In the Council meeting, it was decided that Abigail would be allowed to remain in the Realm for however long she wished. Finn's scouts from around the borders had confirmed her story that King Logan had pulled his army away and that a few men had chased her all the way to the boarder to ensure she stayed in exile. When the matter was put to a vote, even Victoria voted in the woman's favor, though she obviously wasn't keen on the idea. Abigail picked up on that much, but she said nothing as she smiled at the woman Avery had pointed out as the next Queen.

"Now all that's left to figure out, is what to do with you," Finn said as he eyed Abigail. Council had already started filing out of the room, but as usual, John and Victoria hung back with Finn, Claudia, and Attia. Abigail was still in her seat in the center of the table next to Attia, her hands folded in her lap, as she turned her gaze to Finn.

"How do you mean?" she asked gently, genuinely uncertain of what Finn meant.

"Do you want a room at Court, and live off of a monthly allowance we provide for you? Or would you like lands somewhere to make revenue off of?"

Abigail only stared back at Finn, her face changing only slightly as her confusion became more apparent. "I wouldn't know how to do anything with lands," she admitted. "Women aren't taught such things in Mallery. But I would not like to depend entirely on you either."

The room went quiet as Finn turned to Attia first, then to Claudia. John and Victoria shared a glance before they looked at Finn as well. "Make her property manager," Victoria said suddenly, pulling Abigail's attention to her. "It's not that hard to learn. I'm getting tired of doing it."

"I thought you liked filling in as property manager," Finn said as he eyed Victoria. She turned to him as she shrugged.

"Until I had go chasing down payments," she answered and he laughed as he nodded. Slowly, he turned back to Abigail and eyes her.

"Property manager?" she asked as she looked at Finn.

"You have to travel to my estates around the Realm and collect payments from the people who stay there when I'm not there. You also have to make arrangements for any maintenance the buildings or ground might need. You just… make sure everything runs smoothly," Finn explained.

"How many properties?"

"I have six in total, but we'd start you with Attia's three," Finn answered. When Abigail narrowed her eyes in confusion, he continued on to explain. "The three estates Attia manages are the closest three to Court, so you wouldn't have to travel as far. Attia would just take over Victoria's three on the far side of the Realm."

"Oh, I wouldn't want to make her do anything extra," Abigail replied as she turned quickly to Attia, who only laughed as she shook her head.

"She likes the time away," Finn explained. "She takes Keiro and they probably enjoy themselves too much."

"I wouldn't say too much," Attia said with a shrug, but Finn rolled his eyes as he kept his attention on Abigail.

"For the first few times, Attia will go with you so you'll understand what all you have to do. Would you like to do that?" Finn asked and Abigail nodded without even considering an alternative. "You'll have to set up a vault for us to put your salary in, as well. Attia can help you with that. But we can move to my office to finalize the details of your position as property manager," he said as he stood up. They all moved to Finn's office, where he had all the paperwork for the position stored in the files in his desk.

He'd pulled out the few that needed to be approved by Council for her to sign when the doors to his office opened. Little Finn and Avery walked into the room, no longer flanked by guards. "The alarm never went off," little Finn commented as he peered around the room. Nobody said anything to him, since his comment was fairly obvious anyway.

"You can leave in a few days if you'd like," King Finn said to Abigail after she'd signed the papers on his desk.

"Leave?" Avery repeated as she stepped forward from Finn's side. She'd only seen her mother the night before, when Council had not yet decided whether or not to keep Abigail there. In addition, it was obvious nobody had informed Finn of the developments that had occurred over the night and morning. "No! You can't send her back to Mallery!"

"Avery-"

"No," Avery repeated, not allowing her mother to speak. King Finn rose his eyebrow as he eyed Avery in shock. He'd never heard the young woman raise her voice once, and yet she was apparently very capable of being forceful when she was under the impression that those who'd saved her were to condemn her mother.

