Epilogue

EpilogueThe moon was high and full in the sky, the stars were like scattered pieces of rainbow, and the temperature was cool without being cold. A perfect spring night, no better time for a garden ball. Laughter filled the air, wine and champagne would ensure everyone practically floated to their beds as the sun was coming up, and the air was filled with the scent of new roses, various perfumes, and fine food.It could not be a finer night, and Lily absolutely hated it.Well, hate was a strong word. She’d been having a fine time. It was the first break from work she’d had in the almost eight months since her father had been killed and her kingdom nearly lost. Sentencing and executions were long attended, the greater portion of repairs were finished, her people were happy…And she’d not had a single letter from Scout in just over a month. That wasn’t like her. Since she’d left, Lily had received one letter every couple of weeks, sometimes weekly, always addressed to Her Majesty Lily of the Valley, which her secretaries found charming and hilarious.Personally, she felt more like Lily of the Forest these days, especially with Briar’s ring still resting heavy on her finger. She’d considered returning it, but there’d been no time to go trekking through the woods to do so, she did not want to leave it to someone else to return it, not even anyone from her inner circle.And as mad as it might seem, the ring didn’t feel like it was meant to be returned. Not yet, anyway. Every now and then, when she couldn’t sleep, she walked the palace grounds, and swore at times she could hear soft laughter drifting from the woods, or smell roses where no roses grew. After everything she’d been through, she could only find the Laughing Forest and its ghosts comforting.Not as comforting as Scout, but she’d been trying not to think about Scout too much as doing so threatened to send her into a spiral of loneliness and worry.Lily finished her wine, the only cup she’d had all evening, and smiled as Josiah approached her. "How are you this evening?""Marvelous," Josiah replied. "Would my queen grace me with a dance?""I would be delighted to do so," Lily said. She’d already danced a few times that night, but it was a tricky business, dancing with people. Who she might offend by accepting or rejecting an offer; who might think she was offering more than she really was, what people would whisper about, who might decide that one dance meant they could ask for two or even three. Was she being friendly? Was she flirting? Was she announcing intentions? Was she picking a favorite and snubbing others?Planning a war was easier than making decisions on dance partners. Josiah, though, was perfectly safe. A friend, and not even the most ardent gossip could come up with rumors of an affair.So she danced, spinning about the dance floor in the middle of the royal garden, beneath a night sky strewn with rainbow starlight, happy to be with one of her best friends but wishing all the same—The blowing of the trumpets startled her and the rest of the dance floor to a halt. That was to announce a guest, one of high enough rank and importance to be properly announced, rather than simply arriving quietly and slipping into the crowd. But everyone was here, she’d greeted each and every guest, even though they all saw each other every day and formalities were really quite absurd at times.Josiah smirked, but before she could ask why or even begin to guess, he’d taken her by the shoulders and turned her around.The world faded away as her eyes landed on the figure at the top of the stairs: tall, imposing in the best possible way, hair braided and bound, wearing a gold circlet and beautiful Highland style clothes, with tight-fitted black pants overlaid with a dark red skirt split up the sides, a black shirt as fitted as the pants with a red corset over it that blended perfectly into the skirt.Hands nudged her from behind, and Lily gathered herself enough to stride forward as the room cleared to make a path, as the herald’s voice rang out, "Lady Farahild Rothenberg, Alpha of Pack Rothenberg of the Highland Territories."At the bottom of the stairs, Scout swept her a low bow. "Your Majesty."Lily smiled, and only years of training kept her from crying all the tears of joy that wanted out. "Lady Farahild, it’s good to have you home."Scout matched her smile as she rose to her full height, and mercy but Lily had missed being towered over in that comforting way of Scout’s. She extended a hand. "We’ve much to discuss, my queen, but may I first have a dance?""Of course," Lily said, and accepted her hand. Scout swept her off to the middle of the dance floor as the music started up perfectly on cue, because the royal musicians were worth every single coin spent on them. "You hadn’t sent me a letter in weeks; I’ve been worried.""I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to worry you. The final week of preparations was chaos, I think I slept maybe ten hours the whole week, and then we were traveling, which was rough going as snow melted leaving nothing but water and mud the whole way. I had to rinse off in the courtyard of the inn I took rooms at before I could go inside and bathe properly." Scout laughed. "You should have seen the innkeeper’s face."Lily pouted. "You’re staying at an inn?"Scout smirked. "Only to get cleaned up proper to greet my queen. If I’d come directly here not only would I have looked like some sort of swamp monster, it wouldn’t have been a surprise, and Josiah and I worked too hard to ruin everything at the last moment.""I should have known he was involved in this," Lily muttered. "I can’t believe you’re finally here."Scout didn’t reply as they went into a series of spins that made speaking impossible, but her hand was heavy and warm when it returned to Lily’s hip, not quite sliding around to rest boldly at the small of her back. "I’m sorry it took so long.""Not at all, no reason to apologize for that. How is your pack?""Good, that’s one of the things we need to speak of," Scout said, then fell silent again as the dance came to an end, bowing over Lily’s hand, not quite close enough to kiss the back of it. Bold, so marvelously bold.All night she’d taken care not to show any sort of favoritism, and now she was showing it in spades, letting Scout be so familiar, so brazen. The gossips would be positively a tizzy the moment she left.Scout rose and offered her arm before escorting Lily off the dance floor, back to the dais where her throne was