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Ripper takes a breath and blinks his eyes – showing how humbled he is by Stryker’s words.

“It takes courage, too, to forgive. You honor me, tribesman. I’ll earn that honor by bringing this tribe into new prosperity.”

The old chief extends his arm, one by one shaking the huge hands of my beloved triad. They accept the gesture, filled with new respect for their humbled Chieftain.

As they do so, one of Ripper’s wives discretely hands me a plain, cotton pad, which I accept gratefully and find some privacy to use.

In the shelter of a dark corner, I pull down my pants and apply the pad.

The sight of my own blood makes me weep. I’d given up all hope of ever starting a family when my periods stopped, and more so when I got that fateful consultation with the doctor; pronouncing me irreparably infertile.

It had seemed like a curse at time, but as I pull my pants up I realize that perhaps it was a blessing, instead.

What would have happened to me if I hadn’t been infertile?

I can see it so clearly now. Growing old with Joshua, perhaps never knowing who he truly was – as he put on a good front, but I believed he never truly loved me.

I’d have had a fake life and a fake love.

I’d have had everything I’d wished for at thirty-two-years-old, and hated every second of it.

Instead, my dreams were shattered – and it was beyond the best thing that could have ever happened to me.

Stryker, Haleon, and Brigg come behind me, and wrap me up their arms.

“The southern valleys are lush and fertile, my sweet. We will be lauded as heroes there, and we’ll be able to create for you the future you deserve.” Brigg’s words make me sob, for the first time in as long as I can remember, from complete and utter joy.

Most people get to have just a few, short decades with the ones they love – perhaps forty or fifty, if they meet early and are lucky.

Instead, I will spend thousands of years in bliss with my triad – loved forever.

Three gorgeous, brave, selfless warriors. I can feel how badly they ache for me, and I give myself utterly to their might.

I got the exact opposite of everything I’d planned for – and I couldn’t have been luckier for having done so.

Partner at the law firm by thirty-two. Married by thirty-three. Two kids by thirty-six?

That all seems so small now.

A grin splits my mouth as I look at my mates.

Married to three men by sixty-three.

Ten kids by a hundred.

A laugh escapes my lips, and I feel true joy as the three Aurelians surround me with their love.

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