"How can you send her back to Mallery?" she demanded, her voice louder and more forceful that even before. "She's already been exiled and you'll just send her to her death! If you send her back, I'll… I'll-"

"Avery, I-"

"No, let her talk," Victoria said, stopping King Finn from responding to her. John and his father eyed Victoria, but neither said anything as Victoria kept her gaze on Avery, who turned to her as well. "What are you going to do when we send her back, Princess Avery?" Victoria questioned, purposely using the title though it sounded more offensive than respectful.

"I'll tell people that you use state funds on your own personal expenses," Avery answered, suddenly bold as she held Victoria's gaze, feeling rather threatened by the blonde.

"Oh, blackmail," Victoria laughed, the sound less out of humor and more vindictive. "That's bold. But where's your proof? You can't go around accusing people in power of such nasty things."

"There's records of it in all your finance files in Finn's mother's office," Avery answered simply, and the smirk on Victoria's face shifted into a grin as she nodded slowly. Suddenly nobody felt compelled to stop Avery except her mother, who was silenced when Attia put a hand on her arm.

"Breaking and entering a state office, and illegally accessing sealed files," Victoria said with another dry laugh. "And here I thought you were too much of a doting wife without a husband to do such nasty things. We should throw in treason, too, for good measure. I'm sure Council would love that."

"Victoria," little Finn said sharply but didn't approach her when King Finn held up a hand to him.

"That's enough, Victoria," King Finn said as he looked to the blonde. He waited for Victoria to meet his gaze before he turned to Avery. "We're not sending your mother back to Mallery, Avery. She's agreed to become my property manager, and she'll be leaving Court for just a few days with Attia to go over her work."

"What?" Avery replied, her voice returning to its usual soft tone as her cheeks flushed bright red. Victoria laughed as she turned away from Avery to face John. "You're not sending her back to Mallery."

"Of course not," Finn answered with a warm smile.

"But if you'd like to blackmail us still-"

"Victoria," Finn said strongly to stop her. Victoria only laughed as she linked her arm with John and started to walk with him towards the door of the office.

"I have to say though," Victoria started as she turned back. Avery was far too embarrassed to face Victoria again after all the things she'd just said. "I think I like you a bit more now that you're less annoying," she said before she left the room with John, her laugh still traveling into the room when she was down the hallway.

"I'm sorry, I just-"

"It's alright," Finn said with a chuckle when he looked down at Avery. "Victoria's right," he told her, causing her eyes to widen in fear. "No, not about telling Council. About it's nice to know you're not as uh… one dimensional as you seem. Apparently only Finn gets to know anything about you until your threatened. Got a mouth on your girl there, Finn. And she certainly knows how to use it."

"He has his father's taste in women," Claudia commented and she laughed when Finn did, though Attia rolled her eyes. Avery was still embarrassed, her cheeks still hot and red as her mother came to her side and offered her a comforting hug.

"Come on," Abigail said as she turned with Avery. "We'll have breakfast." The two left the office, and little Finn looked up at his mother before he looked at his uncle.

"You let her stay," he said finally, and Attia nodded at him. "Thanks," he added when the room stayed quiet. Attia smiled at him, but he'd directed his gaze downward. "For everything," he said with a shrug before he turned and left the office before the three around the desk could call him back.

"Can you make the arrangements for leaving to go to the estates?" Finn asked as he turned to Attia. She turned to him as well before she shook her head and pushed the pages Abigail signed to his side of the desk.

"No. I'm busy tonight."

That night, Keiro let Attia roll out of bed without so much an argument. She went into the closet before he did to slip into her dress. It was a green one similar to the old blue one Keiro used to like, but it fit her better after she'd changed over the years. After she'd pulled the straps up to her shoulders, she felt Keiro's hand on her waist as his other hand fumbled for her zipper to draw it up to the top of the dress. She turned around to face him and he kissed her before she could see too much of his emotions in his face. He dressed silently too, opting for a clean pressed black shirt and his regular pants. As he helped her, she buttoned up his shirt, her eyes every so often flicking up to him, a coy smile across her lips.

