Page 86 of Modern Romance September 2025 5-8

EPILOGUE

Six Months Later…

B LACK PILLAR LAMPPOSTS of knotted metal with glass tops lit the space. Dew clung to the leaves. Newly emerging buds lifted upwards to meet the sun. And the fireflies danced on the walls.

He’d replicated it perfectly. And yet it was different. They would not meet in the dark. He had all the lights on. There was no key in the gold lock. The black iron gates, bracketed by headed stone pillars, were wide open.

He was not hiding in the shadows of the colonnade.

He stood on the stone path, and he waited for her.

He would see her. She would see him. And they would meet here, in the gardens, where it had all begun.

Sebastian let his gaze wander over the walled garden of wild flowers.

They had been trimmed and harnessed to allow for the small gathering of white chairs tied with silver bows.

For the arch of wild flowers they’d meet beneath.

But it was still wild. And he recognised it now, saw it.

Its beauty. Because in all things wild, there was a stillness. A harmony.

Aurora was his stillness. She was his harmony. He was calm. He wore no other skin than his own. And he did not feel wild or tamed. He felt… whole . Seen.

His throat tightened.

His eyes fell on Esther and her wife. Their only guests. Together, they held his son for him. Protected him with their love for him, their love for each other, and their love for… Sebastian . And he accepted it. Esther’s loyalty. Her love. And he gave it back tenfold. She was… they were…his family.

He was loved, and he loved. Deeply. He accepted that now.

Accepted what he hadn’t been able to accept for twenty-five years—that he was not cursed to kill with his love.

He was not blinded by feelings. His feelings made him stronger.

His love was the precursor to everything he’d never had, but all he would have now with Aurora. A family.

All the air left his lungs in a hiss.

Through the iron gates, she came to him.

And Sebastian watched her. Pearls dotted her black hair, which was tied in a loose knot at the side of her head.

A few silken locks fell forward to kiss her cheeks.

Strands of smaller pearls hung from her ears.

The white fur cape hanging from her shoulders moved in time with her white satin shoes.

Her dress, sculpted to her body, was made of the iridescent pearls of the sea.

His siren had returned, and he would go with her willingly.

Because wherever she was, he was home.

She was his home.

She was his family.

Aurora was love.

His love.

He was born to love her. Made only for her. All he had been through, all he had endured, was to prepare him for how hard he could love.

And it was so very intensely. So very hard that he loved her.

She was his. She belonged to him, and he belonged to her.

And there on the broken stone path where they had met, they shared their vows and joined their hands in matrimony.

In love.

Unconditional love.

Forever.