Epilogue

Three months later…

A thena stared at her husband. They had been married mere hours, yet it felt as though he had always been her husband. Roman had always been hers. She didn't know how she knew that with any amount of certainty, but she did. They were at their wedding breakfast and soon they would depart for their wedding trip. Roman still had not told her where they were going. He wanted to surprise her.

"Are you happy?" he asked.

"Yes," she told him. "As long as I am with you." She realized that not every day would be as wonderful as this one. They would disagree at times. That was just part of life. Yet, even then, she knew she would never regret marrying Roman.

"What do you make of that?" Roman gestured toward Maeve and the Viscount of Pemberton. "Does your sister know he's a rogue and should be avoided?"

Athena studied Maeve and the viscount and then smiled. She had given her mother's journal to her twin earlier that day. It was time to pass it on, and Maeve might find reading it beneficial. Athena had. "He's a temptation. My mother did say one of the twins would face it." That temptation, according to her mother, would lead Maeve to love. The question, of course, was whether the viscount was that very temptation, and if so, would Maeve fall for him, or would he merely guide her to the one she was truly meant to love?

Roman sighed. "That is precisely my concern," he admitted. "He is my friend, but should he harm her…"

"You need not concern yourself with Maeve," she reassured him. "She is far more adept at protecting herself than most give her credit for." Athena glanced at her other sister. Isla looked miserable. She kept glancing toward the Duke of Thornridge when she thought he wasn't looking. "Isla on the other hand…" She frowned. "It breaks my heart to see her so unhappy."

"Perhaps your mother was right. This season of sorrow may yet lead her to where she is meant to be." Roman glanced at Isla. "It is dreadful to witness, yet sometimes such trials must be endured for us to discover where we truly belong. She will be all right in time. I have to believe that." He kissed her cheek. "During the war I experienced a lot of pain and loss, but when I made it through the worst of it I found you. This is Isla's version of that war."

Athena frowned. "I still don't like it."

"No one expects you do. That's part of living through a hardship. Nothing about it is pleasant." Roman lifted her hand and kissed her palm. "Your sisters have something few have."

"What is that?" Athena asked.

"You," he told her. "They have you, love. The three of you share a bond that cannot be broken. If the worst should come to pass, lean on that bond. It will see you through almost anything."

She nodded. Athena loved her sisters, and she would help them if they should need it. If what her mother had predicted was true, they had a lot more to endure. Maeve faced the lure of temptation, while Isla's heart still needed mending. She didn't know who their love would end up being or what might lead them toward finding them, but she understood her sisters. They would be all right.

Athena glanced at Roman. "Thank you, dearest, for loving me."

"That, my love, is my pleasure." Roman pressed his lips to hers.

Their life together was just beginning, and it was better than she could have imagined. Her destiny, her love, and this man…she couldn't have asked for anything better.