“Right. You’re right.” He meets my gaze. “We’re going to have a child.” The wonder in his voice melts my heart.
“A daughter, it would seem.” I can’t stop my tears. A little girl kissed by the sun and blessed by the moon. How did I get so fortunate?
He kisses me again and pulls me close, but gently this time. “I hope she’s just like you.” He cups my cheeks and wipes away my tears.
I smile, my heart full of a joy I never expected but dearly love.
Epilogue
Emma
“It’s so small. I love it!” Claraluna sits at the table where I used to darn socks.
Our old cottage in Moonhollow has been empty for quite some time, but it remains untouched. A fire crackles in the hearth, Mama refusing to allow it to remain cold while we visit.
Clara’s right. It is small now that I’ve gotten used to the Shard of Day.
“Now if you’d learn how to stitch, you could be just like your Grammy.” My mother puts an old pair of socks in front of the child, along with a needle and thread.
“I do want to be just like you.” Clara wrinkles her little brow. “But where are your wings?” She flaps the golden ones at her back.
Mama laughs. “Well, I had a set just like yours back when I was still in the bloom of my youth. Though mine were a bright pink with green sparkles.”
“Really?” Clara’s green eyes widen.
“Certainly. Now, let’s get to darning.”
I smile and walk out into the night as Mama tells Clara some rather tall tales. Moonhollow looks so much like it does in my dreams, though now many of the cottages are dark. Eraldon claimed so many lives in his quest for domination that he left the night realm bereft. But all was not lost. Lights still glow in windows along the way.
The cobblestones still threaten to turn my ankles, and fireflies spark in the hedges. Owls argue with each other in the distance, and the bright moon keeps me company as I make my way to the square.
“Your highness.” One of the town’s guards bows low as I pass.
Not for much longer. Cressa has bloomed, her sharp mind already lending itself to politics. We’ve traveled to the night realm for the ceremony to transfer power. She will be queen of the night realm, and I’ll reign in the day.
“Remember when I caught you?” Solano wraps his arms around me.
“Creeping up behind me is a swift way to meet the Ancestors.”
He laughs in my ear, sending pleasant goosebumps racing across my skin. “I love it when you’re feisty.”
I stare at the platform, the wood rotted and the structure falling apart. “I remember,” I say softly. “Mama made me wear slippery shoes.”
“I put you in a fancy carriage and spirited you away.”
I lean back against him. “It seems like a lifetime ago.”
“It does,” he agrees. “But I’m glad I’ve been able to spend it with you.”
He can always make me smile.
We stand there, just looking and remembering, for quite a long time.
“Do you think she’s ready to rule?” I turn my gaze toward the Nightkeep.
“She has to be.” He spins me around, his golden eyes glowing in the shadowy night. “I wasn’t ready when it was my time, but I like to think I rose to the challenge.”
“Brock would say you were dragged kicking and screaming to the challenge.”
