Epilogue

Xan stood at the top of the bereavement platform with his mother and Yaris at his side. They had been invaluable in this time of crisis and in those dark moments when he questioned everything he had done and whether this outcome could have been avoided. As much as they tried to comfort and console him, he felt that he could have done more to prevent this terrible ending.

With a sick, sinking pit in his stomach, Xan moved to the imperial burial sarcophagus and placed the D’Arian token of the afterlife on top of the intricately carved wooden inlay. As much as he tried to hold it back, a single tear leaked from his eye and landed on the token. Squeezing his eyes shut to stop the flow, Xan stepped back and allowed his mother and sister to place their tokens. Xan felt a soft, gentle hand grip his. He glanced to his side, Sloan gazed up at him with tears in her eyes.

Breaking protocol, since she wasn’t yet his queen, Sloan had stepped onto the platform knowing he needed her. While his brother’s death had been unavoidable in the moment, Xan had spent agonizing hours going over what had happened to try to think of another way. He had tried to hide that from Sloan because he knew she blamed herself for Ragon’s death. Xan blamed himself; his mother and Yaris also blamed themselves. They all felt at least partially responsible for not being able to spot Ragon’s lunacy earlier and intervene. Perhaps he would still be there, serving at Xan’s side, if they had.

Sloan ran her hand up his arm and gave it a squeeze. She whispered in his ear, “It’s not your fault.”

“I know, my D’Auriel, but it will take time for the guilt to abate. With you by my side, I will be able to be the ruler this sector needs.”

***

His mother stood beside him beaming. She had attempted to make amends for her deception and interference, and their relationship had progressed, but it would be difficult to get back to where they had been. Her involvement in causing Sloan to leave and her near death had been a blow to their relationship, but they were mending it, and his mother was doing everything she could to help Sloan in her new role. Holding Sloan’s nearly lifeless hand in his as he kissed her palm and said how sorry he was a memory seared into his mind.

As his bride walked down the aisle toward him, Xan couldn’t help but be unhappy it wasn’t under different—better—circumstances. Yaris accompanied Sloan down the aisle, assisting her with the veil and train. As she mounted the steps to the pedestal, Xan stood back, wanting to ensure that she didn’t fall considering the cumbersome dress she’d been saddled with.

“I’m sorry we had to do this so soon and it couldn’t wait any longer,” he said, lifting the veil up over her head and revealing the most beautiful smile he’d ever seen in his life.

“Don’t worry. You can make it up to me during the honeymoon,” Sloan said as she moved to his side in front of the council member tasked with marrying them. Xan couldn’t have been happier at that moment. The only thing that would have made it perfect was if Sloan was healed completely and his memory of her being completely cold and lifeless wasn’t still so fresh in his mind.

“Are you thinking about when I died again?” she asked. Aghast, Xan ground out, “How can you be so calm about that? It is forever burned into my mind.”

***

Sloan knew she had to inject some levity into the ceremony to take Xan’s mind off her not-so-near death experience, or he would go insane with worry. The blaster shots to the stomach and chest were a surefire way to make a normally protective Xan go into overload. Sloan’s memories of the event were intermittent from the moment Ragon had shot her. She’d fallen to the ground, trying to tell Xan she loved him, then there was darkness. There was nothing but blackness all around her—until there wasn’t.

One minute Sloan was sleeping in a sea of darkness gently being swayed by the waves, and the next there were streaks of light breaking through. Each streak carried with it a memory of her time with Xan. Then they weren’t memories, they were visions of things to come. A life Sloan wanted to grab on to with both hands. It was a life she could never have dreamed of for herself, but she knew she wanted to live. So, when one of those streaks came crashing toward her, she grabbed on to it until it wrenched her from that darkness and the light was all around her. One minute she was in that strange and dark place, and the next she was jolting upright on a med-unit table with Xan by her side.

Teary, he had clasped her hand and gazed into her eyes. She hated seeing him cry, so she’d wiped the tears from his face.

“Why the tears, Xan?” she had asked.

He couldn’t even get the words out because of how overwhelmed he was with the memories of her near-death experience. Yaris and Venu had joined them, wrapping their arms around the two of them. After a couple of minutes, the medics had come in and scanned her, then pushed various medicines into her, but the whole-time Xan refused to let go of her hand. He’d held it to the side of his face almost as if he hadn’t believed she was real.

But she was real, and here she was standing next to Xan in front of all D’Arian, accepting the duty of queen and the joy of being Xan’s wife. The council member went through the requirements of their wedding, binding them together forever, binding their future their love to create a union that would be unbreakable, and giving Xan the power of the D’Arian crown to rule the people of the sector justly.

As they moved on the throne pedestal, the crew of the Arrow, who had been given prime seats in the front, whistled and whooped for the pair in congratulation of their union. They would continue on working on the Arrow as long as they wanted. Sloan’s primary objective was no longer hauling cargo, but saving, rehabilitating, and resettling those who were being abused in the universe.

As they ended their last dance during the gala ball after the ceremony, Sloan felt the familiar vibration of her mini-comm strapped to her leg. She hiked up her dress and smiled at Xan before she picked it up and opened the channel. It was Erl, who was stuck back on the ship.

“Erl, what is it?”

“We have information about a ship in this sector hauling something you might find interesting.”

“What are you calling me for? Why aren’t you calling your captain?” she asked, trying to get Dev’s attention. He was dancing next to her and Xan with a lovely D’Arian woman.

“It should be a short run, only a few hours. What do you say, Cap? One more for the road?” he said. Sloan glanced up at Xan. His lips turned down in a frown, but he nodded, turning to Dev.

“Take care of my wife for me, Dev, and bring her back in one piece.”

Sloan reached up and kissed him. She slipped her tongue into his mouth, she sunk into him in for a toe-curling kiss before breaking away.

“I love you, Xan. My last one, I swear.” She raised her hands in oath.

“Sure, sure, but at this rate you’ll need a battle cruiser to get all the work done that you want to.”

“A battle cruiser, huh?” She tapped her chin and bit her bottom lip.

“That was a joke, Sloan.”

“We’ll see,” she said.

We’ll see indeed.