Descending the stairs, she wasn’t surprised when Xavier slipped from the shadows of the stable to fall into step beside her. They didn’t speak as they made their way through the town with Aria calling out greetings or halting to speak with those who stopped her. It took far longer than she’d intended to reach the small dress shop at the bottom of the hill situated near the gates.
A sign on the door said the shop was closed, but Aria tried the handle anyway. It remained locked beneath her grasp.
“You want a dress?” Xavier asked from behind her.
Aria brushed back her braid and glanced down at her simple brown pants and forest green shirt. “You make me sound as bad as Melinda thinks I am,” she muttered.
“You avoid the tailor like cats avoid baths.”
She scowled at him as she turned away from the shop, her gaze scanning the crowd. The apartment above the dress shop led her to believe Milly lived above the store. So if she wasn’t here, then where else would she be?
Lifting her hand to shield her eyes from the sun, Aria strode back up the hill toward the palace. She didn’t go for the main door, but around the side and beneath the trestle to the vast garden beyond. After becoming queen, Aria had knocked out a wall to make it so everyone could enter the garden. Its beauty should be shared with them all.
The garden had been empty when she’d looked out earlier, but it was so large that someone could wander it for hours, enjoying the numerous flowers and trees, before ever making it to the center.
Xavier didn’t question her, but she could feel his curiosity mounting as he walked by her side through the rows of privet, fruit trees, roses, lilacs, lilies, and other numerous plants. At the end of the pathway, Aria stopped when she spotted a woman standing before the fountain. The woman had her head tipped back and her hands clasped behind her back as she gazed at the figures in the center.
Aria stood and stared at the woman in the flowing, deep blue gown that hugged her rounded figure and spilled across the earth around her. Her wheat-colored hair had been cut into a bob a couple inches above her shoulders. Aria could see nothing of her features as her back was to them, but if this woman was who Aria believed her to be, then the woman’s eyes were blue.
“Stay here,” Aria said to Xavier, and he shot her a disgruntled look. “Please.”
He glanced at the woman before bowing his head. Aria made her way forward. “Milly?” The woman remained gazing at the fountain, lost in a deep reverie. “Camille?”
The woman stiffened; her clasped hands fell away from her back as she turned. Her mouth parted when she spotted Aria. She dipped into a graceful curtsy that would have had Aria sprawling on her ass, as her feet were twisted awkwardly and she was off balance when she made the move.
“Your Highness,” she greeted.
“Please rise,” Aria said quietly.
The woman rose before her. Aria’s gaze skimmed over her beautiful features before settling on her clear, aqua-colored eyes.
“I didn’t mean to intrude. I thought these gardens were open to the public,” she said hastily.
“They are,” Aria replied as she stopped before her. “You are Camille.”
The woman’s face became composed, but Aria sensed her distress. “My name is Milly,” she replied.
“But you were once called Camille.”
Her rosebud lips compressed for a minute before she spoke again. “Many lifetimes ago, yes.”
“Your sister was Genny.”
Tears filled her eyes before she wiped them away. “How do you know that?”
For a minute, Aria couldn’t speak. When her fingers had fallen upon the intricate design in Tempest’s gown that had resembled a G, she’d dimly recalled what Atticus had written in his journal. His cousin, Merle, had run into Camille many years ago in a place called Paris. Camille had been designing clothing at the time.
“She seemed happy enough,” Merle had told him. “But she told me she misses Genny every day and she actually hides a little G in every piece of clothing she creates.”
Aria hadn’t dared to hope it could actually be a G she’d discovered instead of some random formation within the lace, but she’d still been drawn to seek out the woman who had created the dress. She had to know. This was the one vampire in all the world Atticus had still had some care for throughout his life, the only one he’d sought to protect.
“Atticus kept journals,” Aria said to her, and Camille made a choked sound. “He also kept your sister’s journals.”
“All these years,” Camille whispered.
“He loved her very much.”
“He did. More than I’d ever believed possible for two people to love each other. Because of what I saw between the two of them, I’ve waited my whole life for that kind of love and will continue to wait. Atticus was once a very good man.”
“I know,” Aria said.
“He was once my friend, my brother. What they did to Genny broke him.”
“I know,” Aria said again and rested her hand on Camille’s arm.
The woman looked amazed by the gesture. “Yes, from what I’ve seen and heard, you would know what it’s like to be loved and to love like that.”
“Atticus continued to try to look out for you over the years.”
