Epilogue
“You’re a quick study,” Tove said as he pulled the paper out from in front of me, checking my careful letters and simple words.
I sat in what used to be Cass’s private library, but all traces of the former king had been quickly stripped away.
I didn’t know what it was costing him, but Jet had teams working around the clock to revamp the palace. Colors were changed, fabrics were updated, and all the horror-filled artwork was stripped from the walls.
The library had been brightened to suit what Jet knew I preferred, since I’d been enamored with the room full of books when I’d first seen them.
What a concept they were. Books. Full of knowledge, yes, but also stories.
I hadn’t understood them at first, but when Jet started to read a story to me, pictures formed in my head and it was as if I was watching the stories unfold in my mind.
Almost the way stories were told to me through the trees around my lake. It was fantastic.
Which was why I’d been up since dawn, sitting in the library with my papers and the books that Tove had brought from his own collection. He’d used them to teach his own siblings how to read. And now he was helping teach me. Along with Jet, Vishen, Nira, and—on occasion—Mendalyn.
But everyone was quite busy these days. Nira was still recovering as she beaded her way through an entire new wardrobe for me.
Vishen split his time between taking care of Nira and guarding Jet.
Mendalyn was questioning each member of the military, deciding who might need retraining and who was safe to continue in their roles.
And Jet, well, Jet was busy from nearly sunup to sundown, working on implementing everything he’d been dreaming and planning his whole life.
So, Tove it was for my teacher.
Well, my and Cora’s teacher.
The girl had been hesitant at first, but she took to it quickly when she realized I wasn’t much further along than she was.
Unlike me, she didn’t see the appeal of the stories.
She told me she didn’t see the pictures in her head.
She was interested in the information, in the potential to become well-educated and have a career of her own one day.
Until then, she spent most of her days with Mendalyn’s women. They trained her in hand-to-hand combat, in weapons, in archery. And in spending time with women who had been equally as traumatized as she was, Cora had started to understand and recover from her own trauma.
As for Cass, well, he was still getting doses of Stillwater while Jet, Vishen, and Tove figured out the right accommodations for him.
“I could do another sheet,” I said as I rolled the tension out of my neck.
“I’m afraid if you do too much all at once, you risk forgetting it all.
Better to do the work in smaller batches.
Never fear,” he added when my face fell, “these tomes will be here for you when you are ready to read them yourself. Until then, that is what you have your husband for. And, as I’ve said, you are within your rights to employ a lady’s maid whose sole job could be to read you stories. ”
“I have Cora.” Granted, I didn’t like asking her to do anything for me, but she would often fetch my meals from the kitchens, then sit and eat with me.
“You’re a queen now. Queens typically employ more than one personal staff member.”
“Maybe eventually. When there are more queenly tasks for me to take on. Right now, I’m perfectly happy with my staff.”
“Talking about me?” Nira called, making me turn to find her striding into the room.
She was looking so much better since the healer had been working with her. The stitches in her head had even been removed already. And while she still winced when she turned, thanks to the wound on her side, she was healing well.
“What are you doing here? You hate the library.”
“There’s too much racket going on in your quarters,” she said, shrugging.
Jet had wasted no time on his dream to implement indoor plumbing. Apparently, I would be able to turn a ‘tap’ and have a freshly drawn bath in moments. I was reserving judgment on the matter until I tried it out myself.
“Where’s all the coin for this coming from?” Nira, as bold as ever, asked Tove.
“It’s amazing how much coin is available when the high-ranking, powerful families are no longer being bribed.”
“Every day, I learn something new about Cass that makes me hate him more,” Nira said. “Do you know how many days I starved working in his military?”
That plan was also underway. More gardens were being created.
Orchards were getting planted. No one around the palace would go hungry.
And because those who farmed the land would no longer need to send two-thirds of their crops to the palace, they would be free to sell or trade with other fae, so, hopefully, no one would go hungry again.
It was ambitious.
But I knew Jet.
If anyone could accomplish it, he could.
He was meant to rule.
“You can’t escape it here, either,” Nira grumbled when a procession of carts rolled past the windows, their backs loaded down with barrels. “What is all that, anyway?” she asked.
“I have no idea. I haven’t asked.”
“You’re the queen. Ask.”
