The Promise of the Trees - Sword, Ring, and Crown Book 3 (Complete - Editing)

Epilogue One - Madeline

The temple was 'nice' enough to give us a week to recover from the trials before we had to do the whole coronation ceremony. I would have to choose my royal consort, or I would have had to if I hadn't smashed the sword. The temple was at a loss of what to do with that information.  I had told Luis not to tell anyone about what I had planned yet.

I wanted that to be a surprise.

The babies, to my astonishment, were already sitting up and getting into trouble. Willow told me that Edentrees have fast growth rates, so I would have to keep my eyes on them, or I could blink and they'd be heading to college.

I felt sad that I had missed seeing it. I thought of Joseph and the Holly and got mad at them all over again for what they'd done, until Luis rubbed my shoulder and I let go of my bitter thoughts. 

Now that Luis was back home, he hadn't let Wonner out of his sight. And Wonner was happy to compete in any staring contests his father would throw at him.

Home.

I turned towards him and nestled my face into the crook of his neck. His hand went to my hair and stroked it.

"What are you thinking?" he asked.

"Willow told me the babies might look like five-year-olds in a year. That makes me a little sad. I wanted to enjoy all the stages longer. The first five years are the cutest." I sulked at the thought of them growing so fast.

"Yes, but things slow down after that. Don't worry too much. After twenty, it's their magic that matures instead of their physical bodies and they can choose to look any age they are comfortable with." Luis looked down at Wonner, looking disappointed too. 

"How do you know all that?" I lean back to regard him.

He sighed and sadness briefly washed over him. "I remember everything, good and bad. I remember our time in Eden, and how I lost you."

I stared at him some more, wishing those early years were still a part of me, even though they were so painful. It was still my story, and I had to learn it all second-hand. "I'm a little jealous but I know all of our new memories we make will eclipse the bad. I'm determined to enjoy the rest of our very long lives. "

I brushed Von's hair back. The idea of the babies growing so quickly still boggled me. I was told that I grew just as quickly, which was another reason that my mother had ran away with me.

"He looks just like you," I said as I continued to stroke our baby's wispy black hair. The little one turned his head and reached for my finger. I let him clutch it while Luis snuggled me closer into his side.

Ciaran was playing on the floor with Míorúilt, also known as Mimi, who was scooting forward on their tummy, trying to reach a large yellow ball made out of a glittery stone call anzapine. Straif had discovered that anzapine helped to stabilize the baby's system enough that they could survive without drinking blood for longer periods. We quickly made a crib out of the stone, and had many toys carved from it. They'd gone almost the whole week without blood, but we had to give them some the day before. Seeing Ciaran and the baby play together made me smile, but I still had worry over whether this was just some pretty dream that I would wake up from.

Dominic wasn't here, which made it worse.

Dominic had gone to Madewyrd to meet Tylas' father. The plan was for me to go as well, because Tylas wanted to give us both titles in his land. Having won the trials had created immediate relief to the pixies, since they were all able to leave their positions of slavery immediately and return to Madewyrd. Dozens upon dozens of broken families were having happy reunions. Rielte, Brin, Xavian, and Jeanne had tagged along. Jeanne came with Brin to be introduced to his father, and Rielte went to see his mother, bringing Xavian along to share in her hospitality.