“I know. It’s why I’m still alive. His men found me in India and brought me to safety before he destroyed much of the world. I stayed in a town a couple hundred miles away while he lived, but decided to move here after he passed. I wanted to see his children. I’d heard they were happy, that they loved deeply and were loved in return. I had to see that at least a piece of him had survived and found the joy Atticus and Genny were denied.”
Aria found it difficult to speak around the lump in her throat. “The journals, if you would like them, I think they belong to you.” She would remove the information about Melinda’s true parentage from them, but Camille deserved to have them.
“I would love them! My sister”—her hand pressed against her chest—“she was my best friend, my protector. We were supposed to always be together. Us against the world. The loss of a sibling…” Her voice trailed off as she gave Aria a sympathetic smile. “But then, you also know what that is like.”
A sharp twinge went through Aria’s heart at the reminder of the loss of Daniel. At one point, she and her brothers were all going to grow old together, or at least as old as a rebel could. Then, she and William had been changed and faced with the knowledge that Daniel would grow old and die while they remained untouched by the years. They were supposed to have had those years of Daniel’s life though, and his children and grandchildren to watch over as they continued his legacy.
And Atticus was supposed to have had Genny, but if they had been granted the life they should have had, I would not have Braith.
She knew life was not always fair and could often be cruel, but there was still much happiness to be found within it.
“I’m sorry for your loss,” Camille said to her.
“And I’m sorry for yours.”
“How did you know who I was?”
Aria wiped away her tears and smiled at her. “Merle told Atticus you put a little G into everything you create. I spotted a G in Tempest’s train yesterday.”
Camille laughed. “I’d forgotten I’d told Merle that.”
“Would you like to see the journals now?”
“Yes.”
“Come with me.”
Aria turned to find that Braith, Jack, and Gideon had joined Xavier on the pathway. They were all frowning at her as she made her way to them. Resting her hand on Braith’s cheek, she rose on her toes to kiss him.
“You are no longer the oldest vampire, once again,” she told him. His brow furrowed as he gazed between her and Camille. He may not be the oldest, again, but he was still clearly the most powerful. Even with her many years, Camille’s strength couldn’t compare to what Braith radiated. “I’d like for you to meet Camille.”
Realization dawned in his strikin
g eyes, and his mouth parted as he gazed at her in wonder. Camille went to curtsy, but he took hold of her arm, stopping her before she could. “No,” he said in a hoarse voice. “You do not have to do that, not for me.”
Jack’s eyes swung between Braith and Camille. Xavier’s head tilted in that studious way of his. Aria could almost hear the wheels spinning in his mind. Gideon looked as if he’d been socked in the stomach as he gazed at Camille. Gideon hadn’t read the journals, he had no idea who Camille was, but he couldn’t tear his gaze away from her.
“Will you tell us about our father?” Jack inquired as he stepped forward.
Shock rippled through Aria as Jack called Atticus his father; most times he referred to him as Atticus, or that man, but it seemed as if most of his anger toward his father had worn away over time.
Camille’s smile grew. “I would love to.”
EPILOGUE
Aria
Five years later
Aria smiled while she watched the children dashing in and out of the flowers lining the garden walkway. The children’s laughter rang loudly through the air as they squealed with delight while trying to catch each other. Melinda and Ashby’s daughter, Corrine, ran by with her blonde hair blowing behind her and her green eyes dancing with merriment. Sitting beside Aria, Melinda’s hand fell to her rounded belly as her second child grew within her. Ashby smiled at her before resting his hand over hers.
Braith bent to lift Corrine as she ran toward him with her arms extended. He swept her up and out of the way of the pack of boys pursuing her. Corrine turned and stuck her tongue out at her cousins before throwing her arms around Braith and hugging him while the boys all jumped around him.
Braith laughed as he shooed them away, his gray eyes dancing with merriment when Jack and Hannah’s three-year-old son, David, stuck his tongue out at Corrine and darted away. Before Jack had named his child after her father, he’d asked William and Aria if they would mind, but neither of them had. Young David’s coffee-colored hair was the same hue as his mother’s, but his gray eyes were the color of Jack’s.
William and Tempest’s four-year-old son, James, ran over to them and jumped onto William’s lap. His auburn hair shone in the sun spilling over him and his brown eyes danced with mischief. The two of them had been blessed with a son who had William’s recklessness and temper, but then Aria’s own children had decided to take after her in that way too.
Her gaze slid back to Braith as he set Corrine on her feet and opened his arms to embrace their four-year-old twins. Ella slid her arms around his neck. Her black hair fell about her shoulders as her blue eyes danced merrily. In his other arm, Daniel tugged at Braith’s shirt before kissing his cheek. Daniel had her dark auburn hair and Braith’s gray eyes with the blue band around them.
