Epilogue #4
“Jess!” Elloven shouted over the ruckus. Her radiant smile was the beacon guiding him home. “Come sit! Have you met Barrie yet? Oh, and did you see Jonah is walking already?” Her jaw dropped.
Jesstin grinned to himself and went to join in the merriment.
Elloven had spent the day running her hands along everything: the smooth stone walls, the rough grain of the dining table Jesstin had made with his own hands.
It turned out he’d made a lot of their furnishings, which he’d said nothing about until he’d proudly given her the tour.
She’d listened to his detailed descriptions, bursting with love and admiration, as their children played in the field with several of their cousins.
She’d been so nervous about the final reveal of their homestead that she’d postponed the final meeting with the architect twice.
Unlike Jesstin, who had been out there every week checking on things and making adjustments, she’d stayed away since the groundbreaking.
When Jesstin brought home updated architectural sketches, she never looked at them too closely.
Oliver’s lively explanations were more than enough.
Her father had always said a woman’s presence on a construction site before the exchange of keys could curse a property.
He believed because his father had said so, and his father before him.
It was silly and superstitious, but she’d rather feel foolish than do anything that risked their future contentment.
The past four years were hers to cherish, but she wanted more. She deserved more. For the first time in her entire life, she believed there was more. But tonight was their first night in their new home, and she had no more patience for needless worries.
She sipped her tea at the kitchen window, enjoying the pleasing scent of the fresh cedar cupboards as she treasured the final rays of the sunset on the eastern horizon.
She played back each moment of a perfect day.
Jesstin was readying the children for bed and would join her after.
She smiled, thinking of what an incredible father he was.
He came alive when he played their games with them, giving them space to grow and learn the world around them.
He often said the more they understood the basic tenets of life, even the bad, the easier it would be for them when they went on to make their own.
As anxious as she’d been letting Oliver have more freedom in the Spiral, she had to admit Jesstin was right.
Their son had met and conversed with such a diversity of people.
.. experiences that couldn’t be taught in a classroom.
“Psst,” Jesstin whispered in her ear.
Elloven jumped, sloshing tea over the side of her mug. “How can a man of your size manage to enter a room so quietly?” she asked when she’d caught her breath.
“I’m never quiet.” He slid his arms around her from behind, nuzzling into her neck. “You were just daydreaming.”
“I never used to. It’s nice.” She wrapped her arms around his and rocked into him. “I want that for Oly and Aly.”
“Want what?”
“For them to feel it’s safe to daydream.”
“They will.” Jesstin kissed her neck, the underside of her jaw. “We’ve slain all the beasts that matter, El.”
“There are always more, Jess.”
“Don’t tempt me with the thrill of violence, love.”
Elloven laughed and craned her head sideways to meet him in a kiss. “Yes, love, I can feel your excitement at the very prospect.”
Jesstin looked down. “He’s an insolent bastard, isn’t he?”
Bastard was a word Jesstin didn’t use in her presence unless it was couched in self-disparagement.
It was a small bit of progress, but still progress.
She kept tally of their little wins, because together they added up to a life.
“He is, but that’s an incentive, not a defect,” she replied, teasing.
“You did well, Jess. Our home is everything... It’s everything. ”
“And I was just hoping for ‘adequate.’”
“When has adequate ever described anything you’ve done?
Even when you were the princeling of nonconformity, you put your whole self into your defiance.
” She turned in his arms. “I’ve been through every inch of this home, and I know all the little choices you made with me in mind.
Do you know what Asterin told me a few days back? ”
Jesstin traced one hand up and down her back as he gazed down at her.
“In his dream memories, he recalls a sweet, thoughtful little boy who was always more concerned with the feelings of those around him than his own.”
He smirked in embarrassment. “Dream memories are fragments, not the entire story.”
“The children remember a loving uncle. Rhiain remembers a little boy she was ready to slay the world for. And my first meaningful memory of you was when you chased off the villagers who were harassing my carriage, even if you were cranky about it.”
“Hmm.” He smiled to himself. “What were you daydreaming about?”
“The children.” She lifted onto her toes to kiss him. “Us.”
Jesstin rocked her side to side in a smooth, sensual dance.
He had more rhythm than he’d had the night they’d spent in Everspell, and it wasn’t for nothing.
She didn’t learn about the weeks of lessons he’d taken for their wedding until after the night had ended.
“Was it sweet?” He bit his lip. “Or lurid?”
“I can see you really want to know...” She glanced down. “He hasn’t calmed down either, has he?”
Jesstin’s mouth quirked at the corner. “One day he might. You shouldn’t take him for granted.”
Elloven slid her hand under his waistband. “If I ever do, I expect you’ll tell me.”
He hoisted her onto the counter and wedged himself between her spread legs. “He’s much better at articulation.”
Elloven’s head fell back as she took him in.
They both laughed when he had to clamp his hand gently over her mouth to stifle a forgetfully loud moan.
Jesstin braced one hand on the counter, the other against her cheek, as they made love against the last of the day’s light.
He didn’t have to say the words anymore—“look at me”—because they were instinct, a sacrosanct element of an act that bound her soul to his, whether from primal need or tender love.
She would always look at him. In his eyes, she saw herself the way he saw her, and she was exactly who she should have been.
Jesstin’s fingers tightened on her cheek as he finished.
He used to be mortified over their quicker trysts, until she’d told him how unspeakably sexy it was when his desire for her outmatched his restraint.
What came next was just as erotic for her: the intense joining of their eyes as he made her come undone while still inside, him stirring back to life for another round.
The way he whispered, in his most vulnerable moments, My heart.
She no longer thought of the women he’d fooled about with before her or the redhead he’d bedded to forget her. She was the only one who’d ever had all of him, the only one who ever would.
Nor did she waste thoughts for the men who had harmed her. They were relics of her past, and the past was no longer hers.
Jesstin said the words she’d never be tired of hearing. “I love you to the netherworld and back, Elloven.”
“And beyond,” she whispered against his parted lips. “I’m so sleepy.” She laughed softly. “The day has caught up.”
“I’m going to check a few things and then I’ll be onto bed.” He helped her down from the counter. “See you in the Night Soul?”
Elloven smiled with her whole heart. “Always.”
There’s plenty more of the Kingdom-verse to explore!