Author's Note (Part 1): Epilogue! Yay! Okay, sorry. Couldn't resist. Anyway, there will be an author's note at the end, as always. If anyone's interested.

Epilogue

Do you think that he could possibly have more gel in his hair? Not even a good, stiff breeze could knock one of those hairs out place.

Perhaps I should try that. My hair is always trying to fly away in all directions.

Emry looked at his wife with a very sour expression. Absolutely not. I forbid it. I love your hair just the way it is.

Across the room, the man they were currently ridiculing laughed quite loudly – and quite falsely – at something Makenna had just said. Ever since Emmi had healed her sores, the sole Damarkin female had started entertaining once more. Though there was certainly not the same parade of friends and suitors who once frequently graced Damarkia’s halls, there was generally someone new in attendance every evening. The promise of her future death was not enough to keep men away, that was for sure. Though she had to know that the majority of them were just hoping to get a piece of her before she died, Makenna did not seem to mind. In fact, she seemed to delight in finding ways to bring them to their knees – and then send them packing. Sadly, there was something almost bitter about the way she treated men lately, as if she had lost any and all confidence in them. The only moments when she ever seemed truly on fire with legitimate emotion anymore was when she was railing about their surly neighbor.

I think your sister is in love with him.

Emry glanced down at his wife with an expression he knew all too well – having been at the receiving end of it so many times. Was she insane?

I am not insane, she responded to his thought. One disadvantage of holding her hand like this was that, though they could communicate mentally again, she could also read his thoughts quite easily. Nothing was sacred.

Emmi, Makenna despises Grif. Passionately.

There. You just said it. Passionately. She feels very strongly about him, Emry.

Yes. She very strongly despises him.

Emmi sighed out loud. She hates him for ridiculous reasons, and I think that, given the right reasons, that hatred could be turned into something else entirely.

Now that is just wishful…

“Will the two of you stop it already?” Shaun complained loudly. “If you’re going to talk about us, at least have the decency to do it out loud.”

“So you can eavesdrop on our conversation like you always do?” Emry asked his brother wryly. Though they’d all long ago finished eating, they were still seated at the long dining hall. They were absent but for Meena’s mother and the Sun Sword – her father – though for different reasons than usual. Little Koreena was very much in attendance on this evening.

“Hell yes,” Shaun agreed. “How else am I supposed to know what’s going on this place? No one ever tells me shit.”

“You’re just sore because Emry knew about the second Trial before you did,” Cait reminded him. In fact, she took great delight in reminding him of the fact that Emry had known something before he had.

It was all thanks to Emmi, really. Though Geybrial and Shaun both made infrequent visits to Grif’s castle to help with the stonework required to make the castle an actual complete structure again, Emmi went over there almost every single day. If he wasn’t certain that her feelings for the creature were entirely platonic, Emry might have been extremely jealous of the attention she showed him. Instead, he was grateful for how well Grif had managed to aid him in opening Emmi up. Holding her own around the grif, who for some reason did not make her uncomfortable, seemed to have aptly prepared her for holding her own around the somewhat less acerbic Damarkin crowd.

On one of her visits, Emmi had discovered something very disturbing in regards to the attack in Jumyria that Emry had slept through. Apparently, the Xesos had been after the Sun Shield. Grif had discovered this from a missive he’d recovered from one of the men he’d killed. Though it had seemed more than coincidental considering the fact that a Xesomelian had also tried to purchase, through nefarious means, the Sun Armor that Shaun had recovered not long ago, he’d shrugged it off at the time. Nothing seemed to indicate that the two incidents were related other than the nationality of the men.

Then the second Trial was announced. And the second Trial was to find and recover all of the Sun artifacts.

Somehow the Director had discovered what the second Trial was going to be months prior to its actual inception. The man who had attempted to purchase the Sun Armor had admitted to working for the Director, after all, and Grif had affirmed that the men he killed had also been that man’s minions. Luckily, nothing had come of the much despised Director’s advanced knowledge, but that he’d had it in the first place could mean any number of terrible things for the future of Xesomel – and Kittyana. Border activities had become increasingly violent of late, what with the unrest because of the Trials. More and more Xesos were crossing into Kittish land, and the threat to their peaceful family home had prompted Meena’s mother to volunteer to publicly leave Damarkia and take up residence in Kurish, at least until the second Trial was over.

Regan already had the shield and the armor at the castle under careful guard, after all; she and her husband would be well protected there, and the heat would finally be taken off of Damarkia – especially now that Meena was finally in the clear with the first Trial out of the way. According to Geybrial, the Trials only lasted for one year; if no one succeeded at the first Trial, then a new Trial would be selected.

“Look, all I’m saying is, if you’re going to talk in your heads, do it in private,” Shaun persisted.

“That rather defeats the purpose, I would think,” Meena pointed out. “If they are in private, they need not speak in each other’s minds to hide what they are saying from others.”

“Yeah, Shaun. Idiot,” Geybrial agreed.

“What were you talking about, anyway?” Shaun, apparently, did not know when to quit.