Her brother had sacrificed himself for her, for everyone, yet his memory would live on forever with their child and the monument Braith erected in his memory a year after his passing. Braith had surprised her and William with the statue of an oak tree with Daniel’s face etched into its bark, and the names of all those who had perished in the battle against Sabine beneath it.
Aria knew the monument meant as much to Braith as it did to her. He believed that if Daniel hadn’t stepped between her and Sabine, he never would have gotten there in time to stop Sabine from killing her.
The year after Braith had surprised them with the statue for Daniel, he’d had another erected in honor of all of those who had battled against Atticus and lost their lives. This one was a silver horse standing proudly outside the palace walls, and it had the names of all the fallen carved around the base of it. Her father’s name was in the center of all the many others; the silver horse of the statue was strikingly similar to the brooch at her neck.
The peace her father and brother fought and died for had held strong for the last five years. There were still some fights, there always would be, but things flowed smoothly between the humans and vampires now. They all worked well together and had found a happy balance between the species. Under her and Braith’s rule, and with the guidance of The Council, she knew the peace would continue to thrive for many years to come.
She wished her father and Daniel could have been here to see all that they’d helped to accomplish, but she often felt them looking after her, and occasionally she swore she smelled one or both of them or heard their laughter.
Her son, Daniel, already showed an affinity for drawing. Sometimes, she would find him sitting and staring at things in an assessing way that would make her stop to watch him with her heart in her throat. It might not be true, but she believed a piece of her brother lived on in the nephew he’d never gotten the chance to meet.
Aria’s heart swelled with love as she watched Braith with their children. Her hand fell to her belly and the new life growing within. It would only be a couple more months before their family grew even more. Braith caught the gesture and grinned proudly at her as he hoisted the twins higher in his arms.
Her eyes were drawn to Maeve as she adjusted the baby swaddled within her arms. Max leaned over to look down at his son, Dylan. A grin spread across his face when the baby’s fingers enclosed around his own.
Braith carried the twins over to her and settled onto the edge of the fountain beside her. Both of the twins leaned over to kiss her cheek before leaping from his arms and taking off after their cousins again.
From around the corner of the pathway, Gideon and Camille strolled into sight. Their hands were clasped together; Camille laughed as Gideon slipped a rose behind her ear. Camille had finally found the love she’d been seeking. Most were amazed it was with Gideon, of all vampires, but he was hugely devoted to her, and they’d been happily married for almost three years now.
“How did your parents keep you two mortals alive?” Braith inquired of her and William when James tackled Daniel, and Ella leapt onto James’s back. At three minutes older than her brother, Ella had most likely inherited Braith’s ability to not be so easily killed, but it wasn’t something Aria ever wanted to find out for certain.
Aria laughed. “Not easily.”
“Not at all,” William agreed. “I think these little vamps may be tame compared to us.”
Aria grinned as she nodded her agreement.
“Impossible,” Tempest insisted.
“Not so much,” Jack said from where he sat with Hannah on the bench across the way. He had his arms draped around Hannah’s waist as she sat on his lap. “I knew those two when they were human teens, and believe me, keeping them alive was a battle.”
Aria and William both glowered at him before thrusting their shoulders back. “We didn’t need anyone to keep us alive,” William declared.
“Agreed,” Aria said firmly, and Braith laughed.
Xavier stepped forward and, grabbing Ella by the waistband of her pants, lifted her easily off of James. She squealed as she kicked and punched at the air. “He jumped my brother!” she shouted.
“That’s your daughter,” Aria and Braith said to each other at the same time and then laughed.
He slid his arm around her waist and pulled her against his side as Xavier handed Ella to Timber before plucking James off of Daniel. Aria closed her eyes, savoring the laughter surrounding her and the warmth of her husband against her.
“I love you,” he murmured in her ear.
“I love you too,” she replied and lifted her mouth to his. His fingers caressed her cheeks while he took possession of her mouth. A thrill went through her entire body as his tongue brushed over her lips, and she opened her mouth to his invasion.
Peace and love.
It had taken so long to find, but it was here now. She’d never been happier in her life, yet she knew their lives together and with their growing family were only just beginning. There were many more years of peace to come, and she looked forward to loving Braith and being loved by him for every one of them.
THE END
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR
My name is not really Erica Stevens, it is a pen name that I chose in memory of two amazing friends lost too soon, I do however live in Mass with my wonderful husband and our puppy Loki. I have a large and crazy family that I fit in well with. I am thankful every day for the love and laughter they have brought to my life. I have always loved to write and am an avid reader.
Erica Stevens, Unbound
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