“Will you marry me?”
Epilogue
We are married within the month. Our wedding is a relatively intimate affair, by the standards of the fairy court, as much of it is still at large. Thorn does insist on inviting the entirety of the village, in thanks for flocking to my rescue, which raises the numbers substantially. He also insists that his mother uses both of his names for the ceremony.
It takes a while for Freedom to work his way back into my affections, and it isn't until the day of our wedding that I thoroughly forgive him, when he thrusts what is clearly a book, clumsily wrapped, into my hands.
“A book, Freedom?” I say snootily. “I'm afraid I already have all of the books.”
“Trust me,” he says, “You don't have this one.”
I slowly, carefully, pull back the wrapping. It is a thick leather-bound book, with a large golden title. Beauty and the Beast. I peel back the first page. There is a beautiful illustration of a girl in a long red cloak, a basket of berries at her hip, staring out over a frosty landscape at a field of flowers.
“Freedom...” I flick through the other images. The detail, the artistry is incredible. I feel a little lump rising in my throat.
“Ariel helped me with some of the finer details,” he admits. “I hope she didn't exaggerate too much.”
“You've been spending a lot of time with her.”
“We've been working on this!”
“Is that the only reason?”
“No,” he admits cautiously. Then, “Do you like it?”
“I didn't even know you could read!”
He punches me in the arm, and he knows that he is forgiven.
Not long after the wedding, Eilinora leaves the castle to search for the remainder of her court. Her visits home are not frequent at first, and Thorn and I spend many years more or less alone. We travel, visiting places we both thought we would never see outside of an image. We never spend one day apart.
Some years after Thorn and I marry, we welcome our first child, Briar. The day she is born, Thorn takes her in his arms and cries, admitting that he was sure he could never love another girl as much as he loves me, and yet he manages to spread his love not just between us both, but the next three children that follow; Grace, Leo and Liberty.
After the birth of her first grandchild, Eilinora's visits become much more frequent. She looks forward to the days, I think, that she can take them with her. I always sense a sadness in her that is never to be appeased. She mourns Leo, and mourns the time she should have spent with Thorn, time that is never to be hers again. She really did sacrifice her life to save him. She treasures every moment she has with her grandchildren, but she is always a little afraid. They too will be snatched from her before their time.
Papa, Beau, Hope, Honour and Charles, and their many children, often come to visit us, strolling across the gateway as if it is no more than door. The time will come, I know, long after I am dead, when Eilinora will close it again, and we will be forgotten by the world of men, but I try not to think on this. It is unimportant to our present.
Freedom is not a visitor- he moved into the castle within weeks of our wedding. Officially, he is Captain of the Guard. Unofficially, he serves as court painter, and Ariel's favourite person to tease. So much so, that they eventually married. Although fairies and humans are not known to be the most fertile of pairings, they eventually have two daughters, who cause just as much chaos in Freed's life as I believe he deserves.
His book rarely ever sits on a bookshelf, it is too often read. To this day, it is still the story our children ask for most. We tuck them all up in our bed, Thorn one side, me another, with Bramble at our feet. I open the pages of my favourite book and begin to read.
“Once upon a time, in the midst of the longest winter that any man or beast has ever known, a Thorn fell in love with a Rose...”
And, you will be very glad to know, they are living happily ever after.
The Rose and the Thorn Page 32