Epilogue
FOUR MONTHS LATER, when the ground had thawed and the meadows were once again filled with cheerful wildflowers and the hum of bumblebees, Charis stood beside a tree on Father’s property in northern Calera late one afternoon and looked at the freshly carved stone at her feet.
Edias Stephren Lorrinton Willowthorn
Beloved father, mentor, friend
“It’s perfect,” Tal said, his hand finding hers and squeezing gently.
“It doesn’t say that he was a king consort.” She’d gone back and forth on that, agonizing over how to encapsulate everything Father had meant to her and his loved ones, worrying that decades from now, those who saw this stone wouldn’t realize the man it honored had been an integral part of who Queen Charis Willowthorn had become.
“He wouldn’t want it to.” Tal leaned down to brush a stray piece of grass from the headstone.
They’d had an official burial for Mother soon after the wedding, along with a burial ceremony for Reuben, who’d been awarded the kingdom’s prestigious Sapphire Star for courageous service to the crown. Immediately after, Charis had ordered the kingdom into the traditional one month mourning period for a queen, while simultaneously working to restore everything the Rakuuna had destroyed.
Ships had been rebuilt. Buildings had been repaired. Royal medals had been awarded to Orayn, Finn, and the rest of Charis’s crew, along with Lady Ollen and those who’d helped her. Lord Thorsby hadn’t survived the Rakuuna and had been awarded a medal posthumously. Every crew member who’d died during the journey and every Caleran resistance fighter who’d fallen had been awarded one too. The Everlys and their lackey, Bartho, had each been put to death for treason.
There was still much to do. New fields had to be plowed and planted to combat the food shortage the Rakuuna had caused by burning warehouses. Infrastructure had to be repaired. Trade had to resume to deal with shortages in medicine, cloth, and metal, but that also required negotiating with Montevallo for the jewels to pay for things since Calera wouldn’t be able to trade crops again until the fall.
Holland, now a royal council member, had joined the navy as an officer with plans to work his way up to admiral over the years. Sailing the open seas had the benefit of taking him far from his mother’s matchmaking schemes while also reviving his hopes of seeing a kraken.
Nalani was serving as ambassador to Solvang and, despite her busy schedule, still found time to consistently send pallorens with suggestions for reforms to Caleran law. Delaire had stayed in Solvang to assist Nalani while also enrolling in the prestigious Ooverstaad University, where she was studying international law in preparation for becoming an ambassador herself.
And now, this long after winning control of her kingdom from the Everlys and banishing the Rakuuna, Charis had finally made time to take her father’s body home to be buried in his beloved north.
It had taken this long because somehow the idea of giving him a final resting spot made his death real. Final.
“He’d love it here,” Tal said, as if reading her mind. “You brought him exactly where he’d want to be, and we will visit him often.”
She leaned against Tal, tears gathering in her eyes. Grim and Dec, now serving as guards, stood a short distance away, respectfully watching their surroundings while ignoring Charis and Tal.
“I miss him.” She could barely speak the words without her throat closing.
“I miss him, too.” Tal sounded close to tears, but then laughed a little as Hildy, now fully grown, wound her way through his legs, sat on the headstone, and began licking her back. “Apparently, so does Hildy.”
Charis’s laugh wobbled a bit, but still, it felt right to sit in the sun, pet Father’s cat, and remember the man who’d loved her unconditionally and had anchored her to the better part of her nature.
She leaned her head against Tal’s chest as he told a story about Father tricking Ilsa into giving them sweetcakes for breakfast. The land rolled away from the tree in gentle dips and curves, dressed in long grass and delicate flowers. Small coils of smoke drifted up from the distant village houses, and somewhere nearby a bird sang cheerfully.
It was simple, unpretentious, and peaceful, just like Father had been.
“I’m grateful he sent me to be your bodyguard,” Tal said as the sun dipped toward the horizon. “He trusted me with what was most precious to him, and I’ll spend the rest of my life making sure I don’t let him down.”
“Better make sure you don’t let me down, either.”
“I wouldn’t dream of it.” He gave her a sly grin. “Unless, of course, we’re discussing your desire to cheat during sparring.”
“I never cheat during sparring.”
“Liar.”
She snuggled close, a smile on her face and peace in her heart as the sun slowly disintegrated into crimson fire along the horizon.