Epilogue
Mariska
“Jess!” I whined. “Hurry up, please!” My friend had booked passage to Llykhe and arrived just in time for the wedding she’d been planning from a distance.
I felt bad for going first, when she’d been so excited to tell me how Jared had proposed, even worse when she’d arrived without her fiancé.
He was working, she said, and it was okay, but I still wished I could see her happy with her partner when I was so happy with Jeltom.
“Almost done,” she assured me, and she pulled on my curls again to pin them in place for the veil she was putting in my hair.
I could see her progress in the mirror in front of me, and I had to admit, the sight was stunning.
I’d come a long way in the last couple of months, from being constantly upset with my short, stocky frame to starting to like it because Jeltom was so full of admiration.
Now I saw my curves as an asset, not a curse, and it was nice.
We’d gone through a whole winter together, living in close quarters in my cozy farm cottage, and it hadn’t once resulted in a fight.
I never knew I could talk with someone of the other sex this well, but we could.
We clicked in ways… ah, it made me smile every time I thought of how in love I was.
It was that which showed in the mirror, that constant glow of knowing I was exactly where I belonged. And I was happy.
“I have the something blue,” Danitalin announced as she came into the bedroom.
Jeltom’s extremely empathic scientist friend had also shown up for our human wedding, with her Rummicaron mate in tow, and several very rowdy mercenaries in for a party.
I was extremely happy that there were also a handful more human women, and I looked forward to getting to know them.
The Aderian woman held up a blue strip of lace that looked suspiciously like a thong.
“Harper gave it to me,” she said proudly.
Harper was a human from the Varakartoom, and she was a journalist, too.
I knew her better than most because I had, in fact, sat down to do an interview over comm with her about how we’d taken down Koratalin.
I blushed, but I accepted the thong and scurried into the bathroom to slip it on the moment Jess was done with my hair.
“Your Aderian is very big on following our customs to the letter for you, is he?” Jess observed as I came back out of the bathroom, still flushed but grinning ear to ear as I pictured how Jeltom would respond to seeing me in that blue scrap of lace.
She was right—he was—and I kind of liked it, even if I’d have him anyway he’d have me.
I liked that he tried so hard to help me unite human and Aderian, here on the farm and in our relationship.
“I think it helps him feel certain he’s treating me right.
Isn’t that sweet?” I said. Dani beamed at me, which told me I was correct, she’d know that sort of thing.
Her powerful empathy did not frighten me nowadays, because I hardly minded sharing with everyone how happy I was.
Besides, the Aderians were so used to knowing that sort of thing, they hardly took notice unless it came in handy.
I’d learned that when you weren’t walking around like a fearful mouse, they treated you just like any other person.
A short while later, I walked into the early Llykhe spring morning, followed by my best friend and Jeltom’s.
At the door, his father was waiting for me with suspiciously shiny eyes.
Since my parents weren’t here, I’d assured Jeltom that having his dad walk me down the aisle was just fine.
I was pretty sure the male was beyond honored by the task, because he took my arm with such reverence I felt like glass.
“You look beautiful, daughter,” he said gruffly, in the exact same tone Jeltom would have used.
“Here’s the something borrowed,” Jeltom’s mom said, stepping forward to slide a necklace of beautiful onyx and diamond stones around my neck.
She had been as serious about respecting my customs as Jeltom was, and we’d discovered that we both loved to cook.
I’d swapped recipes with her all winter, much to the delight of both our mates.
Then the ceremony began, officiated by Avertom, who had searched databases to get the words just right.
Our guests sat in flower-decorated chairs in the now-green front yard, next to the just-sprouting vegetable patch.
Under an arch of flowers, my mate waited for me—dazzlingly handsome, with his long braid dangling over the shoulder of his black suit jacket.
On the arm of his father, we glided down the aisle. The crowd cheered, the contingent of mercenaries particularly rowdy—down to wolf-whistles and hoots. I saw nothing, barely heard them through the rushing in my ears. I had eyes only for my future, staring back at me with eyes like mirrors.
He took my arm from his father, then broke all protocol to dip me back in his arms and kiss me ahead of schedule. “I love you, my gorgeous, beautiful Valentine mate,” he growled.
THE END