Epilogue
Keir stood under the archway, waiting for the rest of his life to begin with the impatience of a child unwrapping the most wonderful gift.
From the hastily arranged chairs, his brothers and Briana grinned up at him, as did several of the Caldershore villagers.
The healer, whose name was Laura, was the closest they could get to a minister, and so she would marry them here in this village where he had first realized in his heart that Elin was already more to him than she was ever supposed to be.
Here, where he had saved her. Here, where she had saved him.
Graeme was battered and bruised, but he winked cheerfully when he caught Keir’s gaze.
He was chatting with a young woman from the village, and Keir had to admit with grudging amusement that Graeme’s claims that his scars only made him more interesting to women seemed to be proving true.
Theon and he and Noah sat with an empty space between them, and when Briana joined them a moment later in a pretty yellow dress, they both instantly started fawning over her.
Keir could not blame them. Even today, on his wedding day, the thought of the child to come was at the forefront of all of their minds. Even his.
Then the doors opened and she appeared. Keir’s breath caught in his throat at the sight of her.
Elin’s golden hair was braided elaborately in a style Briana had curated, a thousand tiny plaits all woven into place.
Her eyes shone with the brightness of the sun, and her dress, a pale blue that exactly matched the morning sky, brought out the brightness of the blush on her cheeks.
Keir’s heart raced as she walked toward him, and when she stood before him and offered her hand, he felt like he hadn’t known how to breathe until this moment.
“Elin,” he vowed when Laura prompted him to speak, “I vow tae ye that we will always learn and grow together. I promise I will see the lessons in me own mistakes and help ye through yers, and I promise that I will always be the voice and the arms ye need when the world is too much. I vow tae keep ye by me side in the fight tae come and tae always see ye as me equal. Ye are me strength, me soul, me power, and I am honored tae be yer husband.”
She was crying again, but her smile was bright.
“Keir. I vow tae ye that I will remind ye of yer worth every day, and allow ye tae celebrate mine. I promise I will stay by yer side in the fight tae come, and I will always be there to aid ye or comfort ye when ye need me, nae matter what that means or what it takes. I swear that, even if the road ahead is bumpy, I’ll travel it with ye.
Ye are me heart, me thoughts, me love, and I am honored tae be yer wife. ”
They kissed, and it sealed a promise that felt a lifetime in the making.
The celebration was in full swing. They had toasted to the couple and to the baby so many times that they had almost run out of wine, but someone had found some mead in an underground storeroom and the ribaldry was high.
Keir laughed as he watched Briana dance with Stephen, and Noah showed a little girl from the village the steps to a very complicated waltz.
Graeme couldn’t dance, but he was sitting at a table surrounded by three women, no doubt impressing them with tales of his adventures, and Theon was in conversation with Laura.
Keir started at that. It was the first time he had seen Theon without Briana all day.
He excused himself from the man he had been talking to and made his way to the table laden with food and drinks. Briana was there, sipping on a glass of water and nibbling on a pastry. She smiled when she saw him approach.
“Congratulations,” she said.
“Thank ye. And tae ye, as well. I dinnae think I said it yet,” he replied.
They lapsed into silence, and Keir could feel the awkwardness building almost instantly.
At long last, he allowed himself to truly feel it—the fear he’d experienced at that moment, watching Briana being dragged away.
The conflict that had plagued him as he let her go.
The shame that had drowned him before he finally told Theon the truth.
“I’m sorry,” he said. “I should have said so long ago. I’m sorry I almost let them take ye. I’m sorry I mistrusted ye the way I did long after ye’d proven ye didnae deserve it. I’m sorry I was a coward.”
Briana looked at him for a moment, then reached out and gently took his hand. “Whether or not ye were a coward then, ye’re far from that now. Thank ye for yer apology, and I forgive ye. But the past is in the past, and I ken who ye are, Keir. Ye’re me brother.”
A burden lifted from his shoulders that he didn’t even know he had been carrying. The two of them embraced, and when they parted, he glanced down at her stomach.
“Me nephew, eh?” he said.
“Or niece,” she reminded him playfully. “Perhaps she’ll prefer Auntie Elin.”
