by Wendi Wilson
The crowd went wild as he jumped to his feet and swept me up into his arms. He kissed me with wild abandon as I cried tears of happiness.
So much had changed for me since the dark days in foster care. I had parents who loved me and a grandfather who catered to my every whim. I had the very best friends who would always stand beside me, no matter what. I had the perfect fiancé, a future husband that wanted to make all my dreams come true. Oh, and I was officially a queen.
I never imagined things would turn out this way.
I never dreamed life could be this good.
Epilogue
Five Years Later
“Your trip to the eastern territories was a success, Your Highness. I’ve received word that the crops are growing tall and strong, the young trees are healthy, and the streams are clean and appropriately acidic.”
I looked at my advisor, giving him a nod.
“And the academy? How is the integration going?”
It had taken a few years and a lot of joint council meetings, but Easton and I had finally convinced the Sylph council that allowing Zephyrs to attend the academy was a good thing and would only serve to strengthen the bonds we were building between the two races.
After they finally agreed, it had taken even more time to convince the Zephyr parents that their kids would be welcomed and not shunned or humiliated. The Sylphs had been surprisingly open-minded and accepting of the changes.
But that had a lot to do with their king.
“Everything seems to be going well. No real trouble between the students besides normal, teenage drama,” he said, rolling his eyes before catching himself and clearing his throat. “Headmaster Everest has it well in hand.”
I couldn’t suppress my smile. I was certain he was right. If anyone could handle sassy, self-centered teens, it was Shaela Goodman Everest. And I was sure her husband Charles did his part, too.
“That is good to hear, Sawyer,” I said, excusing him. “Thank you.”
I watched as my advisor bowed and backed from the room, shaking my head with impatience. I’d told him time and again there was no need for such formality and reverence, but old habits die hard. After years of servitude to Sebille, he simply could not bring himself to treat me casually.
“A Miss Aurora Finley Oberon to see you, Your Highness.”
“Ah, my most important appointment of the day,” I replied, looking up from the paperwork on my desk.
My smile widened until my cheeks hurt as Easton stepped into my office, carrying our chubby-cheeked, eight-month-old daughter. He leaned over and plopped her on my lap, pressing a lingering kiss to my cheek before straightening.
“What have you been up to today, Finley?” I cooed, earning a gurgling laugh.
I stroked my hand over her fuzzy golden head. Her Grandma Freya was over the moon that Finley had inherited her coloring. With the same blue eyes as me and my mother, and Easton’s nose and chin, she was already charming every person she met—Sylph, Zephyr, and human alike.
I tickled Finley’s bare feet and she giggled, jerking them away from my fingers. Her wings popped out, and I admired their beauty as her tiny hand snaked out and grasped my pearl necklace. The light blue color in the center was the exact shade of Easton’s wings, but the edges were black.
The two-tone effect was absolutely stunning.
“Our daughter is one-of-a-kind, isn’t she?” I asked, tearing my eyes from her to look at Easton.
“Just like her mommy,” he replied, giving me a warm smile.
“And her daddy,” I smiled back.
Finley yanked on my pendant, and the silver chain bit into my neck, making me flinch. I extricated the necklace from her fist, and her expression pinched into one of displeasure. I sensed a fit coming on, so I quickly handed her over to Easton, who had a special way with her.
He bounced her up and down, then swung around in a circle. Finley’s frown disappeared and was immediately replaced with a wide smile, her two teeth gleaming in the light streaming through the windows.
“Can you imagine her as a teenager?” Easton asked as he stopped spinning and set her on the floor with a box of toys I kept there.
“No,” I laughed. “I can’t even imagine her as a five-year-old.”
“I bet she’s going to be a hellion.”
“Shut your mouth, Mr. Oberon,” I said. “My daughter is one hundred percent pure angel.”
I stood and moved around the desk to stand beside him, linking my fingers through his as we watched in silence for several moments as she stacked cups and blocks. Tears stung my eyes as I thought about our happy family and the drastic changes that were headed our way.
“Can you imagine her as a big sister?” I asked, keeping my tone light.
“Oh, she would be an amazing big sis…ter…”
He trailed off as he spun to face me, his ice-blue gaze trapping mine and demanding the truth. I nodded, letting the tears I’d been holding back trail down my face.
“Really?” he asked, his voice filled with awe. “Another baby?”
“Yes,” I confirmed.
With a loud whoop, Easton snatched me up by the waist and spun me around, much the same way he’d just done Finley. He stopped spinning, and my feet had no sooner touched the floor than his lips sealed over mine in a searing kiss.
“Da-da.”
We jerked away from each other to look at Finley. Easton’s wide eyes matched my own when he turned to me.
“Did she just say da-da?”
“I think so,” I said.
“Da-da.”
“That was definitely da-da,” he exclaimed, striding forward to sweep her up in his arms.
She snuggled into his chest as he walked back to me. I pressed forward to hug him with Finley sandwiched between us. In less than a year, our family of three would become a family of four.
I marveled at the life I’d lived and was eager to experience everything the future had in store for us. It would be magnificent. I just knew it.
