safety.
Deep in the thicket, where the ancient oak trees weave a dense ceiling that blocks out the rest of the universe, Malakai pulls the stallion to a halt.
He doesn't say a word. He simply hoists me out of the saddle, driving my back against the rough, mossy bark of our favorite oak tree as his body pins mine against it.
"Malakai," I gasp, my breathing ragged.
"Mine," he growls against my mouth.
The clothes are stripped away without another word. Right there in the safety of our silent woods, we entwine our magic.
And our bodies.
I cry out his name into the quiet forest, my hips arching up to meet every desperate push until our magic overflows.
Afterward, as he holds me close on his cloak spread over the forest floor, I decide maybe… maybe we can. Eventually.
"Alright," I whisper, pressing a soft kiss to his collarbone as his shadows gently drape over our tangled limbs to keep me warm. "Maybe we can let the castle grow that nursery in the next few years."
Malakai’s eyes flash with a brilliant heat, and he grins down at me, beyond pleased. "I will inform the masonry immediately, my love."