Mother of Death and Dawn (The War of Lost Hearts Book 3)

I put down my pen, and I live.

the end.

This is what it means to have something to lose.

This is what it means to have something to love.

And these days, I have so much to love.

I had never loved so deeply nor feared so intensely. She has amber-green eyes, like the sun through the leaves. Every so often she looks at me and I remember a nightmare I had, a long time ago, and I need to count my breaths until the moment passes.

This, you see, is the thing they don’t tell you about the happy endings.

We blink, and another year passes. Our daughter is born. Our son comes two years later.

It ends with two souls who create a future together.

“It’s too early to have that much energy,” I said.

Sammerin’s eyebrows lurched when he saw me. “You miss me already?”

I had so believed in the Orders, then.

“The end of an era.”

I am proud of myself,” I said.

“You can’t take credit for all of that.”

“The Alliance is seven countries. Ara is only one. Which one of us is more important? Me, clearly.”

His hand was outstretched, as if he had been holding something, or someone.

Aefe was never found. Her body was gone.

“Together,” I choked out. “We go together.”

“Your story deserved a better end.”

I kissed him, and it was there, on the precipice of life and death, I felt the final shift in his resolve.

“Nothing ever truly ends,” I whispered.