She didn’t make eye contact as I approached. I watched as Champion leaned into her touch.
“How’d you get him to do that? Anytime I’ve neared him, he’s thrashed and bucked. Like he’s spooked.”
Wren rolled her eyes.
I couldn’t help but grin. An eye roll meant she was still Wren. Meant she’d be okay.
“He likes potatoes.” A pat to his side. A stroke of his nose. “Give him potatoes and he’ll be your friend forever.”
“Thanks.” Ready to walk, I paused. Tossed the idea back and forth before deciding. Part of me didn’t want to let go, but the other half knew it was the right thing. “You should take him. It’s what Joshua would want.”
I expected a smart remark. Something like, “How would you know what Joshua would want?”
Instead, she shrugged and replied, “Fine.”
I haven’t seen her, but Robyn says Wren rides Champion every day. Though the elder Song sister hasn’t been seen in griffin form since Joshua passed, something tells me she’s soaring high on the back of Joshua’s steed.
A breeze shudders the leaves as I think of all we’ve lost. But what’s more is everything we’ve gained. I no longer fear the future, but welcome it. As long as we keep our eyes on the light, the darkness poses no real threat at all.
The trees thin and the path widens until it disappears into a meadow. Again, I want to let Ky in, share with him everything I see and feel. But then my breath is stolen and I’m glued in place and, for now, I don’t mind being just me.
Ky’s brother is here.
He looks . . . different. The changes are hard to describe. Hair a shade lighter, almost as if grayed but not quite. When he throws his head back and laughs, the sound comes to me as a whisper. Like the voice of a ghost.
And yet . . .
He’s still him. Still Joshua. He walks like a Guardian, a king. He’s the man Nathaniel and Makai raised him to be. This is what he was meant for. Though I miss him, though he can’t see or hear me, this is all I need.
Joshua walks along the riverbank fifty feet ahead. Hands in his pockets, he overlooks the shore on the far side of the rushing water.
Ebony was right.
“The First is the Seventh Reflection. The Seventh is the First,” she said. “The Verity guards the souls we’ve lost. The Garden is their new home. Their new Calling.”
Tears well. The best kind. The kind that leave my heart so full, I can’t imagine ever feeling more joy than I do in this moment.
I can’t tell him how much he’s missed. How he’s changed my life for good, and I live every day thankful I knew him. I hold my contrasting charms against my heart, the silver treble clef sharing one chain with the copper rose button now. Different, but equally treasured. Never forgotten. I drink him all in before I turn and ease my way back to the entrance.
I’ve done what I came for.
I’ve seen the heart of the Verity.
What could be more beautiful?
The End
Notes:
Tiernan married Dennielle—but had affairs with Isabeau and Elizabeth.
Khloe, Ebony, and Eliyana are all half sisters.
Ember Archer was treated as a daughter by Nathaniel’s parents, and eventually took their name as her own. They are not related by blood.
Ky was raised by Tiernan. Joshua was raised by Nathaniel and Makai. They are the fraternal twin sons of Aidan and Ember.
Not Shown:
Rafaj Niddala (Ever) is the father of Aidan Henry.
Countess Ambrose (Mask) is the mother of Tide Toshiro (Mask).
Song Family: Wade (Physic) and Lark (Mask) are the parents of Robyn (Mask) and Wren (Mask).
Author Note
Twenty-Third Day, Tenth Month, Final Year of the Queen Eliyana’s reign . . .
It is with a full, while also heavy, heart I pen this final journal entry in what we will call the closing volume of The Reflection Chronicles. Though the series name didn’t make it onto the cover, the Unblemished trilogy will always and forever be The Reflection Chronicles to me. These characters have been with me for so long, I’m not quite sure how to let them go. Eliyana has grown with me. Ky and Ebony have grown on me. And Joshua? He and I have grown apart and closer together than ever. Each character ended up exactly where I always knew they would, but also where I never imagined at the same time. I hope you have loved with them and mourned with them, as I have. I hope their stories will live on in your hearts far after this novel hits the shelves.
If you have struggled with feeling ugly or less than or never enough, I hope you see now just how valued you are. You are more than enough. Your flaws make you who you are. Embrace them. Recognize what you and you alone can offer the world. Whatever your Calling may be, go for it. Never let anyone discourage you from becoming the best version of yourself. Others don’t define you. There are so many quotes I could use here, but I think one taken from the deck of The Seven Seas is most fitting. Dear precious reader, “Dive deep if you ever hope to rise.”
Sincerely yours,
Sara Ella
Discussion Questions
SPOILER ALERT! Don’t read until you’ve read ALL of Unbreakable!
1. This story explores the idea that we all have the potential for light and darkness. Do you agree with this philosophy? To which character’s struggle do you most relate?
2. Unbreakable introduces Ebony’s point of view to the series. Discuss this character’s journey from Unblemished to the end of Unbreakable. In what ways has she changed? In what ways has she remained the same? Do you feel differently about her at the end of this journey than you felt when you first met her as Quinn?
3. Eliyana endures changes in her memory throughout the novel. Is there something in your life you wish you could forget? Or do you believe that all memories, good and bad, shape who you are today?
4. No matter the hope El held for him, Jasyn Crowe’s fate remained the same in the end. If time travel were possible, is there a moment in your life you would like to alter? How would the alteration affect your life today?
5. Throughout the series, we witness firsthand how anger and bitterness can grow like the Void and turn a person dark. Isabeau did and said some horrific things over the course of her life. Do you believe she deserved to be forgiven for all she had done? Does forgiveness heal the person offering it as much as it helps the person who is forgiven? Consider Tide’s forgiveness of the murder of his mother. Is forgiveness an action, a feeling, or a bit of both?
6. Now that you’ve visited each Reflection, which is your favorite and why?
7. Khloe certainly shows she’s tough for her age, but when Ebony shifts into her mother, Khloe falls apart. Discuss a situation in which you allowed yourself to be vulnerable to another person. Describe how that vulnerability helped make you stronger, and maybe even helped you heal from past hurt.