And just like the Aurora and her prince in the storybook Easton gave me so long ago, we all were going to live happily ever after. Together.
Bonus Scene
The Academy, after the confrontation with Sebille…
I was fast losing the battle to keep my eyes open when the academy came into view through the windows of the car. Seeing those old stone walls spiked my adrenaline, and I straightened, pulling my head from Easton’s shoulder where it had been resting the entire drive back from the city.
I was bone-tired. We all were. After the battle with Sebille and the subsequent clean-up efforts, we’d piled into two cars we borrowed from the Zephyr guards.
We didn’t exactly ask for permission, and they were in no condition to deal with us, anyway. Coming out of Sebille’s long-term Glamour had really done a number on their heads.
As the car rolled to a stop, Easton and I climbed form the backseat as if in slow-motion. My parents were a little quicker to exit the vehicle and were standing off to the side, and we walked over to them. Shaela, Charles, Puck, and Freya climbed from the other car to join us.
We formed a tight circle, smiling into each other’s tired faces. Charles chuckled, and it was contagious. Within a few heartbeats, all eight of us were laughing. Grandfather pulled Mom under one arm and Shaela under the other while he grinned at me with pride shining in his eyes.
“You did well, Granddaughter,” he said.
“We all did,” I replied, my words humming with emotion.
Freya stepped up to Easton and wrapped her arms around him. He let go of my hand to hug her, and I stepped away to give them some modicum of privacy. Cris grabbed my wrist and pulled me against his chest, enveloping me in his warmth.
“Are you okay?” he whispered against my hair.
It was a loaded question. I’d just killed my grandmother—his mother—effectively making myself a queen. Oh, and the rain I created apparently healed the ground and made plants grow at an unnaturally fast rate.<
br />
There were big changes in my future, but as I pulled back and scanned the faces around me, I knew everything was going to be okay.
“I’m great,” I said, smiling at my dad. “I’m better than great. Everything is perfect.”
He opened his mouth to respond, but the front door of the academy swung open with a loud creak behind us. We turned, and my eyes narrowed on the disgusting blonde sashaying down the steps toward us.
“I’ve called the guards,” Tiana called out, her voice strong and firm with some misplaced sense of authority. “You are all being arrested.”
Her steps faltered a little when her eyes landed on Easton. She quickly regained her composure, letting her eyes drift back to me. The dark pleasure that lit their navy depths might have been a little unnerving before, but after everything I’d been through, the only emotions I felt were impatience and annoyance.
And anger. An anger that was quickly escalating out of control.
“On whose authority?” Mom asked, tilting her head to study Tiana.
“Do not speak to me,” Tiana growled.
I stepped forward, my magic pulsing under my skin like a second heartbeat, begging to be released. The wind picked up without my command, whipping my hair back from my face as I raised my hands in Tiana’s direction.
“Alwyn will have your head if you hurt me, bitch,” Tiana warned.
Several bodies pushed forward at her words. My family, ready and willing to fight beside me should I need help. But I didn’t need any help. I could her handle it all on my—
“Do you mean my husband?”
Freya stepped in front of me as she called out those words, her forceful voice echoing around us. Tiana eyes widened as they traveled down the length of her. I looked over at Freya and smiled. Gone was the nervous, flighty, frizzy-haired Sylph that she’d been portraying. Before us stood a strong, imposing woman.
The daughter of a king.
“I…he…we…”
As Tiana stuttered, looking for some kind of response, my magic receded to a controllable level. My eyes flicked back and forth between them, waiting for the inevitable explosion.
“Did you think you were carrying on with him behind my back? That I was so distraught over the passing of my father that I had no clue a power-hungry little leech had latched onto my husband and was using his status to improve her own?”
Easton drew in a short breath at his mother’s words, and I realized we’d never told him about his father and Tiana. I reached back and laced my fingers through his, giving them a squeeze.
“Where is Alwyn?” Tiana squeaked out, her eyes darting across our group as she searched for him.
“Alwyn is dead,” I barked. “He betrayed us to the Zephyr queen, gave up his son as a pawn, and was prepared to help her in her quest to wipe out the humans.”
Tiana’s face paled at my first statement, but was a sickly shade of green by the time I finished.
“And as you were obviously in league with him, you’ll need to be detained and questioned,” Easton added, finally finding his voice.
“I didn’t know,” Tiana huffed between harsh, fearful breaths. “I swear.”
“Like we’d ever believe anything that came out of your nasty, lying mouth,” Shaela said.
Tiana opened her mouth to retort, but my mother cut her off, saying “Our king has spoken, Miss Avery.”
The blonde’s eyes snapped back to Easton, this time wide with fear. Her mouth opened and closed a few times but no sound came out. Then her eyes chased to me, narrowing with anger.
“This is all your fault,” she wailed and charged toward me.
I shook off Easton’s grip and threw my hands into the air. Wind rushed past me, spinning into a cyclone that picked Tiana up and suspended her in the air. She screamed in terror as I lifted her higher and higher, increasing the velocity of the wind until she was spinning inside it.
