“I know what you meant.” She leaned into his touch, savoring the solid presence of him. “Yes. I’m ready.”
They made their goodbyes—quick hugs from her friends, firm handshakes from his pride, a knowing look from Theo that saidtake care of herwithout speaking a word. Beck caught her eye across the garden and raised his glass with a small smile. Not the easy grin she was used to—a more complicated expression lived there—but genuine well-wishes all the same.
The night air was cool as they walked the familiar path back to the inn. Stars wheeled overhead, and Junie found herself memorizing the moment: the sound of distant waves, the scent of night-blooming flowers, Leo’s hand in hers. She wanted to remember every detail. This night. This beginning.
“What did Sue say to you?” Leo asked.
“Cryptic Elder nonsense about patterns in the surge.”
“Helpful.”
“Incredibly.” Junie paused at the inn’s entrance, turning to face him. “Are you happy?”
The question surprised them both. But it mattered—mattered more than she could articulate. She needed to know that this life they were building, this choice they’d made, was what he wanted. What he truly wanted, not accepted because his lion demanded it.
Leo cupped her face in his hands, his thumbs stroking her cheekbones. “I didn’t know I could be this happy. I didn’t know happy like this existed.”
“Me neither. And getting my grandmother’s book back just makes it all so much better. Thank you. I am deliriously happy. It feels strange.”
There were sections of it she still hadn’t decoded—whole pages in a cipher she didn’t recognize, formulas that seemed to belong to a branch of potion-work she’d never encountered. But she’d cracked one entry the night before: a single formula near the front of the encoded section, written in a cipher layer she’d finally recognized as a variant of her grandmother’s own handwriting from forty years ago. The formula described something called a recognition draught, brewed from sea-glass, moonflower, and three ingredients listed only by symbols she hadn’t identified yet. The note beside it was brief and startling:For those who carry the gift without knowing. Reveals what blood has hidden.
Junie still didn’t know what that meant. But she intended to find out.
“I spent twenty years surviving. Going through the motions, building empires, convincing myself that success was the same as fulfillment.” His eyes held hers, steady. “You showed me the difference.”
“You showed me too.” She covered his hands with hers. “I thought I was happy before. I thought my jokes, my friends, and my potions were enough. But there was always this… emptiness I’d papered over. I’d gotten so used to it that I forgot it was there.”
“And now?”
“Now it’s full.” She smiled up at him, and the smile felt different somehow—lighter, freer. Like a weight she’d been carrying for years had finally lifted. “You filled it. Not because Ineeded completing—I was whole before. But because you added what I didn’t know I was missing.”
He kissed her—soft, slow, and full of promise. The bond hummed between them. Above them, Glimmer—who had relocated to a nearby tree branch at some point during the celebration—turned her scales a satisfied gold.
The snake approved.
EPILOGUE
THREE MONTHS LATER
BECK
Three months.
That’s how long it had taken for the hollow ache in Beck’s gut to fade from a constant throb to an occasional twinge. Three months of watching Junie and Leo orbit each other, of seeing her laugh in a way she never had before, of knowing—truly knowing—that he’d never been the one meant to make her that happy.
He was okay with it. Mostly. On good days.
Today was a good day.
The Siren’s Rest garden was transformed for the official mating celebration, draped in white and gold and the kind of fairy lights that made everything look like a dream. Three months ago, Junie and Leo had exchanged vows in this same garden, their ceremony intimate and private. This was the public version—the party Haven Shores had been waiting for, the excuse to drink champagne and dance and celebrate the fact that their favorite chaos witch had found her match.
Beck stood at the bar, nursing a whiskey he didn’t particularly want, watching the first dance.
Leo held Junie like she was precious—one hand at the small of her back, the other clasping her fingers. They moved well as a pair, which surprised exactly no one who’d seen them spar over the past few months. Even their arguments had a rhythm to them.
That was the thing about unrequited feelings—they had a shelf life. Beck had spent years nursing his quiet attraction to Junie, telling himself that someday the timing would be right, that eventually she’d see him as more than a friend. And then Leo had walked into town with his expensive suits and his cold eyes, and Beck had watched Junie come alive in a way she never had for him.
It had hurt. He wasn’t going to pretend it hadn’t.
