“Vi—”
“If you ask me one more time if I’m okay, I will cut you,” Vi muttered, without taking her eyes off the hilltop.
“That isn’t what I was going to ask!” she protested, but the false cheer in her voice made her a liar. “Not only,” she amended.
“Uh huh.” Vi sighed. “How much longer now?”
“Five minutes,” Killian said, preoccupying himself by nipping lazily at the column of Juliette’s neck.
They couldn’t leave. At least, that was what Maraveet told them. They had to wait for the exact right moment, which seemed like it would never arrive. But that wasn’t even remotely the least odd command they’d been given as Maraveet shooed them away from the property and told them not to come back.
“Are you sure no one’s home?” she asked anxiously. “Did all the men leave last night when you told them to?”
“I watched them all leave,” Killian promised. “By the time they return, we’ll be gone.”
“What about Frank?”
“Frank left too. He wasn’t happy about it, but I told him I wanted the house to myself and he was to return the next morning.”
Juliette lifted her eyes up to his face. “He’s going to be devastated when he arrives and—”
“Frank’s smart. He’ll know and he’ll be okay. It’s time for him to retire anyway. Move to the Bahamas or something and find a girlfriend.”
“Does it have to be your house?” She sighed. “Mine is—”
The explosion ripped through the silence with a deafening boom that rocked the entire hill. Chunks of debris burst from the head of the great, crimson cloud and rained below. Black and red tangled together against the flawless blue in a war of fire and smoke clashing for dominance. Killian’s beautiful manor crumbled like a house of cards to the ground, leaving nothing but hungry flames to devour what was left.
Juliette cried out. Her hands flew to her mouth to stifle the rest. Killian’s arms tightened around her. His heart remained steady against her back even while hers raced. He nuzzled the side of her head with his face.
“Come,” he murmured into her ear. “Let’s go.”
“Maraveet … she was up there…”
“She’s long gone. Trust me.”
He pulled open her door and gently tucked her inside. He never even paused to glance back as he circled the hood and got behind the wheel. They set off without speaking a word as everything he had ever known burned in the rear view mirror.
It was hours and miles later as they abandoned the steel and glass of the city for the flat nothing of the country that Juliette finally turned to him.
“Are you okay?”
An aura of calm had settled over him. Halos of black still clung to the edges, faint, barely there at all, but there was actual peace in the lines of his body, serenity in the curves of his face. He looked so happy that her question felt stupid.
“Never been better.”
Something in his calm relaxed the weight settled on her chest. She relaxed in her seat and allowed herself to finally feel the excitement and relief of starting over, of leaving all her demons behind.
“So, any idea where we’re going?”
Eyes never leaving the road, one hand abandoned the wheel to reach across and clasp hers. It was drawn over and a kiss was brushed against the heel.
“I promised you Europe.”
Epilogue
Six years later…
“Dinner!”
Salty sea breeze wafted off the Mediterranean to wash her summons back in her face, dragging strands of hair with it to blind her as she squinted against the smudge of orange and red conjuring the heavens beyond the walls. Across the yard, the two figures sat unaware as the day melted into evening and their little corner of the world slowly settled. They sat in the heart of the garden they’d planted together, surrounded by an array of blossoms as the setting sun painted them in a soft, golden light. Seeing them never failed to make her heart miss a beat.
“Want me to get them, miss?” Aniela poked her head out through the open terrace doors, her gnarled hands twisted in a dishtowel. “The food is almost finished.”
Juliette shook her head. “It’s okay. I’ll get them. Thank you.”
Abandoning the patio, she picked her way down the steps and along the cobblestone path. Her slippers made no sound as she broke off and padded across the grass. Killian’s low murmurs greeted her before she even reached them.
“That’s how spring is made,” he was saying when she got close enough.
“Trolls?” Four year old Callum peered up at his father with big and dark eyes. Locks of unruly black tumbled across his small brow, shadowing the furrow of concern knitting his eyebrows together. “Can they get under my bed?”
“No,” Killian assured him. “That’s what the elves are there for. They make sure the trolls stay far away from the house.”
“I don’t like trolls,” Callum confessed.
Chuckling, Killian lowered his face and brushed a kiss to the top of their son’s head. “Don’t worry. I won’t let anything hurt you.”
“Or Mommy?”
“Or Mommy.”
Satisfied, Callum slumped back against his father’s chest and stared at the bush. She knew he would have a million questions about his day later when it was time for bed. There was never any shortage of the whys and hows of the world and she cherished those moments with him.
“Hey you two.” She stopped when her shadow had draped over the pair, capturing their attention. “It’s dinner time.”
One eye closed against the sun, Callum tipped his head far back to peer at her. “Daddy was telling me about the trolls and the elves that live in the garden.”
“Mm, that is a good one,” she agreed. “But you still need to wash up. Go on.”
Callum, with his father’s assistance, got to his feet and hurried back to the house. Juliette watched him until he was safely inside before turning back to her husband.
“How many is that today?”
Dusting off his trousers—his new ones, she noted—Killian rose. “Only six today.”
Juliette laughed. “Maybe you should write all your stories into a book that he can read himself.”
Killian scoffed. “What fun is that?” He moved closer and locked his arms around her middle. She was pulled into his chest where she nuzzled happily. “How’s my girls?”
“Exhausted,” she confessed. “I can tell she’s already going to be a spoiled princess just by how tired she makes me when I so much as lift a finger.”
Chuckling, he kissed her lightly. His palms splayed along the side of her protruding belly, burning skin through the material of her light dress.
“I can’t wait.”
Her insides warmed as it always did at the joy that filled his eyes at the mention of their growing family. “You sure? You’ll probably have to tell twelve stories a day with the two of them.”
Killian shook his head. “Don’t care. I’ve got two knees for a reason.”
Six years and still Juliette never once regretted her decision to leave Juliette Romero behind in a brilliant inferno. Six years of being with the man she couldn’t live without, living in a home they had created together, and raising a family neither of them ever expected they’d have. Just watching him with Callum tightened her resolve that she’d made the right choice leaving that day. She would do it again in a heartbeat given the chance. He’d given her so much more than just a new name in a new postal code. He’d given her a future with him and with their children. He’d given her safety and security and the kind of happiness written about only in books. It didn’t seem to matter how many years passed, she only seemed to fall more in love with him with every passing day.