Locksleigh

Epilogue

It was a stray beam of sunlight coming through the slightly open door that woke me up. Ash arm was still around me, and I was perfectly content to lean back against him and go back to sleep, but something small and hard was pressing painfully against my back. Doing my best not to wake him, I managed to turn myself around to face Ash, and saw a small lump underneath his chest. I also saw a thin rope around his neck I’d never noticed before. I carefully pulled on the rope and it took me longer than I’d like to admit to figure out what I was looking at. In my hand I held a solid gold ring, a purple gem imbedded at the base of a carving of the royal seal. I was holding the seal-ring passed from father to eldest within in the royal family for hundreds of generations. Why did Ash have it?

A thousand possibilities came to mind, but they were all unlikely. There was no way he could have stolen it, or the world would have found out about it after their assassination, and Ash was too young to possibly be one of the assassins. Besides, everyone involved in that incident had been executed long ago. I rubbed the ring hard and scratched at the gem.

“It’s not a fake, if that’s what you’re trying to find out.” Ash’s voice was full of his usual swagger, if a bit sleepy. But there was a deeper older, weariness as well.

“Why do you have this?” I asked. The truth was already beginning to dawn on me, but the thought was absolutely ludicrous. There was no way the rumours were true.

“It can’t… you can’t be…” Ash just gave me a knowing look and his signature smirk. I studied his face a little closer, and although I’d only seen pictures of the royal family on rare occasions, some of the lines of his jaw and nose seemed right.

“You’re the lost son of the Empire?” I gasped. Ash let out a hearty laugh. “Is that what they’re calling me nowadays?” he asked. “Seems fitting, as I really am good and lost.” My mind reeled.

“You’re the heir to the throne…”

“Technically yes.” I couldn’t believe he was so casual about this. “What are you doing here? Why aren’t you back at the Empire, fighting for your crown?”

“Because I’m happy right where I am,” he shrugged.

“But you… the people… why?” I couldn’t begin to fathom why he’d prefer this little hovel over the royal palace, an entire kingdom at his feet rather than a bunch of wayward criminals. Ash sighed.

“Sure I had lots of stuff when I was young, but not what I needed, like a loving family, real friends or someone who saw me as a person. Other than my title as Crown prince, I had nothing that really mattered, and all that title ever did for me was paint a target on my back.” Ash gave me a minute to think about that and I had to relent that made sense.

“And if I tried to return now,” he went on, “I wouldn’t be welcomed back with open arms, and the last thing the empire needs is another power struggle.” Again, I had to admit that he made sense.”

“And besides,” he smiled, “do you really think it’s a smart idea to put someone like me in charge of the entire Empire?” I laughed at that. That would be horrible idea.

“Fine, I relented as I lay back down again and rested my head on his arm. “But you’re telling me how you’re still alive.”

“I will,” he kissed my forehead and tucked the ring back under his shirt. “But not today.”

We lay there a while, enjoying the silence, but I could see something else was troubling him.

“What?” I asked. He frowned at me.

“Other than Garth, no one knows who I really am.”

“So?” I asked, confused.

“So you knowing is a risk to me.” A bead of worry began to knot in the pit of my stomach at his expression. “I can’t risk you running off and telling someone, and even if I kept you here, my men could force all your secrets out of you in countless ways.” My worries grew, and I began to fear that he was going to kill me.

“Killing you would be a waste,” he said, as if reading my thoughts, “but I can’t leave things as they are either. Keeping you locked up in here would bring up too many questions, and you’re too good with your tongue for me to be okay with cutting it out…” Ash went quiet, thinking hard. I glanced around the room. The door was just a few steps away. If I could reach it, there was a slight chance I could get away, but his arm still around my shoulders made that impossible.

“I guess there’s only one option left,” he said, having made up his mind. My heart fell and I dreaded the fate he must have had in mind for me.

“I guess I’ll have to make you my wife.” That had me stunned for a whole minute before I began to laugh. Ash didn’t laugh with me. I looked at him.

“You can’t be serious.”

“Why not?” I studied his face. There was no hint of a smile or malice or mischief in his eyes. He was dead serious, and I could read the desperation in the tightness of his jaw. I was stunned.

Despite how he’d phrased it, I was sure that ash had asked, not told, and I somehow knew that if I refused him, Ash would respect my wishes and let it be. If I married this man, it would be for no other reason than that I loved him, and if I thought hard about it and dug deep, despite how we’d met and everything that had happened since, I couldn’t get myself to deny the surprising fact that I really did love this man.

This was impossible. Marrying someone for love was almost unheard of. A fairy tale. And yet… that was exactly what Ash was offering me. And after everything I’ve been through, didn’t I deserve something like that.

I don’t know if I was in control of my mouth or not when I gave him my answer, but I did, and I meant it. And it made Ash smile. He pulled me closer and said words I had never heard before but felt like they were a part of my none the less.

“I love you, my princess.” I was about to comment on not being anyone’s princess, but then I realised that if I married Ash, that’s exactly what I’d be. Wow… my life really was turning out like a real fairy tale.

“I love you too,” I said instead, and I kissed my future husband with a love and passion I couldn’t even begin to describe.