“Who wouldnae?” Keir asked. “Well, whatever that bairn is, I cannae wait tae meet them. Niece or nephew, they’re a symbol of hope.”
“Aye,” Briana agreed. “A symbol for our future.”
Laughing, breathless, Keir and Elin tumbled into the room the villagers had given them, their kisses hot and deep, their hands already roaming.
There was still music and dancing in the village square, but Elin had not been able to resist being alone with her husband for a moment longer, and he had been more than eager to comply.
They’d run here hand in hand, carefree and in love, ready to join their bodies as they already had their souls.
“Careful with me dress,” Elin warned as he made to remove it. “It’s too lovely for yer nonsense.”
He laughed a deep throaty laugh and caught her by the waist. “Insolent wench,” he growled, then swept her into a lingering kiss, stealing her breath away.
His hands gently worked the ties at the back of the garment, and he ended the kiss just as she thought she might pass out.
Her body was aflame, but she carefully stepped out of the dress and allowed him to place it neatly on the chair.
“There,” he said. “Now may I ravish ye?”
She arched an eyebrow. “What makes ye think ye’ll be the one doin’ the ravishin’?
” she teased. She moved quickly, loosening his kilt until it fell away, her hand finding him already hard as steel.
He groaned at her touch, closing his eyes as she tantalizingly trailed her fingers up and down his length, occasionally squeezing.
“I like it when ye’re at me mercy,” she whispered, heat pooling between her own legs.
“I’ll show ye mercy,” he grunted, then swept her off her feet. She yelped, flinging her arms around his neck as he kissed her fiercely, stumbling toward the filled bathtub with her in his arms.
Elin let out a pleased sound at the heat as he lowered her into the water. “We’re bathin’?” she asked.
He slid in behind her, sloshing water around them. She could feel his cock pressing into her back, and it took everything she had not to shift backwards onto him. “We are. My bride must be pampered,” he said. “Lean back.”
She did as she was told, leaning against his hard chest and closing her eyes.
She heard him reaching for the soap, then his hands slipped under her arms and around her, finding her breasts.
He worked slowly, moving first gently then more insistently as he washed her, his fingers catching and teasing at her nipples as he did.
She moaned, and his member twitched against her.
“Keir, I want—”
“Shh,” he whispered in her ear, the tickle of his breath causing her to shudder. “I’m not done.”
He slowly worked the soap into her stomach, her sides, every touch like a delicious torture leaving all Elin’s nerves on end. By the time he reached her thighs, she was a shivering mess, barely able to think.
“Shall I clean the rest of ye?” he murmured.
“Please,” she gasped.
His fingers found her sweet spot and pressed, then his hand moved and fingers slid inside her, his palm continuing to work her core.
She cried out, already too far gone to restrain herself, and he worked his hand in and against her, fast and slow, teasing her, driving her to madness.
Every stroke brought her closer, then he’d stop and pull away, leaving her almost senseless with desire.
“Ready?” he whispered after what felt like a lifetime.
She whimpered, and he turned her in the water to face him, drawing her in for another deep kiss.
He lifted her, sliding himself forward to give her room, then gently positioned her over him.
Slowly, languorously, Keir lowered her onto him.
He filled her entirely, and she groaned and pressed her face against his neck.
Then he began to move. She held onto him, her own hips trying to buck against him, but he would not allow her to grind too quickly.
He set the pace, building her beyond anything she’d ever felt before, making her heart race and her breath stick and her mind narrow to everything in the world except him.
She had never needed anything, anyone, as much as this.
“Ready?” he asked again, and his movements changed.
Now he thrust harder, with more force, and at long last he let her move in time with him, eagerly taking what she needed.
The water splashed around them as their bodies moved together, and the friction built so quickly that Elin didn’t even realize it until she was already exploding into a world of pleasure.
She screamed, and Keir roared, spending himself as she rode him down from her own climax.
When she came down, her body felt limp with satisfaction. Keir gently finished cleaning her off, then lifted her from the bath and dried her with a towel. When they were ready, they lay in bed together, snuggled in each other’s arms.
Elin meant to say many things. She meant to tell him how she loved him and how happy she was that he was her husband. She meant to tell him he was her world.
But instead, she drifted off into a peaceful sleep, the sound of his heartbeat carrying her home.