Epilogue

Sarra and Marc had just returned from a visit with Teala and Wen, whose baby was now a year old. He was a beautiful little boy, who looked more like Nian- whom he was in fact named after- than either Wen or Teala. Sarra loved that little boy.

But now she sat on her bed, in the house she lived in with Marc, just down the street from Ma. Marc was out at the practice courts- she had stayed home, telling him that she needed to get something done. Now she just sat, frozen, fear blooming in her mind. Pieces of thoughts rushed to her. I am not the Last. And then she would hear Aldenril's voice, saying, "The blood of queens and the blood of orders she will bring as one." Aldenril had said that the prophecy was not meant as a prediction of the future, that it had just come to her one night, but what if that meant that it was, in fact, a true prophecy?

So much had happened in the last year. Liam and Linna's baby was growing, a lovely little girl with Liam's golden hair. Sarra and Marc had purchased their own house with the money brought in by their acting. Ma had even found someone special; Gerard, the owner of the Wine Barrel, had asked Ma to marry him, though they hadn't actually gotten married yet. They had made new friends in the city, though Sarra never forgot the ones she had lost. Life was going well.

Until now.

She heard Marc come in and call for her. She stayed silent, letting him come to her, wishing that she had realized what she did now sooner. He came into the room, sitting next to her on the bed. One look at her face told him something was wrong. "What is it, Sarra?"

She looked at him, pain in her eyes, wishing she didn't have to tell him this. He had wanted it for a long time, but now she knew what it entailed. The words raced, unbidden, through her head again- The blood of queens and the blood of orders it shall bring as one…

"Marc," she said, drawing a deep breath and making herself say it. She knew they would have to make a hard decision, and that they would have to make it soon.

"I'm pregnant."

The Beginning…