“I don’t want to wait another second,” Roscoe says.
“What for?” Silver frowns, looking adorably confused.
She wouldn’t be confused if she realized how many hours of planning had gone into this night. To ensure that she had a perfect birthday before, we asked her to spend every future birthday with the four of us.
As a family.
“Silver. I love you more than I could ever express. Meeting you turned my life upside down and lit up my night sky. You’re the light in the dark. The water in the desert. You are perfect for me, for us. And I want you to be ours forever,” Roscoe blurts out the words, plowing right through as Silver lets out a little gasp, her hands covering her mouth.
“You are the strongest person I know,” Fabian says. “You loved me even when I hurt you every time I turned my head and couldn’t recall your name. But my heart never forgot you, Silver. My soul knew you were mine, that we were supposed to be together, and I’m so glad you’ve given me more chances than I ever deserved. I want you to be with me always.”
Her eyes have flooded with tears, but she doesn’t speak and Zeph uses the opportunity to say his piece.
“I was a prick to you and you forgave me. You showed that you have more grace and forgiveness in your pinky than any of the rest of us put together. You’re the best person I know, and spending time with you is my favorite part of my day. Be mine. Ours.”
We all drop to one knee so we’re in a semicircle surrounding her, like knights circling our queen.
“Silver, you broke through the ice around my heart and you made life worth living. You are everything and I want to spend every day for the rest of our lives showing you just how much you mean to me. To us all. Will you do us the honor of becoming ours?”
She wipes furiously at the tears dripping down her cheeks. “Of course, I will. You want me to be your wife?”
“Forever and always.”
Epilogue II
Luna
One year later
Istumble back until I’m sitting on the edge of the bathtub, rubbing my temples.
Oof, that was a doozy of a vision. My head’s pounding and I find I can’t quite catch my breath.
It’s the fifth one this week that hit just as hard. Another confusing mess of images and sounds I can’t make sense of.
Recently, that’s all my visions have been. Maybe I’ve broken my magic by nulling it so much over the past few years. There’s only been a few weeks at a time I’ve let my magic go free.
The breaks are only enforced whenever SIlver gives me that concerned big sister look—despite me being a good few years older than her—whenever I ask for her to top up the jewelry that works to null my magic. I then pretend like I’m fine and that I’ll allow nature to take its course. But I always cave after a week or two of the near constant migraines and random surges of adrenaline. Like my magic is rebelling about being tamped down, so it comes back twice as hard as usual.
I wouldn’t mind so much if I could control when the visions came. But I can be working, sleeping, midway through sex and they’ll take over my brain.
More often than not, theyhurttoo. Like something is being forced inside my head that isn’t supposed to be there. I canfeelmy brain expanding to accept it, but it doesn’t do so without any resistance.
Hence the need for the nulling magic.
