Page 170 of A Reign of Roses
And one last thing—perhaps not sage wisdom, but as my quill has become loose upon the page and the spirit in my glass empties, I find the words easier tonight than I think they may ever be again.
For years you’ve believed your fears made you cowardly, yet chose time and time again to face those fears, regardless of what might’ve been waiting for you on the other side.
You’ve saved yourself and those who matter most to you. Helped and healed so many in need. You’ve discovered a deep well of power within yourself. Met someone you wish to spend your life with. You’ve found joy in times of darkness, and helped share that joy with others.
In this war, and in the days I hope will follow, I urge you to remember this: do not equate bravery with fearlessness. If someone like you has nothing left to fear, it will be your heart I worry for. Fear is human, and only grows as we come to care deeply for others. Stones know I’ve become more fearful in knowing you. That’s what love does to us.
You are courageous, Arwen. And I’m very proud of you.
Dagan
Epilogue
arwen
Ten Months Later
Crag’s Hollow had been reluctantto welcome autumn. The bucolic summer stretched on and on, languishing in slow, fragrant days and warm, vivid nights. But when it finally did, the seaside town blossomed in shades of gold and copper I’d never seen.
As I jogged along the cliffside, those falling leaves drifted onto the inky lake below, spindrifts from the gently crashing waves whispering up to greet them.
I came to a stroll to catch my breath a handful of feet from our cottage. Through the front windows, framed between generous white curtains, I could just make out Kane and his hefty, dust-riddled book, sprawled out on the couch, lit by sleepy rays of late-afternoon sun.
A spindly, stretching feathered leg almost clawed Kane in the face. He moved the strix gently to the side and returned to his book.
That feeling fluttered in my chest once more, as it had so manytimes since we’d ended what was now being referred to as the Six Years’ War.
Peace.
Did it bother me that so many in Evendell would never know what fate Kane and I had narrowly saved them from? That aside from a handful of soldiers and nobles from Citrine, Amber, and Garnet, and a smattering of Blood Fae living in Rose, everyone on the continent believed Onyx to have waged war on two kingdoms for nothing but riches and coin?
Sometimes.
But we had not done any of it for glory.
The peace alone—both ours and the one we were able to bless upon Evendell with quite a bit of help—was more than worth it.
I entered the cottage to find a half-finished chess game at the kitchen table, some new art of Leigh’s affixed to the halls of the small foyer—a dragon at sunrise, a portrait of the inky lake—and the smell of simmering carrots. “Carrot soup?”
Kane turned from his book and offered me a knowing smile. “This will be the one. I can feel it.”
Acorn scuttled from the couch and launched at me, nuzzling his little goblin head into my knees. He’d practically become my shadow the past few months. Kane had noticed it even before I had—it’d been one of the first signs.
I attempted to soothe the strix with soft head scratches as I unlaced my boots. “You don’t need to like Amber food for us to make it for him,” I said to Kane.
“Or her.”
I grinned. “Or her.”
Kane stood with a stretch, his loose cotton pants displaying adelicious sliver of low, golden abdomen. “I’d just like to find one thing from your home that I like as much as you like cloverbread.”
The strix scuttled away from me on all fours, leapt onto the raised, cushioned ledge below the bay windows, and nearly slammed into the glass. Out of the corner of my eye, I just caught the mighty wingspan of Acorn’s mother, soaring over the glittering, pitch-black lake as the pale sun melted into the horizon.
She’d be back soon. She didn’t like the dark much.
Ryder had built a shed for her this summer, which Mari had filled with oil lamps. Only some of the citizens of Crag’s Hollow had been terrified. Most were used to their dark king’s strange winged beasts.
“Well, that will never happen.” I stood to kiss Kane on the cheek. Cedar filled my nostrils. “I don’t think anyone likes anything as much as I like cloverbread.”
