I set a personal record over the weekend: I went three full days without writing Keadlyn. I was busy. I am going to continue to be busy, but I'm going to tryyy to keep posting a chapter or two a week of something Keadlyn-related. This, obviously, is an epilogue, but I already have 11.5 chapters of my next fic locked and loaded. I just have to violently edit them and also decide on a title.

Hope you have enjoyed this little project.

"So I was right."

I wrinkled my nose. "Ahren, don't do this."

"No, I want to hear you say it," my brother insisted. "I was right. Something was going on with you and Kile."

"You're about to leave. Let's not argue."

He stared me down. I relented. "Fine, you were right, technically. At the time you made that implication, I was still deeply in denial, but I guess it counts."

"I won't gloat too much," he promised, but yeah right. It wasn't often anyone won an argument with me—Ahren would presumably be lording this over me for years to come. He leaned to hug me again, shifting Marie in his arms so as not to wake her. "I'll see you soon, right?"

"I promised, didn't I?" I asked indignantly. "Our birthday. I'll be there."

"And will you be bringing your husband?" Ahren asked "innocently", nodding towards Kile, currently saying goodbye to Kaden and Josie.

"Stop it. He's not my husband," I said firmly. "We're not even engaged! We just started dating last night!"

All of that was true, but "dating" didn't seem like the right word when Kile and I had been deep down pining for each other since we were in our teens. There was more to our relationship than the last twelve hours. Four months would be too soon, but I suspected an engagement wouldn't take much longer than that.

Ahren rolled his eyes, like I was the one being dramatic. "Well, I think you should bring him. I like him. The two of you have my blessing, obviously."

I swatted at him. "We didn't ask for your blessing! And need I remind you that you eloped despite my clear disapproval?"

Ahren gestured to his baby. "But don't you think that turned out pretty well?"

It was hard to argue with that. Marie was adorable, and I'd come around to Camille too, even if she was infuriatingly perfect most of the time. I did later find out that, although Camille rarely got sick, she was an absolute bear to be around when she had a cold, and that reassured me she was human.

Ahren was the hardest goodbye; we could've dragged it out for hours, but I had to just give him one more squeeze and send him down the line. I noticed Osten slip something in his pocket but chose not to say anything. There was always a chance it was something nice, right?

My Elite were leaving for the airport too, but that was less bitter and more sweet. I hugged Gunner, Fox, Ean, Hale, and Henri one after the other, exchanging goodbyes and promising to visit again soon. Tears pricked at the corners of my eyes, but this was actually the easy part.

My breath caught in my throat. Kile looked nervous, a duffel bag slung over his shoulder and his hair all messed up. I was nervous too. This—and at least this time I had a fairly decent idea of what "this" was—was so brand new. It went against my every instinct to sink my claws into him one night and let him go the next morning.

But this time was going to be different. I knew he'd be back to me within a week, as soon as he got his apartment packed up and his affairs in order. What I wanted was to latch onto him and never let go, but we were strong enough to handle one more week apart before he was back in Angeles for good. After all, it wasn't that long ago we regularly went multiple months without seeing each other, and when we did see each other, we didn't even kiss. What a concept!

We'd hardly slept the night before—not because of the kissing. Well. Not just because of the kissing. We also had so much to talk about, promises to make, years-old miscommunications to clear up. After spending so long dodging our feelings for each other, it was surprisingly easy to sort out. I promised I was in it for real, not just as a distraction. Kile promised he meant it when he said being an architect wasn't his dream anymore. His dream was me.

(In between kisses, I did mention that he could still pursue architecture, the altruistic kind that was his real passion, as a prince. Kile seemed intrigued, but at the time, more interested in the kissing.)

He pulled me into his arms right away, kissing the top of my head. It was so gentle, intimate in a way I wasn't used to but definitely liked. "I'll miss you, Eady."

"I'll miss you too," I admitted into his shoulder. I decided firmly that I was not going to cry. It was so embarrassing to cry in a room full of people, especially when most of those people were acting awfully smug about Kile and I getting together at all. I was pretty sure I'd even seen money changing hands, but I guess that wasn't all that surprising when you considered the kind of person Osten was.

