Page 45 of Unbroken

“Take me home,” I croak out, barely able to put the sentence together.

I never asked to be a hero. I didn’t want it; I didn’t need it. Glory is fleeting, and so is winning. The history pages turn, and you just become a footnote. That’s what people will deem me as in the future, just a story. The events of today will go unheard. No one will hear of the trials and tribulations that led me here. I saved Humanity but the cost and sacrifice was too great. I never believed in fairy tales and for me this is not my happily ever after.

Epilogue

MICAH

One year later

Dear Micah,

I’m alive. It took me a while to heal both mentally and physically, but you have never been too far from my thoughts. I wish I had been able to see you before I was so abruptly taken away. But fate decided for the both of us it seems. I regret walking away from you that day in Willow woods. If I had turned around and told you everything, then maybe I would still be by your side. I would have found out I was pregnant naturally like any other woman and my child would be toddling around living with us all. But I can’t change what’s happened. I can only step into my future one day at a time.

I am sure you found out the night I left that my father isn’t human, he is Fae. Talk about a mind-blowing culture shock, my Father is King of the Light Court. Let’s just say that he was adrift and suffering from amnesia when he met my mother down in the village at the base of the Blue Mountains.

Well, the rest, as they say, is history. I’m a long-lost princess. Me. A princess. I can almost hear Trys and Ty making fun of me. I wish I could tell you more but I’m afraid it would take a lot more paper and a much longer letter to tell you about my journey since I arrived here.

Ms. Margaret has been a big help in aiding Sam and I with navigating this new world and the politics of being Fae. Especially a royal. Let’s just say that me being a hybrid ex-seer, with a fated shifter Mate and a Tether in the Earth Realm has made me almost an outcast, but I’m adjusting. I’m just happy that I can reach out to you with this letter and hopefully more in the future. Ms. Margaret won’t be coming back here for a while, she has a duty to HellNight Academy. Again, another long story. I wanted to return but I can’t leave the Realm now that I know who I am. Please, write back to me. I miss you. I love you.

I carry you with me every day, the Tether between us gives me comfort, knowing you are out there living your life. Live it, Micah. Put the past behind you and be the badass woman who crash landed into my life and into my heart.

Until we meet again,

Esme

“Kitten. We are going to be late,” I hear Ty yell up the stairs for the third time already. I’m surprised he hasn’t come to see what’s taking me so long. Or maybe he has and is giving me space.

“Coming,” I yell back as I fold the letter gently before sliding it back into its envelope. I have read her letter so many times, I don’t need to read it anymore. It’s memorized. But seeing the words written on the page makes me feel closer to her.

Like Esme, it has taken me months to get back to myself after the events of that day. Days turned into months and healing mentally takes time. I wear the scars of my loss on the inside; a hole remains in my heart where my Mate once was. We were over before we began, and the pain is still too raw. But it gets easier every day.

“Sunshine. Where are you, gorgeous? They aren’t going to start without you,” Trys says as I put the letter away in the desk in our room.

Marcus and his girlfriend Bryelle now live in my old house in the Quads. Bryelle, like a few other Light Guardians, have had it hard these past few months. The things Michael made them do or did to them left a stain on their souls that will remain with them for life. But Marcus, like my guys, have been nothing but patient. I hope in time Bryelle will heal.

I moved in with Ty, Trys, and Rodyn. There were no doubts about my decision. I refused to be without any of them in the first few months. Rook still travels between here and the Underworld, and yes, he now shares a bed with the rest of us. I knew I would wear him down eventually, but I don’t think my Shadow Demon has the heart to refuse me anything.

Trys hasn’t stopped asking me to marry him. Of course, he is right, our lives are always going to be hanging in the balance. With what I am, I know that I will be called upon to protect Humanity again, because evil never sleeps. It will only be a matter of time. We haven’t heard from the Archangels since they helped with the cleanup at Caelum Academy. But I have a feeling they won’t stay away for long. So, maybe when he asks me tomorrow morning, like he does every morning, my eyes will part to meet his smiling face and I will say yes. Yes, to all of them.

Bishop. . .my father, drops in from time to time. He and Lucifer actually helped rebuild HellNight Academy and negotiated the changes that Lyrik wanted to implement as the new Headmaster. Now, Professor Maverick fills that role. Everything has changed; no more Anchor keys, no more separation due to magical strengths, and definitely no more death. I never want to see this place return to what it was. Now, the Light Guardians are arriving today to start school along with the rest of us. Professor Maverick even convinced the board to allow Demons to attend. It’s taken months of planning but the day has finally arrived. So, we are off to a ribbon cutting ceremony in honor of new beginnings. No more division, no good or bad, we are all in this together. Life is not black and white, right or wrong, we will learn and find a happy medium to exist in.

I make my way downstairs, wearing my new HellNight Academy uniform, and it feels strange to be wearing it after all this time. Smoothing my fingers over the golden emblem on my blazer, I grab my bag and hang it over my shoulders. Ty, Trys and Rodyn wait for me by the door, and I step out into the morning light with them at my back. The world outside feels brand new, full of possibilities and a promise for a greater future.

Esme is right. I need to live my life and forget the past as best as I can. I’ve paid the price for it in blood, and I deserve nothing but goodness for the rest of my days.

-The End-