“Makenna,” Emmi advised, far more willing to placate Emry’s brother than he himself was. The young woman in question did not even glance their way. She’d opted to sit at the far end of the table with her very attentive suitor so they could have some “privacy.”

“Do you think perhaps he used glue?” Cait asked, lowering her voice even though she would likely not be overheard.

Iain snorted. “Glue. I don’t know. His hair looks a little crusty around the edges, if you ask me.”

“That is a disgusting suggestion, father,” Emry said, his nose scrunched up distastefully.

His father grinned broadly. “Yeah, but it makes me damn proud that you understood it, son.”

“Do you think she’ll let this one kiss her? God, I hope not. The thought alone makes me physically ill,” Geybrial pitched in.

“She will not,” Emmi said surely. When they all turned to look at her, she hesitantly explained, “She is keeping her body angled away from him. She has done so with all of the suitors who have come to call on her recently. Before…well, before she would always lean towards them, reach out and touch them in some way. And then Emry would inevitably hear about her getting caught in some dark hallway with the young man in question.”

“Ah. Body language. Right. Didn’t think of that,” Shaun agreed, nodding his head sagely.

Cait punched him in the arm. “You wouldn’t have, either, if Emmi hadn’t mentioned it. You are extremely unobservant sometimes, you know.” There seemed to be a bit of a loaded accusation in there somewhere.

“I think we should ask him what he puts in his hair,” Geybrial suggested, his eyes sparkling with mischief.

“Geybreel…”

Even as his oldest brother opened his mouth as if to ask the question – in spite of Meena’s protestation – Emmi let go of his hand and rose to her feet, walking slowly towards the other end of the table. Geyb’s mouth clicked shut when he realized what she was doing, and he sat back smugly, as if he’d known all along that she would come through. His brothers – Shaun especially – absolutely loved their new sister-in-law’s magical abilities. When they were being used to their advantage, of course.

Emmi placed her marked hand upon the young man’s shoulder as she said something quietly to him. Most likely, she was talking about something utterly inane. Makenna had delighted in teaching her how to make everyday conversation with people to avoid any awkward silences. Though still a little bit shy at times, Emmi was making great progress in that respect.

When she returned, she sat back down quite smugly. “It would seem that everyone was correct, in a way,” she announced.

They all looked at her curiously. “The concoction in his hair consists of three parts gel and one part glue. The glue, I am certain, is what makes it appear so unnaturally stiff, though without it, the gel would not be enough to hide the fact that his hair is really quite a curly mess of fluff.”

Imagining the blonde-haired young man at the end of the table with a ball of curly hair on top of his head nearly made Emry snicker.

His brothers, on the other hand, did not hold back.

“But you said that everyone was correct,” Iain reminded her, an eyebrow raised suggestively.

Though Doctor Galbraith had largely remained out of the conversation until that point, he chose that moment to pipe in with, “And since the hair concoction does not seem to have consisted of any bodily fluids…”

Emmi turned bright red. “Well, there is nothing…um…crusty in his hair. But I am afraid that he…that is, he was apparently rather excited when he first saw Makenna, and…”

“Oh, that is disgusting. I shook his hand,” Geybrial said, utterly horrified.

“It’s in his pants, Geyb, not on his hands,” Shaun reminded him.

“Not if he took a leak. Then it probably got on his hands.”

“Unless he washed them,” Cait piped in.

“I should hope that he washed them,” Meena added.

Look what you started, my dear. Now they are going to be talking about semen and urinal hygiene for the rest of the evening, Emry chastised when Emmi reached under the table to take his hand again.

Well, it seemed rather humorous, so I couldn’t not bring it up, she returned.

“They’re doing it again, damn it,” Shaun complained, his expression one of pure aggravation.

Have I told you that I love you yet today?

Only every time I have helped you to irritate your brother.

If not for Makenna’s illness, he would have thought that this was the perfect evening. For the first time in his life, he truly felt like he belonged with his family, and amazingly enough, it had been Emmi who brought that to him. It had been Emmi who healed his deficiencies. And it was Emmi who sat beside him now, his darling and beloved wife.

Yet even with Makenna’s future demise looming over him, he did not feel the slightest dimming of his hope. With each passing day, he grew more and more certain that they would find a way to heal her completely.

Then, and only then, would he be able to say with absolute certainty that his life was utterly perfect.

For now, nearly perfect would do him just fine.

Author's Note (Part Deux): Okay, so that was Emry's book. After writing Shaun's book, I can't believe I made it almost the ENTIRE story before the main characters finally did it, but I guess that just goes along wi/ Emry's character. Anyway, as you probably already know, the next book will be about Makenna and Grif. I haven't started writing it yet, so it might take another month...or two...or three...depending on if I get struck by writer's block again. I will say this, though -- any time I write a series, there's always one book that I look forward to writing the most. Thus far in this series, it has been Mak and Grif's. But hey, Beauty and the Beast is one of my favorite stories of all time. Hopefully I haven't overdone that theme...I don't THINK that I have, anyway...All right. Gonna stop rambling now.