Chapter 26: Epilogue

Three Months Later ...

Once the kingdom was settled, Raine had an alcove built in a place of honor within the castle for the Locks of Samson. The urn helped to protect their kingdom, along with the castle guards, deep within the Magical Forest.

Since her return, her father started giving Raine more responsibility to prepare her for taking control of the kingdom one day as queen. But Raine had no desire for that day to come; her father was a good king, and she loved him very much. She could not imagine a day when he would not be there.

Everything appeared to be working out well. Her kingdom was safe, but she missed Bryce very much. She thought of him often, wondering where he might be, what he was doing. She forced herself to stay away from the meadow where she had met him, which seemed to be a lifetime ago.

One day, she could take it no longer. Dressed in a silk cream gown, she walked outside and batted her massive iridescent pink and purple wings, and they obeyed, lifting her off the ground. She flew high into the sky, almost touching the clouds, and then soared down around the high cliff banks at the ocean as the surf rushed to shore. Then she circled around and flew over Colin's cabin, eyeing it below, but did not stop. Her heart soared at the thought of seeing Bryce again, but she forced herself to fly onward.

She flew down, touching the tops of the trees with her fingertips on her way back home, but then her wings-of their own accord-circled and flew straight to the meadow.

She hovered above the meadow, and then her feet gently touched the ground and she pulled her wings in. She looked around, and the meadow was empty. Somehow, there was no life within it ... not without Bryce.

Her wings drooped as she walked toward the log that Bryce had sat upon on so many occasions, and she viewed the soft grass at the base of the tree where she had slept the day away, waiting for him.

"Foolish girl," she chastised herself aloud. "You only had a few short days with him and now he's gone. It's too late."

"What's too late?"

Raine gasped, for when she looked up, Bryce had stepped into the clearing in all his glory. His blond highlights caught the rays of the sunlight that trickled down through the trees to the forest floor, and he was dressed in a loose fitting white shirt and tight-fitting brown suede trousers, tucked into knee high black boots. At the sight of him, her heart fluttered deep within her chest.

Without saying a word, he walked purposefully across the meadow that had become theirs, his eyes locked on hers. She started to speak, but he held his finger to her lips. When he pulled her into his arms and looked into her eyes, the look he gave her spoke volumes, speaking the love reflected in both of their hearts. At that moment, there was no separation, no passage of time. The world had stopped just for them.

"I have missed you," he breathed against her skin, the words tickling her ear as it filled her heart.

When his lips descended upon hers, Raine knew that she was finally home.