located, and Leigh and Josiah were already waiting. "Were you a conspirator as well?"Leigh grinned. "Only at the end, I didn’t know until a couple of days ago. Shall I take over here for you?""Of course, thank you." Lily hugged her and then Josiah. "Scamp."He grinned, a hint of fang appearing. "I try."Lily bid the gathering at large a proper goodnight, then all but dragged Scout away, through the palace up to her own chambers. Let the gossips tizzy over that. There would be no mistaking her intentions now, and she didn’t care how much her counsel bothered her about suitable matches and political power and whatever else."Scout—" The words were lost to a deep, hungry kiss, Scout holding the sides of her face in a firm but gentle grip, like she was determined Lily not slip her grasp again."Missed you," Scout gasped out before kissing her again. "Was starting to go insane not being home."Lily’s eyes stung. "I half thought you’d realize how much you missed the Highlands and decide to stay there.""No," Scout said fiercely. "They never felt like home, not really. I was perfectly content to go wherever fate took me until that fate decided to drop a stubborn little princess at my feet." Another kiss, soft and sweet, before she drew away. "We should talk, much as I would love to continue vastly more interesting activities.""Let’s get more comfortable, then," Lily replied. "I don’t know about you, but if I can avoid wearing a hundred pounds of fabric and twenty pounds of jewelry while having a serious discussion, I do so."Scout laughed. "Of course.""Are your things here already? Do I need to have them brought?""Leigh said she’d attend it, so—ah, yes, there are all my things." Scout nodded to a tidy pile of bags and trunks at the foot of the bed."I guess the servants didn’t have time to put everything away."Scout cast her an amused look. "Oh, no, I’ll have to put my own clothes away, whatever will I do. Are you sure you want me in here with you already? I can—""You are staying here," Lily cut in firmly, "unless that’s not what you want.""I never had any problem sharing space with you, my queen."Lily snorted a soft laugh. "That’s not true.""Well it would have helped if you hadn’t started off wearing little to nothing and prancing about in bare legs.""Your clothes were too big for me!""That doesn’t mean you had to go around dressed like a tart!"Lily burst into giggles. "A tart! How dare you call your queen a tart!"Scout swept her up and kissed her—brow, cheeks, nose, and finally her mouth. She smelled like the wind through the trees, and tasted like coming home. "Get changed, brat.""Fine, fine," Lily said, but quickly did so, though getting out of her dress and all the layers beneath took some time on her own, and then of course there was hair and jewelry. She could have called servants to come and help, but she really didn’t want to be around anyone but Scout right then.When she was finally in sleeping gown and dressing robe, hair simply braided and left to fall down her back, she returned to the main chamber, where Scout sat on the sofa in the little sitting area by the balcony doors. She most often used the space to sit with her inner circle, talk out the day, plans for the following, and similar such.Seeing Scout settled there, already so easy in the space, filled her with a happy, bubbling warmth. If only her father could have met Scout; he would have liked her immensely.Sitting next to her, Lily noted the neat piles of papers on the table. All official looking, and if she had to guess, she’d say there was a petition for a certain pack to become citizens. She spread her hands. "All right, Alpha Farahild, tell me everything.""Rothenberg has split in two, officially," Scout said. "I left the land in the Highlands to their new alpha officially. I no longer have any claims there, and have agreed that the portion of the pack that came here with me will not return to those lands for at least two generations."That was a pretty standard arrangement when packs split, to give each room to settle and grow on their own, without old arguments or unwanted traditions and the like muddying the process."I’ve also left them the name," Scout continued. "Contingent on Your Majesty accepting my pack as citizens, allowing us to remain pack as per our traditions rather than forcing us to break apart and—""I would never permit that. If pack is how you want to stay, then pack you are," Lily said firmly. "Of course I’ll grant you citizenship. Those are both non-issues."Scout smiled and cupped her cheek, thumb brushing whisper-soft over her lips before withdrawing. "Then we would like to be renamed Pack Rosewood.""Pack…Scout…""I thought you’d like that.""You’re ridiculous, I adore it, of course," Lily said, practically climbing into her lap to kiss her senseless. If there was a better place to be than right there in Scout’s arms, she never wanted to know it, because how in the world could anything be better than this? "How many came with you?""A hundred came with me immediately, roughly another thousand will follow as the weather improves. The rest of us will get to work establishing a place.""Here in the palace? In the city? The woods?" Lily pursed her lips, shifting back to sit properly again. "The woods, I’d imagine. The ruins!" She clapped her hands together. "How perfect would that be? Everything you could need, and we’ll redo the roads that have languished all this time.""That feels…"On Lily’s hand, the jewels in her ring glowed softly, filling the space between them with golden light before slowly fading again."I think you have your answer, Alpha," Lily said with a smile. "Though I expect to see you here with me as often as you can manage. A queen and an alpha, we’re going to be exceedingly busy.""You’ll see more of me than you want, my queen, never fear. My pack understands where my heart lays, we’ll work everything out."Lily shifted closer to lean against, heart fit to bursting, mind spinning with ideas and plans and more. The heart of the Laughing Forest brought back to life, the forest filled with wolves, and the presence of the Rosewood pack would likely bring other packs and strays, a place they could be themselves just like in the Highlands, an option wolves had never had before. "This whole mess started with wolves, how funny that it ends with them as well." She looked up, lifting her head slightly from Scout’s shoulder. "A Wolf of the Woods.""And a Lily of the Valley," Scout replied before sealing their future with a kiss.Fin