The joy that fills our bond is overwhelming. After everything we've survived—the near-death experience, the sacrifice, the six months of recovery—we've created life again. Our family will grow, our daughter will have a sibling, and the Vine Court will have another child to celebrate.
"How do you feel about that?" I ask, though her radiant smile already gives me the answer.
"Perfect," she replies, leaning into my arms. "Like everything is exactly as it should be."
As I hold my pregnant mate in the aftermath of our reunion, I realize that some gifts are worth any sacrifice.
We chose each other over power, wisdom over desire, love over everything else that seemed important.
And now we'll spend eternity proving that the hardest choices create the most precious rewards.
"Ready for sleep?" I ask as her heat finally begins to ebb.
"More than ready," she yawns against my chest. "But Thorian?"
"Yes?"
"Thank you. For choosing me, for sacrificing for me, for building this life with me."
"Thank you for being worth every choice I've ever made."
As sleep takes us both, surrounded by the flowers that bloomed in response to our perfect union, I know that tomorrow will bring new challenges, new joys, new opportunities to choose each other over and over again.
And I can't wait to see what we'll build together next.
Some love stories have endings.
Ours is just beginning.
CHAPTER 34
MAYA
Three yearslater
The gardens have never been more beautiful.
I'm sitting in the shade of the ancient oak that anchors our private courtyard, watching our world bloom with impossible abundance. Ryaed, now three and a half, chases butterflies between flower beds that respond to her presence with bursts of spontaneous color. Her dark hair catches the afternoon light as she giggles, and roses unfurl wherever her laughter touches the air.
My hand rests on my swollen belly, eight months heavy with our third child. After Ryaed came our son Areden, now a toddler of two who's currently napping in the nursery under Lady Elvinia's watchful eye. And soon, if the healers are correct, we'll welcome another daughter into our growing family.
Three children in three years. More than any Fae king has sired in millennia, according to the court historians who've taken to following our family's story with something approaching religious devotion.
"Mama, look!" Ryaed calls, holding up a dandelion that's transformed into a perfect sphere of silver seeds at her touch. "I made wishes!"
"Beautiful, sweetheart," I call back, marveling at how effortlessly she manipulates plant life. Her magic is already stronger than mine was before my divine transformation, and she's not even four yet. Sometimes I catch Thorian watching her with wonder, as if he can't believe we've created something so extraordinary.
The afternoon air carries the sound of celebration from the outer courtyards. Another wedding, the third this month. The Vine Court has experienced a fertility boom unlike anything in recorded history since I sacrificed my divinity to restore their reproductive abilities. Couples who struggled for centuries are conceiving within months. Families thought too old to expand are welcoming new children.
And while I no longer possess goddess-level power, my reduced abilities seem perfectly suited for encouraging such abundance. A touch here, a blessing there, and suddenly couples find themselves expecting the children they'd dreamed of for decades.
"You look thoughtful," Thorian's voice comes from behind me, warm with affection that still makes my heart flutter after all these years.
"Just counting blessings," I reply, leaning back against him as he settles on the bench beside me. His hand joins mine on my belly, and our unborn daughter responds to her father's touch with a strong kick.
"She's going to be as spirited as her sister," he observes with obvious pride.
"God help us all," I laugh, watching Ryaed convince a entire rose bush to bloom out of season through sheer force of adorable determination. "Between her and Areden, we're going to have our hands full."