“Okay. Tove, what is all that?”
“That,” he said, clipping closed a book and tucking it under his arm, “is a secret your husband is working on. For you.”
“For me?” What else could he possibly give me? I had everything a woman could want. More, even.
“In fact, if my calculations are correct, those carriages mark the end of the project. The King has been quite devoted to this cause.”
“Well, now I want to know what it is,” Nira said, turning and walking to the door.
And nearly colliding with Jet.
“Just who we were looking for,” she said.
“Why’s that?” he asked as he walked up behind me to place his hands on my shoulders.
“We heard you’re working on a secret project,” I said, leaning my head so it rested against his arm.
“I am,” he agreed, fingers rubbing at my shoulders, made sore from hours hunched over a desk. “In fact, that is why I came to find you. It is ready. As ready as it is going to be for now, anyway.”
“I’m coming,” Nira declared.
“Me too,” Cora said as she stood.
“Very well,” Jet said, shrugging.
I still hadn’t gotten used to walking out of a room on the main floor of the palace and not being followed by those creepy redcaps.
Jet was still working on his plans for them, but they had been moved away from the castle for the time being. And good riddance to them.
“Are we going to the stadium?” I asked, stomach tensing at the still-fresh memory of the last time we’d been there.
“Yes and no. The stadium is no more.”
“Hey, I liked the tournament!” Nira grumbled from behind us. As far as she’d come, she was still not back to her usual self, so she was following much more slowly.
“We will still do the tournament. We might even do a modified version of the melee. But the stadium will be rebuilt further away from the palace.”
“Is it just me, or were all these trees not here before?” Cora asked as we wove in and out between what did seem to be a denser forest than I remembered. Then again, things had been so hectic that day, there was no trusting my memory.
Jet was suspiciously quiet at my side.
I felt like that said everything.
The trees were new.
They were somehow part of his plan.
But nothing was clear until we moved around a wall of towering pine trees that I did not remember.
Then there it was.
A lake.
Not as big as my lake, but a respectable size, flanked on nearly all sides with weeping willows, their fronds half-hiding the water from view except on the far end.
Hundreds of water lilies dotted the surface.
A frog floated on a lily pad, searching the surface for bugs to eat.
Wait.
It wasn’t just any lake.
It was… my lake?
It called to me.
It sang in my bones.
It sighed in my mind, “Oh, there you are.”
“I don’t understand,” I admitted, looking over at Jet.
“I consulted with some experts, who informed me that if I built you a lake and slowly filled it with water from your lake—without draining your lake—the water would still recognize you. This will become a continuation of your lake as it fills with more water. We will still visit your lake as often as you’d like, but I want my wife, my queen, at her full power at all times.
This will allow you to feel your best at all times.
“And I had the willows brought in—with the help of at least a dozen trolls—to provide privacy for your visits. No one will be able to see you out here. This is your own personal sanctuary.”
He leaned down, snatching a pink lily out of the water and pressing it into my hands.
“Hello,” it seemed to sing in my mind.
The surge of emotion was sudden and overwhelming.
Tears streamed down my face as I let the lily fall back into the water so I could throw my arms around my husband.
“Thank you, thank you, thank you,” I cried into his chest.
Jet’s arms closed tightly around me.
“I got everything I wanted,” he said, squeezing me tighter, silently including me in that, “I wanted you to have everything you wanted too.”
“I already did,” I assured him. “I had you.”
Jet pulled back, his face soft as he pressed his hand to my cheek. “And now you have me… and your lake.” He leaned in, pressing his lips to mine. “What are you waiting for? I know it’s calling to you,” he said, taking a step back and waving to the water.
I glanced behind him, but Nira and Cora had disappeared, likely sensing how private a moment this was.
I reached to pull off my gown, leaving me in nothing but my slip that turned semi-sheer in the sunlight, making Jet’s jaw clench before I dove into the water.
There were no words to describe the way the water surrounded me, sank into me, welcomed me home.
I couldn’t say how long I stayed under the water, letting myself remember the sensations, before surfacing and holding out an arm to Jet.
Eyes on me, he kicked off his shoes, removed his tunic and his pants, then stepped right in, then into my arms.
Perfect.
It was absolutely perfect.
Jet - 6 months