Epilogue #2
“It seems we overestimated our security needs,” Nira said as they walked away from the fifteenth fae we’d passed who’d paused to drop at Jet’s feet and thank him.
Some were thanking him for the return of their loved ones from the camps or the dungeons.
Others, for no longer stealing their crops.
Still others wanted to show their gratitude for stripping their previous employers of their wealth and titles, which freed them from a life of servitude to cruel bosses.
“If you’re not careful, it’s gonna turn into the Light over here,” Nira teased.
Jet glanced up as a flock of sluagh—the nightmare birds—swarmed overhead with a series of spine-tingling screams and shot Nira a smirk.
“We should be nearly—” Vishen said. But then, just through the trees, we saw them.
No draca army this time, just Cece, her husband, and a small band of guards.
“Well, look at that,” Celestine said, glancing up at the crown on my head. “You got your crown after all.”
“With a little help,” I agreed, pulling Serin closer. “May I introduce my wife? Queen Serin.”
Serin beamed up at me as she always did when I used her title.
“So, you’re the one who created such an uproar in my realm when you got kidnapped. It’s nice to finally meet you. This is my husband, Jasper.”
“Jasper, I’ve heard a lot about you. And your sisters,” Serin said. “I hope they’re well.”
“They are. Thank you.”
“So, I hear our father is off the throne.”
“He is.”
“Where is he?”
“Somewhere where he will never get free.”
“Well, just in case,” Cece said, reaching into her pocket and producing a necklace that she passed to me.
“What’s this?”
“What’s what?” Nira asked, leaning over to look at my hands. “There’s nothing there.”
My gaze flicked up to Celestine. “Magic, obviously. It was how my mom stayed ‘mad’ for so long, so our father couldn’t use her.
Only this won’t make him crazy. He will just be very subdued and submissive as long as he is wearing it.
The magic is… no one can see it but you.
Not even him. So he will never know. Neither will anyone else.
But it will contain him without cruelty.
A mercy he wouldn’t show anyone else, of course, but one that protects our souls from going that dark. ”
“This will come in handy. Thank you.”
We had magic in the Dark realm, of course. But it tended to be more volatile and unpredictable. And, well, Dark.
It was handy to have an ally in the light for this sort of thing.
“I also hear your power has manifested.”
“It manifested a long time ago.”
“You just didn’t want Cass to use it against you.”
“Precisely.”
“Well, I think it was inspired to use it—in moderation—instead of torturing people endlessly.”
“I agree. And so you know, the camps have been disbanded,” I said, looking at Jasper. I knew his sister had been pulled into one and horribly abused. It was the whole reason Cece ever learned about the Green and her lineage—she went looking for her friend.
“Good. They never should’ve existed.”
“I agree.”
“If what I’m hearing is right, there are a lot of changes going on,” Cece said.
“And who are you hearing from?” I asked.
“I have my people.”
“As do I.”
“Which should be totally fine,” my sister said, “since both our kingdoms are behaving exactly how they should. Well, aside from us finding a boggart on our side of the woods this week.”
“They’re not the brightest creatures,” I said of the chaos fae who infested homes and did annoying shit like souring milk or spoiling food. “Just have them tossed back over the border. Creatures that have working gray matter know not to cross into the Seelie realm.”
“I believe you. So does my mother.” The current Seelie queen.
“How is she doing?”
“She’s good. Happy not to be under a spell. But she’s restless to go live her life. She’s thinking of passing the crown to me early.”
“Yeah?” I asked, smirking. “Both of us… ruling The Green. Who’d have thought it?”
“I think we’d make a good team. And you have a handy little reminder on your neck not to cross me and mine.”
“Got a little of that Dark in you,” I agreed, rubbing my hand over the burn scars.
Cece leaned forward, her voice only for the two of us. “I’d never ruin your rep by saying this to anyone, but I think you have a little Light in you too.”
Maybe she was right.
Some remnants of the good that belonged to my mother, possibly.
Or, maybe more likely, the light and good that Serin had so easily brought out of me.
My sister and I said our goodbyes, and it was a bittersweet moment—knowing our lives would have very few chances to overlap moving forward.
But I would feel comforted, knowing she was on the Light throne. After everything we’d both been through, there were no two better people to rule.
Serin - 2 years
“We’re going to run out of books at this rate,” Jet said when I clamped my book shut with a dreamy sigh.
“Then you will just have to be a very bad king and slip into the human realm to buy some for me.”
“Eh, I can send Nira. She’s always looking for an excuse to see what new absurd food concoction the mortals have come up with.”
“I still can’t believe she and Vishen decided to go there for their honeymoon.”
“In her defense, I happened to tell her about whole stores devoted to selling every kind of bead available. We could take a trip to Tenray Square,” he said, coming to sit beside me on the bank of my mini lake.
Once upon a time, Tenray Square had been a pop-up market known for selling less-than-legal wares. But it had become a hub of sales and bartering for both the Dark and Light courts.
“We could do that,” I agreed, pulling off my dress and slipping into the water.
It sang in my bones, cradled me like a child.
For one very good reason. I waited for Jet to strip and join me, as he always did in the late afternoon, before we went to the palace for dinner.
I swam to him, my hands reaching for his.
“But we might need to pick up different books. Shorter books. With bright, bold images. And simple words.”
I pressed his hands to my belly.
It was still flat, still showed no signs of the life growing within. I likely wouldn’t have known for several more weeks. But the lake told me. It sang lullabies in my soul. And, somehow without knowing, I knew.
Jet’s eyes followed the movement, then slid up to my face.
“A baby?”
“An heir.”
“No,” Jet said, shaking his head. “A baby. Our baby. I was raised as an heir. It’s no way to grow up.”
“Our baby,” I agreed, my heart warmed by his reaction. He would be an amazing father.
“Does this mean I will need to build another lake?”
“Well, only if it’s a girl. There are no Sons of the Lake,” I said, shrugging.
“I know it was terrible to have been kidnapped and forced to marry me,” Jet said.
His palm slid across my belly, his expression soft in a way that still amazed me for such a strong, intimidating man.
“I wish things had happened differently,” he whispered.
“But I’m grateful it happened at all. Because it brought me you. ”
I covered his hand with mine.
Our child beneath our palms.
My king beside me.
And somehow, impossibly, the life I’d once been forced into had become the life I would never choose to leave.
XX