She was changed, different. The power within her was no longer the texture and color it had always been—no, now it was a blended magic, luminous, brilliant, and rich—a combination of her and Logan and Cameron.
The magic now bound them and was the same for them all.
“Easy.” Cameron kissed her shoulder and then gently withdrew from her body. She sighed when she felt his care of her, a stroking warm dampness that cleaned the gel from her skin. Cameron moved back slightly, giving them room on the bed.
Logan eased onto his side, laying her on the mattress between him and his brother. He snuggled her close, and when Cameron moved in again and spooned her, Diana knew she was exactly where she wanted to be.
This was home. This was forever—herself, with these two men.
“That was the most incredible experience of my life.” Logan’s words brushed her forehead. He kissed them against her.
She loved the sound of his voice through his chest. She loved him, she loved Cameron, and she could not believe how settled, how peaceful and happy, she felt.
“Truly magical,” Cameron said. He kissed her shoulder.
“You’ve made me better than I was,” Diana said. “You’re my soul mates, and I never want to be without you, not ever again.”
“I’m at peace now,” Cameron said. “When I hadn’t understood how unsettled I truly was. I’m at peace, and whole, because we’re together.”
“We have forever,” Logan said. “And decades ahead of us to make a family—to live, to love, to laugh.”
The future would come, and while Diana had no idea what all it would hold for them, she wasn’t worried, not one bit. She’d have her sisters and the families they would all make. But mostly, she had Logan and Cameron. Together, they had everything.
Epilogue
She called to him, awakening him from a sound sleep…and yet, not. As Roman opened his eyes, he realized he was in mind space. Oddly so because the familiar environs of his cottage near the cliff were exactly as they had been when he’d lain down to rest.
He got up and, following the summons, opened the door and stepped out into the inky blackness of the night.
He recognized her at once, of course.
“Mother.”
“Roman. You’ve done well, my son.”
“It hurt.” Only with his mother could he open up, reveal all or, maybe, he thought, that should be admit all. The truth was his mother knew him heart and soul. He could keep nothing from her.
“I’m surprised to see you. Once Gregor and Remis died, I thought…” He didn’t let the sentence finish, though he couldn’t close out the thought. He’d thought that, since he’d fulfilled his destiny, he’d never see her again. She wasn’t of this world, but of the other.
She came toward him, as ethereal as the air, a woman not of flesh and not of spirit but of both and neither. He saw, in that moment, the many different forms she’d taken since the dawn of time until she completely materialized before him in the body of the mother he’d always known as Rowena Johns.
“I had to leave you so you could make your own choices. But I am never gone from you completely, my son. And your entire destiny is not yet fulfilled. There is more…so much more awaiting you.”
With great power always comes great responsibility. They were the words he’d been weaned on. Roman had convinced himself that his role in what the Gifted called the first prophecy was his highest calling, even though he’d known, deep down, there had to be more.
He’d come this far. How could he turn his back on his destiny now?
“When, Mother? And what?”
She reached for his hands, and he gave them. Thus joined, he had a sense of the finite and the infinite, of the past and the present and the future. Thus joined, he felt more than he ever had, and trembled, for the newness and the richness of the power his mother gave to him.
And he gained the certain knowledge that his adventures truly had only just begun.
“Soon, my son,” whispered the Sylph as she faded into the air. “Soon.”
THE END
WWW.MORGANASHBURY.COM
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Morgan Ashbury, also writing as Cara Covington, has been a writer since she was first able to pick up a pen. In the beginning, it was a hobby, a way to create a world of her own, and who could resist the allure of that? Then as she grew and matured, life got in the way, as life often does. She got married and had three children, and worked in the field of accounting, for that was the practical thing to do, and the children did need to be fed. And all the time she was being practical, she would squirrel herself away on quiet Sunday afternoons, and write.
Most children are raised knowing the Ten Commandments and the Golden Rule. Morgan’s children also learned the Paper Rule: Thou shalt not throw out any paper that has thy mother’s words upon it.
Believing in tradition, Morgan ensured that her children’s children learned this rule, too.
Life threw Morgan a curve when, in 2002, she underwent emergency triple bypass surgery. Second chances are to be cherished, and with the encouragement and support of her husband, Morgan decided to use hers to do what she’d always dreamed of doing—writing full-time.
Morgan has always loved writing romance. It is the one genre that can incorporate every other genre within its pulsating heart. Romance showcases all that humankind can aspire to be. And, she admits, she’s a sucker for a happy ending.
Morgan’s favorite hobbies are reading, cooking, and traveling—though she would rather you didn’t mention that last one to her husband. She has too much fun teasing him about having become a “Traveling Fool” of late.
Morgan lives in Southwestern Ontario, Canada, with a mysterious cat, a nine-pound Morkie dog who thinks he’s a German Shepherd, and her husband of forty-three years, David.
For all titles by Cara Covington, please visit
www.bookstrand.com/cara-covington
For titles by Cara Covington writing as
Morgan Ashbury, please visit
www.bookstrand.com/morgan-ashbury
Siren Publishing, Inc.
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The Gifted 3: Passions Ascended (Siren Publishing Ménage Everlasting) Page 15