I stepped back, looking up at Kile and trying to memorize every aspect of him. He looked the same as always, bright blue eyes, but everything was different. In the best way. "You will call me every night."

"Yes, Your Majesty." He said it sarcastically, but I knew he'd probably call me every morning, too.

"Are you sure you don't want to take any guards with you?"

"My apartment's in a good neighborhood. I've lived there for five years! I'll be fine."

"I know, but maybe they could help you pack up and…"

"…and I'd get back to you faster?" Kile finished for me, wrapping me in a hug again. "That's really sweet, Eady."

"Shut up. I'm not sweet. Everybody's looking."

Kile implied he'd like to really give the foyer's other occupants something to look at, but I declined. While the acts he was describing sounded pleasant, I'd much prefer to wait until I had him all to myself again.

Less than a week. We could do this.

It still felt like a dream, like I could blink and he'd take it all back. That made it extremely difficult to let him go, even on a temporary basis, but I knew I couldn't actually protest. It was exactly as I predicted: he would leave, and I would stay, and it would feel like my heart was ripping in two. The only difference was he'd be back within a week, and now, he was mine.

All things considered, I couldn't ask for much more than that.

§

Kile left.

I stayed.

The same old story, once again.

But he came back.

It was easy. The whole thing was remarkably easy. I'd spent so much of my life resisting falling in love, but with Kile, I fell so naturally, and quickly. Almost instantly, it felt like we'd been together for years, making up for lost time. My stubbornness and pride had almost cost me what I now knew I needed more than anything else in the world. It was a good thing Kile was equally stubborn, not taking no for an answer until I gave him the chance to say his piece.

And then, obviously, the answer was yes.

We didn't want everyone to know right away. This was precious; this was ours. Fortunately, Kaden and Josie did eventually announce their pregnancy, and that helped keep the attention off us as we were sneaking into closets or utilizing the secret passageways. When Kile and I did make our public debut, at my and Ahren's birthday party in France, the response was almost overwhelming. Everyone wanted to say they'd known it all along and seen it coming from the beginning, but I didn't really think that was fair. If I hadn't seen it coming, how could some random stranger who didn't actually know anything about us?

Kile was more charitable towards the random strangers. He often cited the way we "looked at each other" before our relationship even began, the same look Ahren and all of our parents had picked up on. That little tidbit had annoyed me so much as it happened, but now, well on our way to happily ever after, I was starting to see the humor in it.

At the end of June, Josie and Kaden had a baby boy with my mother's red hair. Barely a month later, on Kile's birthday, I proposed and he said yes, just like I knew he would. There was no doubt in either of our minds, and therefore no reason to wait. When you mess something up as bad as I messed up my Selection, and you spend that much time regretting it, you don't waste any time with your second chance.

When that announcement went public, Gavril announced that he would finally retire from hosting the Report, because he was "leaving the country in good hands". I wasn't sure if he meant Kile, or Osten, who took over the Report shortly after. Either way, I was a little insulted, but post-engagement bliss prevented me from acting on it.

A year later—I know, we had no time to waste or reason to wait, but planning a royal wedding did not just happen overnight, regardless of what Ahren and Camille might say about that—we got married, giving the occasion every bit of fanfare it deserved. Marie was our flower girl, tossing rose petals with the reckless abandon only a two-and-a-half-year-old can possess. Our ring bearer, Kaden and Josie's son, was shier, toddling down the aisle hand-in-hand with his dad. It was a picture-perfect wedding and easily the happiest day of my life.

You might think that once Kile and I got married, everything was perfect and nothing ever went wrong again, but that simply wasn't true. The road would always be bumpy for two people as wildly different as we were. We would go on to argue over the least significant of things; I would lose my temper or Kile would be sarcastic at the wrong time. But we always came back to each other, as sure as next morning's sunrise. I'd seen what it looked like to live without him, and it was ugly. For better or for worse, through politics and parenthood, I had made my choice, and it was Kile. It was always going to be Kile. After much trial and error and the longest five years of my life, I was forced to accept it as the truth: as long as I lived, every road I ever took would eventually lead me back to him.

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