When I thought she’d had enough, I slowed the speed of the cyclone, bringing her closer to the ground. Then I pulled the air back toward me, and she dropped to her knees on solid earth. Bracing her hands on the ground, she puked with loud, gurgling heaves.
A sudden onslaught of applause drowned out the disgusting sound, and I looked up to see a large group of students pushing through the front doors of the school. They watched Tiana gasp for air in the dirt, pointing and laughing, and I almost felt sorry for her. Almost.
Then I remembered everything she’d done, not just to me but to everyone I loved.
“What is the meaning of this?”
Councilman Seamus pushed his way through the crowd, looking from Tiana to our group. His eyes widened when he saw Easton, then narrowed as his gaze caught on Puck. His bushy mustache twitched with a snarl.
“Seamus,” Easton said, pulling the man’s attention back to him, “please have Miss Avery arrested.”
“On what grounds?”
“Treason,” I said.
“I was not speaking to you, hybrid.”
“Watch your tone when you speak to the Zephyr queen,” Dad growled, taking a menacing step forward with his black wings popped out.
Seamus’s eyes snapped back to me, his mouth falling open. I heard a gasp from Tiana’s direction, but I didn’t spare her a glance.
“Sebille is dead,” I confirm, and the students gathered around us go nuts with excitement.
Easton holds up a hand, and the cheering stops.
“My father is also dead. He help Sebille plan and execute my abduction. He killed my grandfather so he could be king. And he had an affair with Tiana Avery behind my mother’s back.”
It was almost funny how that last bit got the most dramatic reaction from the crowd. The Fae took their marriage bonds seriously. Plus, Tiana sleeping with Alwyn was just…gross.
Seamus motioned for the guards, the very same ones Tiana called on us, to detain her, and she was obviously too wrung out from her wild ride in my cyclone to fight back. They led her away, and I hoped it would be the last time I ever saw her.
The crowd eventually dispersed and we made our way inside with smiles on our faces. We were safe. We were home.
And we were together.
Afterword
I hope you enjoyed Oberon Academy! Thank you so much for reading a story I poured my heart and soul into.
If you have a moment I’d really appreciate it if you could leave a review! Thanks again!
Keep reading for a sneak peek of Oberon Faery Reformatory, an exciting new series coming Spring 2020!
Also by Wendi Wilson
Shadowed Series
Suppressed Series
Blood Persuasion
Unpersuadable
Oberon Faery Reformatory
I’m not even supposed to be here. I should be thousands of miles away, on the other side of the ocean. Touring the historic sights, experiencing foreign cuisine, lounging on sandy beaches as the summer days dwindle and my final year at the academy calls me back to reality.
It doesn’t get much more real than this.
“Rory Finley, please stand.”
I pull myself up on shaky knees as a self-righteous man in black robes spears me with an intense look. His beady brown eyes are narrowed, but I can still see the light of excitement behind his dark pupils. He’s enjoying this.
“You stand accused of murder in the first degree. How do you plead?”
How do I plead? How do I plead?
I’m no expert on how the human justice system works, but I’m pretty sure I should have been offered legal counsel. Someone to stand up for me, argue my case, or at the very least, tell me what to say.
A man is dead. By my hand. Maybe I should just say guilty and get this over with—
“Miss Finley, please answer the question,” the judge barks, interrupting my internal mini freak out. “The fact that you are a Sylphid does not entitle you to special treatment, nor does it place you above the law.”
I open my mouth to argue, to tell him that I don’t see mys
elf as special. That I’m here, rather than on my grand tour of Europe, because I just wanted to have a normal summer like a normal teenager.
That I’m not a Sylphid. Not entirely.
But the only sound that comes out is a yelp when the judge slams his palm against his desk.
“How. Do. You. Plead?” he grits out, and I start to tremble.
I don’t know much, but I do know murder in the first means I intentionally killed him with a preconceived plan. That is not what happened.
“Not guilty,” I squeak out, and a snarl rips through the judge’s thin lips, along with a fair amount of spit.
“We have several witnesses, Miss Finley, who have sworn under oath they saw you shoot your power—a streak of blazing hot fire—into the victim’s chest, after which he fell to the floor. Dead. Do you deny this sequence of events?”
“Well, no, but—”
“Do you deny that you then ran, evading the police for nearly six hours before you were tracked down at your hotel room and taken by surprise?”
“No, but I—”
“So, you admit you killed a man in cold blood, then left the scene of the crime, thus proving your guilt?”
I’m getting nowhere fast with this guy. I don’t know what to say. My mother would know what to do. My father would rip him a new one and swoop me out of here in the safety of his strong arms.
But I can’t call my parents. I’m supposed to be in Europe. And the scandal would devastate not only our whole family, but the peace and cooperation they’ve spent the last two decades building between the Fae and the humans.
Because I’m not a normal faery. I’m not a Sylphid, though my blonde hair and blue eyes declare me one. Which is why this human jumped to that conclusion. If he were to see my wings…
No. No one can see my wings, or they’ll know.
They will know I am not Rory Finley, anonymous teenage Sylph, but Aurora Finley Oberon. That I am the eldest daughter of December Thorne Oberon, queen of the Zephyrs, and Easton Oberon, king of the Sylphids.