Epilogue
The wedding took place that same night, a grand ceremony with rituals I had no way to prepare for. Marak walked me through every part of it, giving me reassuring smiles from time to time throughout the somewhat painful ceremony. The snake was a surprise, to say the least.
That night, Marak gently laid me down in a large bed, kissing the parts of me he could see, and then asked if I was ready for what a wedding night would entail. But as much as I wanted to, I wasn't there yet. He respected that, and instead curled up against me and let me sleep.
I fell into the habits and customs of the goblin kingdom- including being nocturnal- without much problem. For the first few weeks, my main barrier was language. After I spent all of my time learning the goblin language, and practicing with Marak when he wasn't busy, I found I got on quite well with the other goblins. They were a dazzling race, every bit as colorful as Marak had described. They were also more noble than he made them out to be, and he was busier than he admitted. I had no idea how he had managed his kingly duties and snuck out to see me all the time. When I asked, he simply said he did because he had to.
When the time finally came, I ended up seducing Marak, who allowed me to. All of Cedar's talk about Marak being a monster made me wonder; Marak started out gentle, and then he was a beast, at least. It was attractive, though, and it worked for me. It also worked in the form that I very quickly discovered the resulting pregnancy.
That made the miscarriage that much harder.
The snake whispering from my neck that miscarriages were more common than I thought didn't ease my hurt, and Marak's reassurance didn't do much, either. I vowed to my lost child that I would love his brother enough for both of them.
It took some time before I was bold enough to accept trying again. This time, things went smoothly. We actually kept "trying" for a while after conception, and didn't realize this until we saw I wasn't just getting fat.
My son was born after what seemed to be only a few short months. He was Marak Cat-tail, after the very fluffy gray-brown tail he was born with. At first, I despaired that my baby was deformed, but Marak assured me this was normal, that nearly every goblin baby was born with some deformity. I still wasn't reassured for the first two years of his life, until I began to find the tail endearing.
I sent gifts up to Aunt Elisa when I could. Marak told me I wasn't allowed to leave except under dire circumstances, especially given the unusual elf activity. He explained the treaties and peace pacts, and after he came home one night in a particularly jovial mood, I learned he had finally exacted that goblin revenge. I admit, after being with the somewhat immoral goblins for so long, I did find some joy in this knowledge (there was definitely not a party thrown and I did not get very drunk- or perhaps I did, I don't actually remember anything past the fourth bottle of wine).
Through it all, Marak remained my rock. Boulder he may be, but he was sturdy, strong, and steadfast. He supported me just as I supported him; he made sure I wasn't just a pretty face in a fancy dress- he made sure I was a queen, a ruler. More than that, though, he held true to his promise:
He never, not once, not even for a heartbeat, stopped loving me, nor did his love ever become less true.
And through any nostalgia or wistfulness, I never once regretted leaving everything for him.
As long as he was mine, and I was his, I was happy.
And so, we lived happily ever after.
The end.