"Keep looking at me like that, and we're not going to make it out there," he told her, and she laughed as she lowered her gaze to the last button she pushed through on his shirt. He shrugged his shoulders to get the shirt into a comfortable position before he offered his hand to her and they left their room silently. They walked that way all the way to the back gardens where the officiator was already waiting. They'd not bothered with lights so as not to draw suspicion to them, so the garden was lit only by the customary lights for the pathways and the walls. They were mostly casted in the shadows of a nearby tree.

Keiro's hand tightened around Attia's as the officiator's words floated around them. He noticed the vows he read off were different from the ones at Kyra and Chris' second big wedding, and he smirked, knowing Attia had thought ahead and had that dreadful bit about obeying taken out beforehand. It was so like her to think of all the things he never would have. She agreed to her vows and looked up at him quickly, but turned away when she saw his eyes had been on her the entire time. It was a rare moment that he allowed all his emotions show through, and it took some doing on his part not to steel his face, but he'd managed it rather successfully. He'd asked her to marry him, and she hadn't even asked him why. The least he could do, he thought, was at least let her see what the gesture meant to him. He agreed to his vows, only vaguely aware of the officiator's voice still carrying on in the background. As he slipped Attia's ring back onto her finger, he noted that she'd not produced a ring for him as well, but he wasn't sure if he liked that or not.

As the officiator declared them married, he took a step back and let Keiro draw Attia to him, one arm circling around her waist as he lowered his lips to hers. At first the kiss was soft and gentle, but Attia returned it passionately as she pressed up against him. It took a lot of effort for him to pull away and swallow as he turned to the officiator and reached into his back pocket.

"This didn't happen," Keiro told him as he tossed over a small pouch that jingled with the promise of several coins. The officiator only nodded as he pocketed the money and started back towards the wall of Court while Keiro kissed Attia again. The way she kissed him put doubt in his mind that they'd even make it back to their room. As her hands started down his chest, he had a feeling she'd planed on that. Before they could much further, however, she pulled away from the kiss and rested her head on his chest, her arms still around his neck tightly.

"Why did you want to get married?" she asked finally, her voice telling him that the question had been haunting her for some time and she'd finally given up on ignoring it. She pulled back from his chest to meet his gaze. "I already told you that I thought of you as my husband already. I didn't need this to prove it."

"I did," he answered as he bent down to press their foreheads together. "I needed it, because I don't want you to ever think that I want anyone else again." He didn't say her name, but Attia knew who he was referring to. And he didn't continue, because it was already well established that they weren't the best at communicating such deep and personal issues even to each other.

She scratched her fingers on the back of his neck and his eyes shut momentarily as he gasped at the sensation, then forced his attention on her again. She smiled coyly at him before she stole a quick soft kiss from him. "Ok," she said simply as she smiled at him. She seemed to understand all the things Keiro couldn't really put into words. That he wanted only her, and marriage was the only way he knew to prove it, even if she'd already thought them married. He needed to prove it not because she didn't believe it but prove it for himself. He needed to know he'd proved it to her, and having her marry him was the only option he could think of.

"Ok," he replied as he nodded and she only laughed before she kissed him again, though it was more forceful than their last kiss. He returned the kiss eagerly, breaking apart only long enough to tell her something he didn't say nearly often enough. "I love you."

This is the end! I hope you all liked it. Right now, I am pretty dead set that this is the end of this series, though I was persuaded earlier to write the third and fourth books to this series when I had originally not intended to do so. So, while I do firmly believe this is the end, I may or may not add something in the future, though it will most likely be a little something that happens in-between the existing books I have up here. So, you've not already author alerted me, you can do that so you can get a notification should I ever add something more. Also, I think I will in the future put up another K/A fic up here though it will be a censored version of what I'm planning to post on Archive Of Our Own.

That being said, thank you to everyone who's read though this much of my work. Really, I've never had so much attention on such a small fandom before, so I'm very grateful and appreciative. :)

btw, I hope the wedding was what everything everyone hoped it would be. I've been getting messages and reviews about having a High Duke wedding since the first book! Sorry you've had to wait so long!